Christmas Party Games

• 🎄   Planning Your Christmas Party Games
• 🎭   1. Christmas Charades
• 🎁   2. White Elephant Gift Exchange
• 🎅   3. Secret Santa Games
• ❓   4. Christmas Trivia
• 🤥   5. Holiday Two Truths and a Lie
• 🤔   6. Christmas Would You Rather
• 🎶   7. Christmas Song Pictionary
• 📦   8. Saran Wrap Ball Game
• 🎵   9. Musical Gift Pass
• 🍪   10. Cookie Decorating Contest
• 📝   11. Christmas Scattergories
• 🏃   12. Holiday Minute to Win It
• 🔔   13. Jingle Bell Toss
• 🧊   14. Holiday Icebreakers
• 📋   How to Plan the Perfect Game Night

Every great Christmas party needs more than just food and music. Games turn a nice gathering into an event people actually look forward to. They break the ice between strangers, give old friends something new to bond over, and create those chaotic, laughing-until-you-cry moments that become family legends.

The trick is picking games that match your crowd. An office party needs different energy than a family gathering, and a friends-only holiday bash calls for something else entirely. That’s why we’ve put together a mix of games that covers every scenario - from calm and creative to loud and competitive.

Planning Your Christmas Party Games

Before diving into specific games, think about your group. How many people will be there? Are there kids? How well does everyone know each other? Is it a sit-down dinner with games after, or a casual drop-in party?

The best approach is to plan three or four games and have a couple of backup options. Start with an icebreaker to get people comfortable, move to a main event game that gets competitive, and finish with something relaxed. Don’t try to fill every minute - let people mingle between activities.

Time estimate: Most games on this list run 15-30 minutes. A full evening of games typically needs 3-4 activities with breaks in between for food and conversation.

1. Christmas Charades

Charades is already a party classic, and the Christmas version is even better because the prompts write themselves. Players act out holiday-related words and phrases while their team guesses. No talking, no pointing at objects in the room - just pure pantomime comedy.

Christmas Charades Prompts

Write these on slips of paper and toss them in a bowl:

• Building a snowman
• Wrapping a present (badly)
• Decorating a Christmas tree
• Getting tangled in Christmas lights
• Opening a gift you hate
• Kissing under the mistletoe
• Doing the Nutcracker ballet
• Eating too much at Christmas dinner
• Santa going down the chimney
• Writing a letter to Santa
• Ice skating for the first time
• Trying to catch a snowflake
• Singing Christmas carols door to door
• Shoveling snow

How to Play with Your Group

Split into two teams. Each player gets 60 seconds to act out as many prompts as possible. Keep score on a big sheet of paper where everyone can see it. The competitive energy between teams is what makes this game unforgettable.

For younger kids, simplify the prompts: “reindeer,” “snowman,” “Santa.” For adults, make them harder: “Scrooge being visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past” or “Clark Griswold’s Christmas light display.”

2. White Elephant Gift Exchange

White Elephant is the heart of many Christmas parties, and there’s a reason it endures. Everyone brings one wrapped gift (usually with a price limit of $15-25). Players draw numbers to determine order. You can either open a new gift or steal someone else’s already-opened one.

Rules That Make It Better

• Three-steal limit: After a gift has been stolen three times, it’s “frozen” and can’t be taken again. This prevents the same hot item from circling endlessly.
• No immediate steal-backs: If someone steals your gift, you can’t steal it back right away. You have to pick a different gift or open a new one.
• Blind swap option: At the very end, the person who went first gets one final chance to swap their gift with anyone else’s. This balances the first-pick disadvantage.

Gift Ideas That Create Drama

The best White Elephant games have a mix of genuinely good gifts and hilariously bad ones. A nice bottle of wine sitting next to a novelty toilet mug creates exactly the kind of tension that makes stealing interesting. Experiences work well too - movie tickets, restaurant gift cards, or a coupon for homemade cookies.

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3. Secret Santa Games

Standard Secret Santa is straightforward - draw a name, buy a gift, reveal. But you can turn the reveal into a full party game that keeps everyone guessing.

Secret Santa Guessing Game

After gifts are exchanged, everyone tries to guess who their Secret Santa was. Each person stands up, shows their gift, and guesses. If they’re right, their Secret Santa takes a penalty (an extra challenge or a silly dare). If they’re wrong, they get the penalty.

20 Questions Secret Santa

Before revealing, the gift recipient can ask their Secret Santa (who stays anonymous) up to 20 yes-or-no questions to figure out who they are. The whole room watches and helps narrow it down. It turns a simple exchange into a detective game.

4. Christmas Trivia

Trivia is perfect for Christmas because everyone thinks they know more about the holidays than they actually do. Split into teams, ask questions across different categories, and watch confident answers turn into hilarious debates.

Sample Categories and Questions

Christmas Movies:

• What is the name of the main character in “The Polar Express”? (He’s never named - he’s called “Hero Boy”)
• How many sizes too small is the Grinch’s heart? (Two)
• What does Ralphie want for Christmas in “A Christmas Story”? (Red Ryder BB gun)

Christmas Traditions:

• Which country is credited with starting the tradition of the Christmas tree? (Germany)
• What plant is traditionally hung in doorways for kissing? (Mistletoe)
• What date is Epiphany, or Three Kings’ Day? (January 6th)

Christmas Songs:

• In “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” what games was Rudolph not allowed to play? (Reindeer games)
• How many pipers piping are in “The Twelve Days of Christmas”? (11)
• Who wrote “White Christmas”? (Irving Berlin)

Christmas Food:

• What traditional Christmas drink is made with milk, cream, sugar, and eggs? (Eggnog)
• In England, what is a Christmas pudding traditionally served with? (Brandy butter or hard sauce)
• What nut is most associated with Christmas in Italy? (Chestnut)

For a deeper dive into trivia, check out our full Christmas trivia collection and our general trivia questions resource.

5. Holiday Two Truths and a Lie

Two Truths and a Lie gets a festive makeover when you limit statements to holiday experiences. Each person shares three holiday-related statements - two true, one false. Everyone else guesses which is the lie.

Example Statements

• “I once ate an entire gingerbread house in one sitting” / “I’ve been to the Rockefeller Center tree lighting” / “I accidentally set our Christmas tree on fire” (pick your lie!)
• “I’ve celebrated Christmas on a beach” / “I once gift-wrapped my cat” / “I know all the words to ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’”

The holiday theme forces people to dig into their Christmas memories, and the stories that come out are often the highlight of the party. Someone always has a wild holiday story nobody knew about.

6. Christmas Would You Rather

Would You Rather with a Christmas twist reveals a lot about people’s holiday priorities. Go around the room and pose holiday dilemmas. Everyone picks a side, and the minority group has to defend their choice.

Best Christmas Would You Rather Questions

• Would you rather have Christmas every day for a year, or never celebrate Christmas again?
• Would you rather wear an ugly Christmas sweater every day for a month, or sing a Christmas carol every time you enter a room?
• Would you rather eat only fruitcake for a week, or drink only eggnog for a week?
• Would you rather be one of Santa’s elves or one of his reindeer?
• Would you rather have a snow day every Monday in December, or get one extra week of vacation at Christmas?
• Would you rather open all your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
• Would you rather have a real Christmas tree that sheds needles everywhere, or a perfect artificial tree?
• Would you rather cook the entire Christmas dinner yourself, or do all the dishes after?

This game needs zero setup and fills time naturally between other activities. The debates that spark from certain questions can go on for minutes.

7. Christmas Song Pictionary

Like regular Pictionary, but every prompt is a Christmas song title. Players draw the song title on a whiteboard or large paper while their team tries to guess. No letters, no numbers - just pictures.

Fun Songs to Draw

Some songs are easy (“Frosty the Snowman”), some are moderate (“Rocking Around the Christmas Tree”), and some are nearly impossible (“Do They Know It’s Christmas?”). Mix difficulties to keep things interesting.

The funniest moments come when someone tries to draw abstract song titles. Watching a person attempt “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” with only stick figures and a house is comedy gold.

8. Saran Wrap Ball Game

This game has become a modern Christmas party staple. Before the party, wrap small prizes and candy in layers of plastic wrap, creating a large ball. At the party, players sit in a circle. One person unwraps the ball while the person to their left rolls dice. As soon as the dice roller gets doubles, the ball passes to them.

The pressure of racing against the dice creates frantic unwrapping, and prizes flying out of the ball draw cheers from the group. Hide a mix of items - candy, cash, gift cards, small toys, and a few joke prizes for variety.

Pro tip: Use alternating colors of plastic wrap so players can see when a new layer (and potential prize) is coming.

9. Musical Gift Pass

A holiday spin on Hot Potato. Wrap a gift in multiple layers of wrapping paper (10-15 layers). Players sit in a circle and pass the gift while Christmas music plays. When the music stops, whoever is holding the gift removes one layer of wrapping.

The final person to remove the last layer keeps the gift. To make it more interesting, hide small treats or notes with silly challenges between the layers.

10. Cookie Decorating Contest

Prepare plain sugar cookies and set up a decorating station with icing, sprinkles, and candy. Give everyone 10 minutes to create their masterpiece, then hold a vote for different categories: most beautiful, most creative, most likely to scare children, best attempt at Santa’s face.

This works for all ages and creates a relaxed, creative atmosphere between more competitive games. Plus, you end up with dessert.

11. Christmas Scattergories

Pick a letter, set a 60-second timer, and everyone writes down Christmas-related items starting with that letter. Categories might include: Christmas movie, gift idea, holiday food, Christmas song, decoration, fictional character.

After the timer, compare answers. Matching answers cancel out - only unique responses get points. The letter “S” is easy (Scrooge, stockings, snowman). The letter “Q”? That’s where the creative answers come out.

12. Holiday Minute to Win It

Fast-paced challenges that take exactly one minute each. These work as a tournament or just as quick bursts of energy between other activities.

Challenge Ideas

• Ornament Stack: Stack round Christmas ornaments on top of each other. Most stacked in 60 seconds wins.
• Candy Cane Hook: Using a candy cane in your mouth, hook other candy canes from a pile. No hands allowed.
• Gift Wrap Race: Wrap a box as neatly as possible in 60 seconds. Judge for neatness, not speed.
• Snowball Toss: Throw cotton ball “snowballs” into cups from a distance. Most in the cup wins.
• Jingle Bell Shake: Tape a tissue box filled with jingle bells to your waist. Shake them all out in 60 seconds.

These challenges get spectators laughing just as much as the participants, and the quick format means no one’s left watching for too long.

13. Jingle Bell Toss

Simple, satisfying, and surprisingly competitive. Set up a Christmas stocking or decorative bucket at varying distances. Players toss jingle bells, trying to land them inside. Assign point values based on distance, and play in teams or individually.

This game works well as a background activity that people can play at their own pace throughout the party, or as a structured competition with brackets.

14. Holiday Icebreakers

If your party includes people meeting for the first time, start with a quick icebreaker. These take 5-10 minutes and set a relaxed, fun tone for the rest of the night.

Quick Icebreaker Ideas

• Holiday Bingo: Create bingo cards with squares like “has traveled for Christmas,” “hates eggnog,” “puts up their tree before December.” Players mingle and find people who match each square.
• Gift Grab Bag Interview: Pair up randomly. Each pair has 3 minutes to learn three holiday facts about the other person. Then introduce your partner to the group.
• Worst Gift Ever: Everyone shares the worst Christmas gift they’ve ever received. Keep it anonymous for the first round and let people guess who received what.

How to Plan the Perfect Game Night

The difference between a good party and a great one comes down to pacing and preparation.

Before the Party

• Pick 3-4 games that match your group. Mix active games (charades, Minute to Win It) with seated ones (trivia, Would You Rather).
• Prepare materials in advance. Print trivia questions, cut charades prompts, wrap the Saran Wrap ball. Don’t leave setup for party night.
• Set up a game area. Clear space for active games and have a table ready for seated ones. Good lighting matters for drawing games.

During the Party

• Start with an icebreaker if not everyone knows each other. If they do, jump straight into something high-energy.
• Read the room. If a game isn’t landing, wrap it up early and move on. If people are having a blast, let it run longer than planned.
• Build breaks between games for food, drinks, and conversation. Games are better when they punctuate the evening, not dominate it.
• End on a high note. Save your best game or the gift exchange for the peak of the party, not the very end when people are leaving.

For Mixed-Age Groups

If your party includes both kids and adults, run parallel activities when needed. Kids can do cookie decorating while adults play trivia. Bring everyone together for universal games like charades or the musical gift pass.

For more holiday inspiration, explore our Christmas trivia questions or charades word lists that work for any occasion.