27 Christmas Party Games You’ll Want to Play ASAP

1. Gift-wrapping race

See which of your guests can wrap the fastest with this awesome and hilarious party game. Buy some cheap wrapping paper, find some old boxes, and challenge your friends to race each other for the fastest gift wrapping job ever. Bonus points if the wrapping looks good!

2. Christmas movie emoji

This game will be great to play with family members of all ages (and you may spot some generational gaps in the process). Create a list of the best Christmas movies, then convert the titles into emojis and see who can guess the most names correctly! Here is a tutorial of how to create that list.

3. Christmas movie trivia

While you’re on a movie kick at your party, see who can get the most trivia right by picking out lines and quotes from your favorite holiday movies.

4. Holiday carol pictionary

No humming allowed in this one! Write out the titles of classic Christmastime songs and have teams draw the titles out of a hat. Then find an old whiteboard and see whose artistic ability will get them the winning points.

5. Candy cane spoons

Your favorite card game can become festive with the addition of holiday sweets. Grab a deck of cards and instead of spoons, use candy canes. Not sure how to play spoons? Learn about the easy and fun card game here.

6. How many ornaments?

Have guests write down how many ornaments they think are on your Christmas tree without counting. Whoever gets the closest wins a prize!

7. White elephant

This game goes by a few names (Yankee Swap, Dirty Santa), but the idea is always a hit. Guests are required to bring one gift wrapped and ready to exchange. You can set a price limit on the gift, and usually the gifts are meant to be a gag. The rules of the game are that you can only switch each gift twice!

8. Who Am I: Christmas Edition

Partygoers draw cards from a pile and stick them on their heads without looking. Then the guests go around asking yes or no questions about who they are. Keep it festive by assigning holiday characters for the names.

9. Reindeer shoes

Like horseshoes, this game is fun for the whole family. Choose someone to be the reindeer by putting an antler headband on. Then all the players toss pipe cleaner rings across the room to try and score points on the reindeer.

10. Holiday scavenger hunt

A great party game that can be modified for any party or group, scavenger hunts are the perfectway to keep guests entertained while they are at your home. Include challenges for the guests to take pictures or collect items for their scavenger hunt, and make sure to make it holiday themed! At the end of the night, ask each guest to text you some pictures and turn them into a Chatbook that you can give to attendees! 

11. Christmas freeze dance

Crank up those yuletide carols because this game is great for any age. Dancers can move and dance while the music is going, but as soon as it stops, everyone has to freeze in place or they’re out!

12. Oven mitt unwrapping

Choose a few fun prizes that you can wrap in small boxes. Then, put those boxes inside bigger boxes and so on. Guests have to keep a pair of oven mitts on while trying to get to the inside of the gift, and the first person who finishes wins.

13. Christmas bingo

Who doesn’t love a good game of bingo? The anticipation of being the first to call out that you won is enough to make any party a hit. There are some great ways to turn this game into a holiday-themed competition like this or this.

14. Extreme (gingerbread) home makeover

Find someone at the party who can be an impartial judge, then have a few teams band together to try and make the best gingerbread house on the market. Provide colorful candies, delicious frosting and, of course, gingerbread people.

15. Candy cane hunt

Hide some candy canes around your home and yard and assign a prize with each. This game can be played throughout the whole party and will be fun for all ages.

16. Santa’s charades

Santa’s little elves will all love to play this game. Split into two teams and ask everyone to write down different holiday-themed charade topics. If you want to advance your game, consider trying three-round charades.

17. Blind drawing contest

Grab some paper plates and markers and try this hilarious and awesome party game. Select a holiday scene (like a snowman or Santa’s sleigh) and have players use tape to secure white paper plates to their heads. Then, they have to draw the image onto the paper plate — in teh process, they can’t see their drawings. Think you’re a great artist? This game may surprise you!

18. Snow painting

If you are having a white Christmas this year, you need to try out this game. Take some food coloring and water and mix it in a spray bottle. Then, watch as the kids are entertained for hours drawing their images in the snow.

19. Santa limbo

Players must stuff a Santa belly (soft pillow) under their shirts in order to participate in this game. Turn on some holiday tunes and grab a limbo stick and see how low your guests can go before their belly gets hit by the stick!

20. Stocking guessing game

Find some random holiday items around the home and stuff them into a stocking — things like ribbon, ornaments and chocolate will do. Guests then reach their hands in and try to guess what they are holding before pulling it out. Be sure to include some trickier items.

21. Pin the nose on the Rudolph

Everyone knows and loves this classic game. Split into teams and guide your teammates as they try to give Santa’s favorite reindeer his nose back! You can print a free reindeer cut-out, or draw one of your own.

22. Christmas mad libs

This game can be fun for the whole family, or you can spice it up a little after the kids go to bed. Create your own holiday-themed story, or use one of these for your next party.

23. Tied-up gifts

Two people will be paired up and then one their hands will be tied to one of the other person’s. With their free hands, the team will attempt to unwrap a gift. This is a great show of teamwork, and whichever team does it the fastest, wins.

24. Ornament spoon race

Just like a classic egg on a spoon, throw some lightweight ornaments on a spoon and set up an obstacle course for a team to accomplish. No dropping the ornament, or your team will start from the beginning!

25. Human Christmas tree

Ask a few guests to come in green outfits, or you can choose the players at random to be the designated “human Christmas tree”. These people will stand still while their team decorates them like a Christmas tree. Provide your players with tape, paper ornaments, lights and other crafts. Then have a judge decide who decorated their tree best.

26. Holiday scattergories

During each round, a letter from the alphabet is chosen and players have a piece of paper with different categories such as food, color, etc. These players then have a time limit to come up with the most unique answers for the categories that start with that letter. Whoever has the least amount of overlap wins.

27. Holiday jeopardy

There are endless amounts of categories you can use for holiday jeopardy, from Bible verses to classic holiday movies. Set up this game with your favorite Christmas trivia and see which teams have the most holiday knowledge.