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Are you hosting a Christmas party or gathering this year? My family holds a big Christmas party every year, and then some of us gather during other times of the season as well. Not to mention getting together with friends and coworkers. One of my favorite parts about these gatherings are the Christmas party games we play. We have played a lot of them over the years and now I am sharing the ones that have been the biggest hits with all of you!
Best Family Christmas Party Games
Before I share our favorite family Christmas party games we have done in the past, I just want to note that these are all family friendly games, but that there are varying skill levels (reading, using scissors, etc) involved in these games. I always try to have an alternative activity for anybody who may not be able to participate in the game.
Christmas Carol Charades
We played this game last year at our family Christmas party and it was so much fun! We took some of our favorite Christmas Carols, wrote them on slips of paper and had people draw one and act it out. Whoever guessed it had to go next, or if you are worried that may hinder participation, the person who guesses correctly gets to pick someone else to go next.
The other option is to break into teams and take turns guessing. Be sure to have a fun prize for the winning team. If you don’t have a prize in the budget, we have used getting to pick their gifts first for the gift exchange as a prize in the past.
You can download a list of some of our favorite Christmas Carols to use in these games clicking here.
Christmas Carol Pictionary
If charades isn’t your game, maybe try Christmas Carol Pictionary. Use the same list of Christmas Carols to create a fun game of pictionary.
You will also need:
A dry erase board OR giant sketch pad
Markers
Timer
easel
Split into teams. Have each team take turns. The team who’s turn it is will send up one member to draw. They will have 60-90 seconds (however long your timer is) to draw the Christmas Carol using no words, numbers, or symbols and get their team mates to guess the answer. Each time their team guesses correctly they get a point. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins! This family Christmas party game is perfect for all ages, but younger players may need a bit of help.
Holiday Minute To Win It
Remember the game show Minute to Win It? I loved that show and how the challenges were all something that could be done with household items. We have had several parties where we played a holiday version of Minute to Win It. I love the collection my friend Britni at Play Party Plan has of Minute to Win It Christmas Party games.
The amount of Minute to Win It type games are endless. If you want more ideas check out these games from Happiness Is Homemade (which even includes a free printable score card).
Minute to Win It Christmas party games always seem to be a hit, and the best thing is, they do not take a ton of time, so they don’t lose people’s interest.
Wrapping Relay
Christmas party games are a big part of our family get-togethers. We played this one this year and it was a ton of fun! Once again, you will divide into two teams. Doing this, you will have set up two wrapping stations. Each team will assign every person on the team a task. From grabbing items, cutting and sizing paper, taping, labeling, place the bow, and placing it under the tree, you can come up with however many jobs you have people for. The point is that it must take the entire team to wrap one present from start to finish.
We brought random items from home, a set number of boxes and a gift bag for each team. To make it challenging, we made sure the items were strangely shaped, that some would not fit in boxes, and we made rules about how they had to put names on tags, etc. If you feel like this is a complete waste of wrapping paper (we brought a lot of our kids toys, so we just used the gifts as something for the twins to do during the gift exchange game) you could instruct your guests to bring their gifts for the white elephant/gift exchange unwrapped but in a box that does not depict what is inside. Wrap those gifts during the relay and then transfer it over to the gift exchange game.
You could time the event, but we found that our teams moved very quickly, and we had given them way too much time. You can decide what the exact rules for your wrapping relay must be, but definitely have some in place.
Secret Phrases
This one is one my sister put together when hosting a Christmas Eve dinner one year. Basically, you have a bunch of phrases. You give each of your guests one phrase. They have to work it into the conversation through out the evening without anybody catching on. The host can not “catch” someone but is welcome to play along by having their own phrase to work in.
Anybody who can get their phrase in with nobody catching on gets a small prize.
It can be hard to come up with some phrases, so I have a list that you can download and print out here. This is the Christmas version, but there are some non-Christmas phrases in it as well.
Hope you enjoy these Christmas Party Games. Let me know if you do one of them and if they turn out.
If you are looking for a great gift exchange game, check out our popular free printable one. It is a great one for family, work and more.
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