38 Christmas Party Games for Adults, Families and Kids

The best Christmas party games need no setup, no shopping trip and no explaining twice — you say the rules in one sentence and the room is already playing. Below are Christmas party games sorted by who is actually in the room: adults, the whole family, small kids, and the work party where half the guests would rather be somewhere else. Every one has been stripped back to the shortest version that still works.

The Left Right Christmas Game (With a Story to Read Out)

This is the one people ask for by name, and it is the easiest game here. Everyone sits in a circle holding a wrapped gift. Someone reads the story aloud. Every time they say the word "left", you pass your gift to the left. Every time they say "right", you pass it right. Whatever you are holding when the story ends is yours to keep.

The only skill is in the reading — go faster than people expect and slow down on the long sentences so nobody settles.

The Story of the Wright Family Christmas

It was Christmas Eve, and the Wright family had left it far too late to start cooking. Grandma Wright walked right into the kitchen, took one right look at the empty counter and left again without a word.

"Someone left the turkey in the car," said Uncle Wright, who had right away decided this was not his problem. He turned left, then right, then left again, and discovered he had forgotten where he parked.

Little Sarah Wright left her shoes by the door, went right upstairs, and came right back down wearing her mother's boots on the wrong feet — the left on the right and the right on the left.

By eight o'clock the turkey was found, the potatoes were burned, and nobody could remember who had left the oven on. Grandma Wright poured herself a right large glass of something and announced that next year they were going out.

And that is exactly what the Wright family did. They left.

Read it twice if the group is big — the second round is always faster and louder than the first.

Christmas Games for Adults

These assume a drink in one hand and no patience for a long explanation.

1. Guess the Christmas song from the terrible hum. One person hums, badly, no words. First to shout the title wins. Nobody is allowed to complain about the humming.
2. The gift wrap race with one hand. Everyone wraps a real present using one hand only. Judged on how badly it went. Tape is allowed and will not help.
3. Christmas movie quotes. Read a line, name the film. Start with the obvious ones and watch someone confidently name the wrong movie in front of everyone.
4. Two truths and a Christmas lie. Three Christmas stories about yourself, one invented. The group votes. The best players tell the truth in the least believable way.
5. Name that ornament. Everyone brings one ornament from home. They go in a pile. Guess whose is whose. It gets personal faster than you would think.
6. The reverse Secret Santa. Everyone brings the worst thing they own, wrapped. Same rules as normal, considerably better outcomes.
7. Christmas song karaoke, but the wrong genre. Draw a carol and a genre — death metal, sea shanty, lullaby. Perform accordingly.
8. How many baubles in the jar. The oldest game in the world and it still stops a room. Closest guess takes the jar.
9. Charades, Christmas edition. Word list further down this page.

10. Who am I, festive version. A name on a sticky note on the forehead — Santa, the Grinch, a reindeer, Mariah Carey. Yes or no questions only.

Family Christmas Games Everyone Can Play

The test of a family game is whether a seven-year-old and a grandparent can both win it.

1. The present pass. The Left Right game above. It works from age four upward and needs nothing but wrapped gifts.
2. Christmas charades. Acting is the great equalizer — nobody is good at it.
3. Build the snowman. Teams, one roll of toilet paper, one volunteer. Best snowman wins. Decorations from around the room.
4. The memory tray. Twenty Christmas objects on a tray, thirty seconds to look, then covered. Write down what you remember.
5. Christmas bingo with what is in the room. Make cards from things that will happen: someone mentions the traffic, a cracker joke gets a groan, the dog eats something it should not.
6. Sing the next line. Play four seconds of a carol, pause, everyone sings the next line. Chaos is the point.
7. The story where everyone adds a sentence. Start with "On Christmas Eve, the reindeer went on strike." Go round the circle.
8. Guess what is in the stocking. Feel through the fabric, no looking. Works with anything from an orange to a stapler.

Childrens Christmas Games (and Games for Kids)

Short, loud, and over before anyone loses interest.

1. Pin the nose on the reindeer. Blindfold, paper nose, drawn reindeer. Unbeatable for the under-sevens.

2. Reindeer antler ring toss. Antler headband on one child, rings thrown by the others. Adults may not join in and will want to.
3. Musical statues to Christmas songs. Stop the music, freeze. Anyone who moves is out and becomes a judge, which they enjoy more.
4. The candy cane hunt. Hide them, set a timer, count them at the end.
5. Snowball fight indoors. Rolled-up socks or paper. Two teams, a line down the middle, clear it in three minutes.
6. Decorate the person. Tinsel, paper chains, whatever is left over. One child stands still, the rest decorate. Photograph it.
7. The elf says. Simon Says with Santa's elf. Silly instructions only.
8. Christmas jokes round. Everyone has to tell one. Our kids joke generator has hundreds if nobody can think of any.

Office Christmas Party Games for Work

The hardest room in the world. These are chosen to work with people who did not want to come.

1. Desk decorating contest. Judged on the last day. Cheap, voluntary, and the competitive ones do all the work.
2. Guess the baby photo. Everyone submits one. It runs itself and gets people talking who never talk.

3. The bad gift exchange. Strict five-dollar limit and the worse the better.
4. Christmas emoji quiz. Films or songs written in emoji on a slide. Teams of four.
5. Two-minute Christmas trivia. Short enough that nobody dreads it.
6. The wrapping station relay. Teams wrap, one person wraps, one holds, one cuts. Timed.

Christmas Charades: A Word List You Can Just Read Out

Cut these into strips or read them off a phone.

Easy: snowman · reindeer · Christmas tree · Santa · elf · presents · sleigh · snow angel · carolers · gingerbread cookie Harder: the Grinch · Home Alone · a turkey that will not fit in the oven · putting up the lights · untangling the lights · a cracker joke nobody laughs at · the mall parking lot on Christmas Eve · a cat in the tree Films: Elf · Die Hard · The Polar Express · Love Actually · A Christmas Carol · The Muppet Christmas Carol Songs: Jingle Bells · Last Christmas · All I Want for Christmas Is You · Silent Night · Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

How to Play White Elephant

Everyone brings one wrapped gift to a set budget and puts it in a pile. Draw numbers. Player one opens a gift. Player two can either open a new gift or steal player one's. Anyone stolen from opens a new one. A gift can usually be stolen twice before it is frozen, and player one gets a final swap at the end.

The whole game lives on that steal rule, so agree the limit before you start — two steals is the version most groups mean.

Games That Take Under Two Minutes

For when the room needs restarting rather than a whole activity.

1. Stack the cookies. One hand, highest tower.
2. The bauble and spoon race. Down the hallway, back again.
3. Unwrap with oven gloves on. A small present, heavily taped.
4. Blow the wrapping paper across the table. Straws only.
5. Name ten Christmas songs in thirty seconds. Harder than it sounds under pressure.
6. Would you rather, Christmas edition. Our would you rather generator works for this all year.