So, you’ve gathered your family for a Christmas celebration. You’ve figured out the menu and drinks you want to serve, but you’ve yet to plan what kind of games to play. After all, what’s a Christmas party without some Christmas games to get you excited for the holiday season? To help you, we’ve got you covered with 45 fun Christmas games that the entire family will enjoy.
1. CHRISTMAS CHARADES
The great thing about charades is that there is essentially no prep needed beforehand. Just gather all the players in the living room and get started! But, of course, since it’s Christmas, play charades with a Christmas twist by having the players guess Christmas-themed words, phrases, or movie titles. Examples include:
- Decorating the tree
- Wrapping presents
- Home Alone 2
- Santa Claus
Remember, to make the other players guess, you can only mime, and you cannot use any words or sounds!
2. CHRISTMAS SCAVENGER HUNT
Another classic game you’ve got to turn into a Christmas-themed game is a scavenger hunt. For this game, you will need to prep it slightly beforehand, but it’s nothing too difficult! Simply hide Christmas items around the house or outdoors and provide clues and prompts to find the items. This is one of the best Christmas games for family, as both kids and adults will enjoy playing it.
3. CHRISTMAS PICTIONARY
Pictionary is one of our favorite family board games, and for good reason! You can easily play this game during the holiday season by having players sketch out holiday-related words or phrases, such as “Santa Claus” or “snowflake,” while their team tries their best to guess within a minute!
4. PIN THE NOSE ON RUDOLPH
Have you played Pin the Tail on the Donkey? Well, why not play a Christmas-themed versino of the game? In this game, blindfold each player as they try to pin a red nose on a picture of Rudolph. If you want to make this game slightly more difficult, don’t forget to spin the blindfolded players a couple of times before letting them loose! This game is a lot more difficult than it looks.
5. WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT EXCHANGE
Of course, one of the most popular Christmas games for families is a gift exchange game. One such game you may have played at some point is White Elephant. In this game, players take turns picking a gift from a pile. They must then open the gift. The next player can then either steal an already-opened gift or grab a new one from the pile! This is a super fun variation of the classic Secret Santa Gift Exchange game.
6. SECRET SANTA GIFT EXCHANGE
Secret Santa deserves a spot on this list of the best Christmas games for families. In this game, each of the players is assigned another player to secretly buy a gift for. This game forces everyone to really think about the gift they are purchasing for the other player and allows gifts to be more personalized.
7. CHRISTMAS BINGO
You can play standard bingo, but you can easily find Christmas-themed bingo cards on the internet or make your own. If you make your own, use the spaces to put Christmas symbols or words like:
- Snowman
- Christmas tree
- Candy cane
Then, give each player a unique bingo card that they must cross off as each item is called out. The first player to complete a row or column wins.
8. CHRISTMAS JEOPARDY
If your family likes to play quiz games or trivia games, this is the perfect Christmas game to play. Prepare the game beforehand with 5 questions for 6 categories. Examples of categories include:
- Christmas songs
- Christmas movies
- Christmas traditions
Then, players must battle to answer the questions correctly with an answer in the form of a question. This is a super fun DIY game.
9. GUESS THE CHRISTMAS SONG
Prepare a list of 10 to 20 Christmas songs. Then, play the first few seconds of the Christmas song. Players must then write down the title of the song on a piece of paper. The player with the most correct answers wins.
10. CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATING RELAY
Have you not decorated your Christmas tree yet? This is a great opportunity to play a game to decorate the tree if you haven’t done so already. Line everybody up with a box of Christmas ornaments in front of them. Then, take turns running to the Christmas tree and hanging one ornament and a time. By the end of this game, you’ll have a fully decorated tree!
11. CHRISTMAS MAD LIBS
Mad Libs is a super fun game you can play in any setting (including an engagement party if you have one coming up!). In this hilarious word game, players fill in the blanks of a Christmas story with random words, including nouns, verbs, and adjectives. They must fill in the blanks without knowing what the story is about. Then, read the story out loud, and get ready to laugh out loud!
12. CHRISTMAS KARAOKE
Who doesn’t love karaoke? Just whip out a microphone and get your family to start singing some of their favorite Christmas songs for this game. This is a fun way to show off your talent and have some fun after Christmas dinner.
13. CHRISTMAS WORD SCRAMBLE
Either prepare this game beforehand by scrambling some Christmas-themed words or find an already-prepared Christmas word scramble online. Then, print out this word scramble for each player. Players work hard to unscramble the Christmas words in a set amount of time.
14. ORNAMENT GUESSING GAME
In this super fun and simple guessing game, players try to guess how many ornaments are on a Christmas tree. The closest guess wins!
15. CHRISTMAS RING TOSS
In this Christmas version of the classic yard game, players toss rings onto Christmas-themed targets, such as reindeer antlers or a Christmas tree. See who can toss the most rings onto the target.
16. CANDY CANE HUNT
You’ve probably played an Easter egg hunt, but you can also play a Christmas version of this game with a candy cane hunt! Before the family Christmas party begins, hide a bunch of candy canes around the home or outside in the yard. Then, have everybody look for as many candy canes as they can! The player who finds the most wins.
17. ELF ON THE SHELF HIDE-AND-SEEK
As the party organizer, you’ll need to hide the Elf on the Shelf doll for this holiday-themed hide-and-seek game. Once properly hidden, have everyone look for the doll! The first person to find it gets to hide the doll for the next round.
18. SNOWMAN BUILDING CONTEST
Depending on the weather, for this game, you can either play outdoors with real snow or build a fake snowman indoors with craft supplies or marshmallows. Either way, players compete individually or in teams to build the best snowman. All players can vote on their favorite one – but no voting for your own!
19. CHRISTMAS COOKIE DECORATING CONTEST
A classic game to play on Christmas is a Christmas cookie decorating contest. Set up a variety of decorating supplies, like icing and sprinkles, then have all the players decorate their cookie to the best of their ability. Again, have all the players vote for their favorite cookie, bar their own.
20. CHRISTMAS STOCKING GUESSING GAME
Before the game begins, hide some items inside of a Christmas stocking. Players must then feel the items through the stocking and guess what the items are. Have everyone write down their guesses on a piece of paper. The player with the most correct guesses wins!
21. GUESS THE GIFT
In this super simple Christmas game for families, players try to guess what is inside a wrapped present based on the size, shape, and sound when shaken. A correct guess equals one point!
22. PASS THE PRESENT
A fun indoor game for kids and adults alike is hot potato. But put a Christmas spin on this game by playing pass the present instead. Players must pass a gift around a circle until the music stops. Whoever holds the present when the music stops gets to keep the gift! Keep playing until everyone has a gift.
23. SNOWBALL FIGHT
Why not play a good old snowball fight for Christmas? If the weather allows, you can play outdoors with actual snow. But if there’s no snow this Christmas, use soft balls or rolled socks a snowballs to throw at each other.
24. CHRISTMAS UNTANGLE
In this fast-paced game that will surely make your heart race, each player will race ot untangle a mess of Christmas lights. If you’ve had to battle untangling your Christmas lights every December, you know the struggle! The first player to get their lights fully untangled wins. This game also makes for a super fun minute to win it game!
25. CANDY CANE UNWRAP
This is another minute-to-win-it-type game that kids and adults will love. In this timed game, players will race to unwrap as many candy canes as they can in one minute. If you want to raise the level of the game, you can have the players wear mittens or gloves while they’re doing this!
26. EGGNOG PONG
Beer pong is a classic game for adults to play at any party, but make a family-friendly and Christmas-themed version of this game with eggnog pong. In this game, two teams of two play against each other, trying to throw ping pong balls into cups of eggnog arranged at the other end of the table in a pyramid shape. Each time a team scores, the other team must drink the eggnog and remove the cup from play. The first team to remove all of the opposing team’s 6 or 10 cups (depending on how long you want the game to last) wins.
27. SARAN WRAP BALL GAME
Before the Christmas party, make a giant ball made of layers of saran wrap, with layers filled with small prizes and trinkets. If you want to make the game true to the Christmas lore, make some of the trinkets pieces of coal!
Then, to play this game, players will take turns unwrapping as much of the ball as possible within an allotted time limit. They get to keep whatever they manage to unwrap from the ball.
28. NUTCRACKER TOSS
In this Christmas game, players throw rings at inflatable nutcrackers, with each of the nutcrackers representing a certain number of points. The goal is to get as many points as possible.
29. SANTA BEARD RACE
This is a hilarious game that everyone will enjoy playing on Christmas. In the Santa beard race, players try to create a Santa beard using cotton balls and petroleum jelly. All the players must smear the jelly on their faces and try to put as many cotton balls as possible within an allotted time. The biggest beard wins!
30. CHRISTMAS TELEPHONE RACE
Telephone is one of our favorite parlor games. So, why not play it at a Christmas party as well? Of course, to make the game Christmas-themed, you’ll need to prepare holiday-themed phrases, such as:
- Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer has many friends
- Santa’s sleigh is stuck on the roof
- Frosty the Snowman is having a snowball fight with the Grinch
- Mrs. Clarus bakes the best gingerbread cookies in the North Pole
The first player gets the phrase, and then they must whisper the phrase to the second player. The phrase goes around until the last player hears it and must say it out loud. You’ll be surprised just how much the phrase can change over time!
31. HOW MANY CANDIES?
This is one of the simplest games you can play at Christmas. In this guessing game, fill a jar with peppermints or green and red M&Ms. Then, have everyone guess how many candies are in the jar. The closest guess wins.
32. CHRISTMAS GUESS WHO
Have you played Guess Who before? Who hasn’t? But turn this into a super fun family game by using pictures of family members instead of standard cards. To guess the family member, try your best to ask Christmas-themed questions, like:
- Does your person bake cookies?
- Has your person ever hosted a family Christmas?
- Has your person celebrated more than 15 Christmases?
Ask questions one by one to eliminate other possibilities in order to guess the correct person.
33. CHRISTMAS DANCE FREEZE
A dance freeze is the perfect game to play if you have younger kids at your family’s Christmas party. In this game, players dance to Christmas music but must stop when the music stops! If someone moves when the music is off, they’re out! The last player still left dancing wins.
34. OVEN MITTS GAME
Have you tried to do anything dexterous with oven mitts on your hand? What about opening presents? In this Christmas game, players have to open their Christmas presents while wearing oven mitts, which is sure to end up in frustration and laughter alike!
35. CHRISTMAS SMELL GAME
Blindfold the players and have them identify Christmas-y smells like peppermint, cinnamon, and pine. Put these items into separate jars and have each of the players guess. The player who guesses the most smells correctly wins.
36. GINGERBREAD HOUSE COMPETITION
What Christmas party is complete without a gingerbread house? But instead of simply decorating a gingerbread house, turn it into a competition. Use icing, candies, and other decorations to decorate your gingerbread house as best as you can and vote for the best one!
37. CHRISTMAS MOVIE POSTER TRIVIA
Do you know your Christmas movies? Put your knowledge to the test with this trivia game. In this game, show players a partial or zoomed-in image of Christmas movie posters. Players must write down their guesses on a piece of paper. The player to guess the most correctly wins.
38. WHO AM I? CHRISTMAS EDITION
Have everyone secretly write down a Christmas-themed character on a Post-it note and stick it on the forehead of another player. Examples of characters include:
- Santa Claus
- Kevin from Home Alone
- Rudolph
- The Grinch
Once everyone has a character on their forehead, all players must now go around asking everyone yes or no questions in order to guess their character!
39. TOILET PAPER SNOWMAN
This is a super fun team game to play for Christmas. Divide players into teams of 2 to 4 and have one player from each team act as the “snowman.” Teams must wrap their snowmen in toilet paper and then decorate their snowmen with scarves, hats, and sunglasses. The best snowman wins!
40. SANTA SAYS
You’ve probably played Simon Says before (perhaps at a church youth group or kid’s birthday party), but turn this game more fitting for Christmas by saying “Santa says” instead of “Simon says.” One player is “it,” and they must give instructions to the rest of the group. But the group must only follow the instructions if prefaced by “Santa says.” Try not to mess up!
41. WHAT’S IN SANTA’S HAT?
This Christmas game is similar to the stocking game, but this challenge is more suited for younger kids. Players must reach into a Santa hat that’s filled with small objects and try to guess all the items that are in it.
42. HOT CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOW TOSS
Arrange mugs of hot chocolate in a pyramid formation at one end of a table. Then, players must try to toss marshmallows into the mugs. Try to get at least one marshmallow in each cup within a certain allotted time limit! Of course, everyone can drink the hot cocoa afterward!
43. CANDY CANE HOOK
Players must put a candy cane in their mouth and use it to “hook” and move other candy canes from one bowl to another. Try to move as many candy canes as you can within a minute!
44. CHRISTMAS SCATTERGORIES
Here’s a Christmas-themed version of the popular Scattergories game. In this game, players are given a category and a letter of the alphabet. Players must think of all the words that fit the category and start with the given letter. You play Scattergories as normal, but instead of your standard categories, select holiday-related categories, such as:
- Christmas foods
- Holiday movies
- Christmas songs
- Things you might find in Santa’s workshop
- Christmas decorations
After everyone writes down as many words as they can in a minute, cross out any words that other players have written down and then tally up your score. In other words, try to be as unique as possible to make more points!
45. CHRISTMAS WOULD YOU RATHER
Would you rather is a very simple game that can be plenty of fun. Players simply take turns asking a “Would you rather?” question. But try to make it Christmas-themed. Would you rather examples include:
- Would you rather spend Christmas at the North Pole or on a beach?
- Would you rather build a snowman or decorate a gingerbread house?
- Would you rather drink hot chocolate or eggnog?
Everyone must pick their preference!
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