45 Fun Christmas Party Games For Groups, Adults & Kids

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Make your next Christmas party extra memorable with these hilarious Christmas party games for all ages. From silly games that will have guests laughing until their face hurts, to simple ones you can play at home with the kids.

These fun Christmas party ideas are sure to be a hit.

How To Choose Christmas Party Games

The type of game you choose depends on the crowd and the type of party.

Match the game to the group size. This is the thing most people get wrong. A gift swap or a round of charades works beautifully with 10 to 20 people and dies completely with 60, because half the room is watching while the other half waits. For big groups, you want games where everyone plays at the same time: bingo, trivia, relays and scavenger hunts.

Match it to the age mix. If it’s a kids’ party, keep it suitable for the average age of the children. Too difficult and they lose interest. Too easy and the big kids won’t bother. For a mixed crowd, Minute to Win It games work without disadvantaging anyone.

Start with an icebreaker. Even when everyone knows each other. The first fifteen minutes set the tone for the whole night, and one quick round signals that this is a games night rather than a standing-around-with-drinks night.

Consider the space and the weather. Indoor games work if you have the room. Otherwise plan for an outdoor setup that suits the conditions, which for an Australian Christmas usually means shade and something cold to drink.

There will always be a couple of people who cringe at the thought of joining in. Choose games most of your guests will love and you’ll have a party worth remembering.

You might also like to adapt some of these birthday party games for kids and balloon party games with a festive twist.

Preparing For Your Christmas Party Games

Make sure you have everything you need before the day. The last thing you want is to realise you’ve forgotten an essential prop and end up with no games at all.

While many games need minimal or no props, most will need a few materials. Most of these can be picked up cheaply at a discount store, department store or online.

If the game requires guests to bring a gift, communicate this well before the party with a reminder a day or two beforehand. And always have a couple of backup gifts, just in case someone forgets.

Don’t forget your festive treats. Try these Christmas desserts from around the world, or keep it simple with no-bake peppermint balls and white chocolate Christmas trees. A grazing platter means nobody’s stuck in the kitchen either.

Christmas Party Games For Large Groups

These are the ones that scale. Everybody plays at once, nobody stands around waiting for a turn, and they work just as well with 60 people as with 12.

1. Saran Wrap Ball Game

The Saran Wrap game is the best holiday gift game ever and works for all ages.

Wrap gifts and coal cards in cling wrap, roll the dice, then unwrap. The person unwrapping depends on what’s rolled. The ball and the dice move around the circle constantly.

For those outside the United States, Saran Wrap is a brand of cling wrap. Any will do. The fun is in how tricky it is to unwrap. I typically use a full roll.

If you get a gift, you keep it. If you get a challenge card, you have to complete the challenge before you can keep unwrapping.

For a group over about 15, run two balls at once in separate circles or it takes all night.

2. Christmas Trivia

Trivia works at any scale. Do one round as a Christmas day activity, or turn it into a full trivia night with multiple rounds and a prize for the winning team.

Great for a work party or an end of year school fundraiser, and just as good with friends and family.

I’ve put together a Christmas trivia game bundle with 10 rounds plus a warm-up round, scorecards and answers.

3. Christmas Bingo

The best large group game there is, because everyone plays simultaneously and there’s no waiting.

Perfect for a class party, a work party or keeping kids occupied while you’re prepping.

My printable Christmas bingo game has 25 unique bingo boards, which is what makes it work for big groups. For a movie night twist, try a Christmas movie bingo printable to play along as you watch.

4. Christmas Song Bingo

Same idea, but instead of pictures, players mark off Christmas songs as they hear them. Put a playlist on shuffle and let it run through the whole party in the background.

Grab my Christmas song bingo game for the printable version.

5. Guess The Christmas Song

Play the first ten seconds of a Christmas carol and see which team can name it first. No props, no setup, and it scales to any size room.

Make it harder by playing instrumental versions, or by starting the clip halfway through the song.

6. Christmas Movie Trivia

Read out a single quote or describe one scene and have teams guess the film. Easy to build yourself from whatever’s on your family’s watchlist.

9. Relay Races

Split into teams and run any festive relay: passing a bauble down the line, wrapping a person in toilet paper as a snowman, or racing with a candy cane between your teeth.

Relays are the answer whenever you’ve got more people than you know what to do with.

Christmas Party Games For Adults

For the grown-up party, the work do, or after the kids have gone to bed.

10. White Elephant Gift Exchange (Steal-A-Present)

Steal-A-Present is a fun twist on a Secret Santa exchange, without having to think hard about what to buy a specific person.

It incorporates the best bits of the White Elephant gift game, where guests bring a silly or novelty gift with the purpose of being able to swap.

Have each guest bring a wrapped, unisex gift within a set price range. Number strips of paper to match your guest count, fold them up and put them in a bag.

Each guest draws a number. Number One selects any wrapped gift and opens it. Number Two then chooses an unwrapped gift from the pile or steals Number One’s. If they steal it, Number One selects another. Play continues until everyone has a gift.

Add a rule that a gift can only be stolen two or three times, otherwise one popular gift bounces around the room for twenty minutes.

11. Most Likely To

Read out a prompt (“most likely to fall asleep after lunch”, “most likely to still be wrapping presents on Christmas Eve”) and everyone points at who they think it is.

Costs nothing, needs no props, and it gets loud fast.

12. Two Truths And A Lie, Christmas Edition

Everyone shares three Christmas stories about themselves, one of which is a lie. The group guesses which one is the lie.

A good icebreaker for a party where not everyone knows each other.

13. Christmas Drinking Games

Most games on this page turn into an adult version easily enough. Sip whenever a specific word comes up in a carol, whenever someone opens a gift and says a certain word, or whenever someone says Christmas.

Pair it with something from my Christmas cocktails list.

14. Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest

Everyone wears their worst and the group votes. Simple, and it gives people something to do before the party even starts.

My Ugly Sweater Contest Kit has voting slips and award certificates if you want to run it properly.

15. Christmas Cookoff

Guests bring their best holiday dish and try to outdo each other. Set categories for appetisers, mains and desserts, then let the group vote.

Works beautifully as a potluck alternative and everyone eats well.

16. Siamese Gift Wrap Game

Pair guests up for a gift wrapping competition to see who can wrap fastest. The catch is that each person can only use one hand.

This will have guests quickly learning to coordinate their Siamese gift wrapping skills.

17. Christmas Pass The Gift

A dice-based gift passing game where the parcel moves depending on what’s rolled. My Christmas Pass The Gift Game has the printable version with all the rules.

Christmas Party Games For Families

The ones we play at home, suitable for a mixed crowd of adults and kids.

20. Christmas Would You Rather

Works with any age group and it’s an easy option for kids, especially as an icebreaker to get past their initial shyness.

Grab the free printable Christmas would you rather game and get everyone thinking.

22. Pictionary

Split into two teams, set a 30-second timer, and have one player draw a word without speaking or writing letters. Their team guesses before time runs out. If they miss, the other team gets a chance.

Play to a set number of points. My free Christmas charades cards work perfectly for this too.

23. Oven Mitt Game

Have you ever tried opening a Christmas gift wearing oven mitts? You’re about to.

This oven mitt game is best with a smaller group, which makes it a good family option. For a bigger group, set it up with a few different gifts.

Similar to Saran Wrap in that a dice determines who gets to unwrap the next layer. Whoever unwraps the final layer keeps the gift.

24. Christmas Dice Games

Dice games work for kids’ parties, adults’ parties, class parties and family gatherings alike.

There are gift exchange versions, candy dice games, and creative ones where you build a tree or write a story.

From my store:

• Christmas Dice Gift Exchange Game
• Christmas Roll A Tree Candy Dice Game
• Christmas Roll A Snowman Dice Game
• Christmas Roll A Story

25. Musical Chairs

Give the classic a festive twist by playing Christmas songs. Arrange chairs in a circle, play music, and when it stops everyone finds a seat. Remove one chair each round.

Add a twist by making them dance their way around.

26. Ornament Guess

Before you put the ornaments on the tree, count them. As each guest arrives, have them guess the total.

Closest without going over wins a prize. Works with candy canes in a jar or anything else that’s hard to count at a glance.

27. What’s In The Stocking?

Fill a stocking with random household items and have players feel it from the outside to guess the contents. Simple, cheap, and surprisingly difficult.

28. Christmas Memory Tray

Put twenty festive items on a tray, let everyone look for one minute, cover it, then see who can list the most from memory.

Good for a quieter moment when the kids need to sit down.

Christmas Party Games For Kids

29. Freezer Bum

From the silly name to the silly way you play, Freezer Bum is a hilarious take on Junk in the Trunk.

Load an empty tissue box with ping pong balls, tie it around the waist and shake. No hands allowed. First with an empty box wins the round.

For a festive twist, use small plastic baubles instead.

30. Rudolph Race Off

This simple minute to win it style game, Rudolph Race Off, needs pom poms, some Vaseline and three bowls per player.

Transfer as many red pom pom noses as you can into the bowl using nothing but your Vaseline-covered nose. Just as funny for the adults.

31. Candy Cane Scavenger Hunt

Find all the candy canes before Santa comes. A great game for a kids’ Christmas party.

Just like an Easter egg hunt, hide candy canes around the yard or house and let them go. Add clues, or keep it simple and let them explore.

Grab my free printable candy cane hunt sign.

32. Grinch Games

There are 3 different Grinch walk games at different difficulty levels. All you need is poster board, sticky tape and ball pit balls.

Pair them with a few Grinch treats for a proper Grinch party.

33. Bauble & Spoon Races

Instead of egg and spoon, balance a Christmas bauble on a spoon and race to the other end without dropping it. If it drops, stop and pick it up before resuming.

Make it harder by sending them back to the start. Play as individuals or in relay teams.

34. Christmas Tree Punch Board Game

Kids love these DIY punch board games, and it’s easy to give it a Christmas theme by arranging the cups in a tree shape with green paper.

35. Printable Snowman Party Game

Instead of pinning a tail on a donkey, players pin the bits and pieces on a snowman. Kids can cut out the pieces too, which keeps them busy longer while you get on with the prep.

36. Pin The Nose On Rudolph

Get a large picture of Rudolph and take turns sticking red noses on while blindfolded. The classic, with a festive coat of paint.

37. Snowman Slam

Snowman Slam uses plastic cups decorated with snowman faces, stacked in a triangle. Players knock the stack down with giant pom poms. Easy and cheap.

38. Jingle Bells Toss

Glue disposable cups to a board and take turns tossing bells into them. Whoever gets the most in wins.

39. Christmas Balloon Pop

Split into teams and race to sit on and pop balloons at the far end of the room. Loud, chaotic and over quickly, which is exactly what you want with a room full of kids.

You can make this even more challenging by putting letters into the balloons so that players must race to be the first person to spell a particular word. This is often done as a baby shower game where each guest has to try and collect the letters for “BUMP” but in this case, you could do “XMAS”.

40. Pass The Parcel

The classic. One or more surprises wrapped in layers of paper. If the music stops while you’re holding it, open a layer and keep whatever falls out. Keep going until there are no layers left.

41. Christmas Piñata

Fill it with candy canes, tiny toys or goofy holiday accessories and let everyone have a go. When it bursts and the room dives for the treats, you get exactly the kind of joyful chaos that works for kids and adults both.

Office Christmas Party Games

Adding a bit of fun to the work Christmas party gets everyone involved. There’s nothing worse than the party where everyone stands around in small groups making awkward small talk.

42. Candy Cane Guessing Game

Fill a clear jar with candy canes and have everyone guess how many they think are in the jar. The closest guess is the winner.

Get my candy cane guessing game kit in my store.

44. Holiday Employee Guessing Game

The organiser secretly borrows one unique item from each employee’s desk. Something interesting enough to start a conversation, but nothing embarrassing.

Display the items on a table with numbered sticky notes. Employees write down which item they think came from whose desk. Most correct wins a prize.

A good conversation starter and a test of how observant everyone is.

45. Desk Decorating Contest

Give everyone the week before the party to decorate their desk or workspace, then vote on the winner. It builds the atmosphere for days rather than an hour.

With ideas for every age and group, these Christmas party games will bring some hilarious new memories to your holiday events. Whether you’re playing with family or turning a work party from a bore into a laugh a minute, there’s no better way to do it.

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