The holidays are a special time of year. The warm glow of a decorated Christmas tree beckons, the festive scents of cinnamon and pine fill the air, and the clatter of family members preparing meals and wrapping gifts can be heard from the kitchen, filling the house with a holiday bustle. But the most treasured holiday memories are made not from the meals and the gifts, but from the moments of connection with family and friends. The holidays are a time to unwrap the magic of laughter and joyful competition. Games and playful activities fill a gathering with a spirit of fun, and Christmas games are the most fun of all. Christmas games and activities are a great way to bridge the gap between the youngest and oldest participants, and the inside jokes and memories created by a good Christmas game can last for years. There are hundreds of great Christmas games and activities, but we have chosen 20 for this guide. We have gone deeper than the standard charades. Think of this guide as a festive playbook. We hope that, burning off that extra slice of Yule log, playing a game that results in a family feud, or just a light-hearted game to spark a moment’s reflection, this guide can help you choose the right game to set the tone of Christmas right. Have fun at all the Christmas activities this year!

Table of Contents

What Makes Christmas Games So Special

Evergreen Christmas Games for Everyone

Funny & Active Games for Teens & Adults

Magical Games for Little Kids

Thematic & Strategic Games for Board Game Lovers

Easy & Quick Games for On-the-Spot Fun

Building Your Own Christmas Game Traditions

Final Thoughts: Enjoy Your Holidays

1. What Makes Christmas Games So Special

To be truthful, after opening presents, some may get deflated and lazy. Little ones may get absorbed by new devices, and grown-ups tend to sprawl out in a relaxed food coma. It’s a buzzkill. This is where a prepared host can alter the energy of the room.

There are multiple benefits to incorporating holiday games, the most important being connection. While a family member may be an aunt, uncle, or grandparent, and there may be an age gap to a teen, everyone can stand around a competitive game, and this shared experience, no matter the age, is meaningful.

Second, wonderful festive activities for families make the best and fun memories. You won’t remember what you had for Christmas dinner in 2022, but you certainly will remember the Christmas dinner when Grandpa drew the Grinch in picture Christmas Pictionary and won with his crazy accurate sketch. These fun activities become the stories and memories that you recount and treasure forever.  

Finally, these activities consume and focus energy. Christmas is exciting and overwhelming, especially for children. Meltdowns can happen easily, but when Christmas energy is focused and channeled into an organized event, it can lead to a fun, positive outlet. So, planning these activities is not child’s play, but a valuable way to make the holiday a true celebration for all.  

2. Classic holiday games that are Christmas games for all  

These are the oldest, classic Christmas party games that need little introduction. They are your dependable go-to.

Christmas Charades

Playing charades with a Christmas theme is a favorite game for many. All you have to do is take Christmas-themed activities. For example, you could have activities like “building a snowman,” “Santa stuck in the chimney,” or “Frosty the Snowman melting.” Then have the players divide into two or more teams. Then acting begins. There is beauty in the scope of this game. For younger players, you can have easier clues, and for more savvy players, you can have difficult ones.  

Holiday Trivia  

Test your players’ knowledge together on Christmas songs, movies, traditions, and festive facts. You can find trivia quizzes created individually on the internet or create a personalized version around them. You could do Trivia Blitz in rounds, where one player from each team can submit an answer like, “Finish the Lyric” from a famous Christmas carol, or “Name this Christmas Movie from a Single Screenshot.” Players can win a small incentive for a good prize, such as the first choice of dessert.

The Gift Wrap Relay

This side-splitting Christmas party game requires two teams. Each team gets a roll of wrapping paper, a box of equal size, tape, and a bow. Each team lines up. The first person must wrap the box completely before the next person in line can unwrap it. The following person re-wraps it, and it goes up and down the line. The last person has to finish the final wrap. The result of the rush to unwrap boxes and the frantic wrapping is enjoyable, making it one of the most active Christmas games.

Hilarious Active Party Games for Adults and Teens

When the toddlers have gone to bed, or you’re throwing a friends-only soirée, these Christmas games for adults increase the excitement and engagement.

White Elephant/ Dirty Santa Gift Exchange

This technique adds a fun element to gift-giving. There is a price limit, and each participant must bring one wrapped gift with no identifying markers. The players draw numbers. The first opens first, and the second decides where to put the new one. If they steal, they take the gift away, and the other player needs to choose a new gift to open. A gift can be stolen 3 times before it is frozen with the owner. The point is to play a dramatic game in which players betray each other based on whether the presents are good or bad. This game gets outrageous and is fun for everyone.

“Minute to Win It” Christmas Edition

Transform the well-known game show into a Christmas game with lots of challenges. Each obstacle needs Christmas decorations or food items. Here are a few:

Cookie Face: Move a Christmas cookie from your forehead to your mouth using only your facial muscles.

Stacking Cups: Build and break down a pyramid using red and green plastic cups.

Jingle Bell Toss: You need to throw a bunch of jingle bells into a few different containers from really far away.

This game gets everyone having fun and moving around the room.

Karaoke Christmas Showdown

Get your living room ready like it’s a stage. Get ready to make a playlist from carols to Christmas pop songs. You can perform solo, sing in a duet, or make it a family Christmas musical. Consider buying or gathering props like Santa Hats and Tinsel Boas. For extra Christmas fun, make scorecards for a judge’s panel. The goal of this Christmas musical game is to have fun, be supportive of singers and performers, and achieve that holiday cheer, especially if you feel like you will sing off-key!

4. Enchanting Christmas Games for Young Children

For little Santa’s elves, the goal is to have a little fun and joy. There are Christmas games for kids that are a double win: Christmas magic and Christmas fun with no frustration.

Santa’s Christmas Treasure Hunt

Design several simple clues guiding Santa’s little helpers on a quest for “Treasure”: it could be a plate of cookies to leave out for Santa, Christmas pajamas, or a family movie to be enjoyed together. Include images for pre-readers. This fun, interactive Christmas activity builds anticipation and wonder.

Pin the Nose on Rudolph

A classic holiday game. Just draw or print a large reindeer head and use some red pom-poms and double-sided tape for the noses. Watch the twist and the laughter when noses get placed on antlers, walls, and on the occasion, a sibling!

Christmas Bingo

For Christmas bingo, make bingo cards with everyday holiday items like candy canes, stockings, stars, presents, snowmen, and more! Use small chocolates or cereal pieces as bingo markers. Call out items, show pictures, and watch the game begin! One of the calmest and most recognition-encouraging family Christmas games. Great for patience in young minds.

5. Christmas Games for Board Game Lovers

For those who love strategy and well-made components, the world of modern board and card games offers a fantastic selection of Christmas-themed games.

Christmas Board Games

There are many holiday-themed board games like “Christmas Tree,” which is a dice-rolling decoration game, “12 Days of Christmas”, a card-drafting game, and “The Night Before Christmas”, a cooperative puzzle game. They make a calm, focused, and excellent alternative to the more chaotic party games for Christmas.

Printable Holiday Activities  

The World Wide Web is one of the most impactful inventions of all time, and one of the most incredible things you can find is holiday games you can print on the internet at no cost. For example, you can find games such as:

• Christmas Scattergories: Christmas-themed categories that all start with one letter, and players have to think of one from that category.
• Holiday Emoji Pictionary: A rap, song, or movie is Christmas-themed, and the players have to decipher the emojis to figure out what it is.  
• Who Knows the Guest Best?: A quiz about family members of the quizmaster that players have to answer.  

These games are great, printed and ready to go.  

Easy & Quick Games for On-the-Spot Fun

No-Prep Game Spontaneity  

These Christmas games are some of the most fun because no one is really sure what will happen, and they can be started at the drop of a hat with no supplies needed.  

The Alphabet Gift Game  

One of the most popular of this type of Christmas game is the Alphabet Gift Game. Everyone sits in a circle, and, one at a time, each player in the circle has to recite a growing list of Christmas gifts that they are going to get and add to the list in alphabetical order, with each round going a letter farther in the alphabet. For example, in one round, the first person has to recite a list of 1 gift they are going to get that starts with an A, and the next person has to say one gift that begins with a B, and the game continues. Each player, one at a time, has to recite the entire list made by the prior players each round. They can be as creative as they want, and it can make Christmas memorable.

20 Festive Questions

One player has to think of a Christmas-related person, place, or thing (e.g., “The Nutcracker,” “Mistletoe,” “Buddy the Elf”). The other players can ask up to 20 “yes” or “no” questions to guess what it is. This is a fantastic, quiet brain-teaser Christmas game. This is perfect for the post-dinner lull.

Christmas Story Round Robin

Start a collaborative story with the classic starter: “It was a cold Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus realized his sleigh was missing …”Go around the room, with everyone adding just one sentence. The story will take absurd, surprising, and hilarious turns as the room showcases everyone’s creativity. This game of collaborative storytelling is a perfect way to invite everyone to play gently and inclusively.

Building Your Own Christmas Game Traditions

While the games listed here are a great starting point, often the most meaningful Christmas games are the ones you invent or adapt yourself. It may be an annual puzzle you all work on together as a family over the holiday week. It could turn your neighborhood light display into a scavenger hunt where you check off specific decorations.

Having tools prepared rather than overscheduling every minute is key. Observe the energy of the room. If guests are lively and rowdy, bring out the “Minute to Win It” challenges. If guests seem cozy and are in a reflective mood, a holiday trivia round and story games usually work great. Great hosts are those who can seamlessly and intuitively fit holiday games to the current moment.

8. The Overall Conclusion: Playing is the Best Way to Celebrate the Holidays.

All in all, the games in mind are not so important when compared to the attitude in which the games are played. The objective of the games is to encourage companionship and laughter while also creating new, fond memories. Holidays that focus on consumption, whether food or gifts, tend to feel empty. The holidays, which focus on playful activities, feel much more fulfilling.

Make a small investment in planning for the holidays this year by tucking a deck of cards and a print-out of trivia questions into your holiday kit. Suggest a first silly Christmas game. Your family may groan at first, but they often thank the person for the memories they helped create. From the simplest guessing game to the most elaborate, themed competitions, playful interludes are the glue that binds the celebration together. It’s the reminder that, at its core, Christmas is about joy, and what is more joyful than playing together?

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