8 Fun Christmas Games for the Whole Family

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Whether you’re decking the halls with family, exchanging gifts with friends, or sipping egg nog with coworkers, the holidays are a time for gathering and spending quality time together. And once the party’s soundtrack, menu, and decorations are all set in place, the next item on the agenda for any great Christmas get-together is entertainment. That’s where Christmas holiday party games come into play. From White Elephant to Name that Holiday Tune to Christmas Movie Bingo, holiday games are a fun, creative way to get everyone engaged and excited.

Below, you’ll find all of the information you need to get started on your holiday party game night, whether you’re wondering how Secret Santa works or wanting to learn the White Elephant rules. We also give you tips for upping the fun factor and keeping everyone on their toes. Keep reading for our rundown of the season’s most popular Christmas games for kids and adults. Let the fun Christmas games commence!

White Elephant turns regular-old gifting into a lively game. Everyone brings one wrapped gift and leaves with something else, but in between, fun (and a little bit of friendly competition) ensue. Ahead of your gathering, designate a price limit for everyone to spend on their gifts. Or, if you’re into up-cycling, have everyone bring something that they already own. The most important thing is that all of the gifts arrive to the party already wrapped.

What You Need: Pen, paper, a bowl or hat, and wrapped gifts from each player.

How to Play:

1. Gather in a circle and put all of the wrapped gifts in the middle.
2. Write down numbers on slips of paper (1–5 for five players, 1–10 for 10 players, etc.), and have everyone pick one at random to determine the order of play.
3. Player 1 chooses a gift from the middle and unwraps it. 
4. Player 2’s turn is where it starts getting fun. They can either unwrap a new gift from the middle or steal the already unwrapped gift. If they choose to steal, Player 1 gets to unwrap a new gift.
5. Play continues down the line of numbers. Player 3 can either steal an unwrapped present from someone else or choose a new one from the middle. Once everyone in the round has a gift, the next person goes.
6. Each gift can only be stolen three times per round. 
7. At the end of the game once all of the gifts are unwrapped, Player 1 gets a chance to trade with a player of their choice.

From tree-trimming scenes and family meals to romantic meet-cutes and kisses under the mistletoe, Christmas movies are filled with delightful cliches. Christmas Movie Bingo celebrates these holiday tropes, and it’s one of the most fun family Christmas games of the season.  

What You Need: Bingo cards, markers or daubers, your favorite Christmas movies, and a prize for the winner.

How to Play:

1. Print and distribute cards and daubers to everyone playing the game.
2. Pop in your favorite Christmas movie, and have everyone mark their cards as the movie showcases what’s on their spaces.
3. Keep going until someone calls “Bingo!”

Christmastime brings no shortage of tacky attire, and at the pinnacle of it all is the ugly sweater. For guaranteed hilarity, challenge your family and friends  to an ugly sweater contest this year.

What You Need: A prize for the winner!

How to Play:

1. Everyone shows up wearing their ugliest, tackiest, most unpleasing Christmas sweaters.
2. Once you’ve all stopped laughing each other’s fashion faux pas, it’s time for the judging!
3. Assign a judge (or panel of judges) to decide on a winner.

Every group’s Secret Santa rules differ, but no matter where you play, the basic premise is the same: Instead of everyone buying gifts for everyone else (which can get cumbersome and pricey), each gifter is secretly assigned a giftee ahead of your gathering. Set a spending limit, and instruct everyone to wrap their gifts before coming to the party.

What You Need: Your friends, family, and/or coworkers and their wrapped gifts.

How to Play:

1. Gather in a circle and put all of the wrapped gifts in the middle.
2. One by one, each player opens their designated gift.
3. The gift giver can reveal that it’s from them, or the giftee can try to guess who their present is from.

Ready to test your knowledge of classic Christmas facts, traditions, and more? Assemble the gang for a game of Christmas trivia. You’ll need at least three players and a list of questions to get started.

What You Need: Trivia questions and answers, pens, and paper.

How to Play:

1. Designate one person as the emcee. Everyone else can either team up or play individually. 
2. As the emcee reads questions, each team/player marks their answers on a piece of paper.
3. After all of the questions are read, the emcee tallies up the scores and declares the winner.

Pro Tip: To up the excitement, split the questions into three or four rounds, with each round getting progressively harder and worth more points.

The saran wrap game tests players’ luck and dexterity while everyone else looks on with laughter. Ahead of time, the party’s host gathers small trinkets and gifts—think gift cards, mini candy bars, toys, cash, etc.) With a roll of saran wrap, wrap one trinket that will become the center of a much larger ball. Without cutting or ripping the wrap, continue adding trinkets and wrapping them to form a ball. When you finish with the first roll of saran wrap, open up a second one and keep going until you’re out of prizes and have a big ball of plastic wrap and presents in your hand. 

What You Need: A saran wrap ball filled with trinkets and gift cards, oven mitts, and dice.

How to Play:

1. Everyone sits in a circle, and the party’s host chooses one person to go first.
2. When play starts, Player 1 puts on the oven mitts and tries to unwrap and reveal as many prizes as quickly possible. 
3. Meanwhile, Player 2 (the person to the left of the unwrapper) rolls the dice until they get doubles.
4. When Player 2 rolls doubles, the dice, oven mitts, and saran wrap ball all get passed one spot to the left. 
5. Player 2 puts on the oven mitts and tries to unwrap as much of the ball as possible Player 3 rolls doubles. 
6. Play continues until the ball is completely unrolled and no prizes remain. 

From “Deck the Halls” to “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” the holiday season’s soundtrack is filled with earworms that we all know and love. This game is your chance to show off how fast you and your peeps can identify classic holiday tunes from just the first few notes.

What You Need: A Christmas playlist of the season’s most iconic, festive songs.

How to Play:

1. Designate one person as the emcee, and split everyone else into two teams.
2. The emcee starts playing song for the group, and the first team to correctly identify it gets a point. 
3. Gameplay continues song by song, and the team with the most points at the end wins.
4. Option: Instead of skipping right to the next song, let the music play so that everyone can sing and dance along. It is a party, after all!

Left Right Christmas is one of the simplest family Christmas games for players of all ages. Everyone starts with their own wrapped gift, but the goodie they’ll leave with is a mystery until the very end. 

What You Need: A Christmas-themed story and wrapped gifts from each player.

How to Play:

1. Download (or write) a story with lots of mentions of the words “left” and “right.” 
2. Gather the group in a circle with everyone holding the wrapped gift that they brought.
3. Designate someone to read the story. Every time they read the words “left” or “right,” everyone passes their gifts one spot around the circle accordingly.
4. Everyone takes home the gift they end up with when the story ends.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Amy Gordon

Amy Gordon is a freelance writer and editor who splits her time between New York, NY and Vieques, PR. When she’s not at her desk, you’ll probably find her on a plane with her nose in a book, in the Caribbean snorkeling through coral reefs, or on the couch watching true crime TV. Learn more and read her work at www.amygordonmedia.com.

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