20 Fun Christmas Party Games for the Whole Family

The holiday season is fast approaching and lots of folks are planning their Christmas parties. If you want to throw a great family gathering this holiday season, you know that having some fun Christmas party games to play is essential. After all, no one should be bored at a holly jolly holiday shindig.

Whether you’re hosting family, friends, co-workers, or all of the above, every Christmas party needs some excitement. Here are 20 fun Christmas party games that everyone can play.

Family Friendly Christmas Party Games

Playing some family-friendly Christmas party games will help to engage everyone involved. It will also stave off the inevitable cries of “I’m bored” from the little ones. Make sure to have a variety of games planned so that the fun never stops.

1. Family Christmas Trivia

This game is easy to play and only requires a few items from around the house to play it. When each guest arrives, have them write down their favourite thing about Christmas on a piece of paper. Once everyone has arrived, gather around the table and read them out loud. Have everyone guess which statement belongs to which guest. This is a great way to get to know people better and start the conversation!

2. Wrapping Race

This game is a simple one. Give everyone some newspaper or old wrapping paper, a box, and some tape. See who can wrap their gift the fastest.

3. Holiday Scavenger Hunt

Print off lists of Christmas items that you have hidden around your house. Have people split into teams and give each team a checklist of items and clues. The items can be as simple as “a Christmas ornament,” or more difficult like “a blue ice scraper.” The first team to find all the items wins a prize.

4. Christmas Freeze Dance

This family-friendly Christmas party game will have everyone giggling. Christmas freeze dance is a great way to expend some energy and create some hilarious memories. Simply turn on your favourite Christmas song and get everyone up and moving. Once everyone has found their groove, pause the music and yell, “Freeze!” Whoever stops moving last is eliminated. Continue until only one person is left.

5. Ugly Sweater Contest

Invite your guests to come dressed in their best ugly Christmas sweater. They can be DIY masterpieces or store bought – the sky’s the limit. Have everyone vote, and the one wearing the tackiest sweater wins!

6. Christmas Charades

Write down several different holiday clue words and put them into a Santa hat. Select teams, then have one person from each team take turns choosing a clue and acting it out for their team. The team who guesses the most clue words correctly wins.

7. Candy Cane Hunt

Get candy canes in a variety of different flavours and colours and hide them around your house. Reminiscent of an Easter egg hunt, this game will keep the kids entertained for a while. Just make sure you don’t forget where they all are any as they’ll get rather sticky if left lying around.

8. Christmas Guess Who

Create cards with pictures of each family member then write holiday-themed questions on the back of each card. Sample questions could include, “Who has met Santa the most times?” or “Who has celebrated the fewest Christmases?” Each guest gets the card with their own face on it, and they attempt to find out which other guest is the answer to the question on the back of their card. Once each person has been guessed correctly, hang the photos on the tree.

9. Gingerbread House Competition

This is a fun game to do with all your Christmas party attendees. Have everyone split up into teams and build a gorgeous gingerbread house. You can use pre-bought kits or bake your own gingerbread in preparation for the party. The team with the most glamorous (or funniest or most brightly decorated) house wins.

10. Christmas Movie Trivia

Put together some trivia questions revolving around Christmas movies. This is a great option when you have guests with a wide variety of ages because you can pull questions from classics like It’s a Wonderful Life through to more recent Christmas movies that younger guests might be more familiar with. Have your guests split into teams and take turns answering the questions. The team with the most correct answers wins. 

11. The Gift Game

Wrap several small, inexpensive knickknacks and trinkets in different boxes with the same wrapping paper. Some gifts will be amazing and others will be useless. Start this game by having each guest select a number randomly from a hat to determine the order in which they will take their turn.

The guest who selected #1 goes first and chooses a wrapped gift from under the tree. Subsequent guests have the option of choosing a wrapped gift from under the tree or stealing a gift from someone who went before. If someone has their gift stolen, they can then choose to take a new gift from under the tree or steal someone else’s present. Each person can only be stolen from once. When everyone has their final package, go around opening the gifts one by one. This game can be hilarious as everyone either agonizes or celebrates.

12. Tree Drawing Game

For this game you will need paper plates and washable markers. Everyone puts a paper plate on top of their head and attempts to draw a fancy Christmas tree with garland, ornaments, and a star on top. The results are often hilarious and include lots of giggles.

13. What’s in Santa’s Hat?

This is another fun Christmas party guessing game. Place some Christmas ornaments, Christmas treats, or whatever other small items your heart desires into a Santa hat. Then, without peeking, have people take turns sticking their hands into the hat and try to feel what the items might be. Once everyone has had a turn touching the item, have each person guess one item at a time until all the items have been identified.

14. Christmas Bake Off

If you have bakers in the family, have them bring their favourite homemade treats or cookies. Make sure you have judges ready to taste each contribution and make a decision on whose are the best. You can make the contest a little more challenging by making a seasonal ingredient mandatory to include in each recipe. The one with the most creative, delicious, and inspiring recipe wins.

15. Snowman Bowling

Create little snowmen out of white Styrofoam cups. Simply draw a snowman face on the cups and line them up like bowling pins. Then roll a soft ball to try to knock them all over. This Christmas party game is especially fun for the little ones.

16. Guess the Holiday Scent

Choose a few signature holiday scents and put them in tightly closed jars. Have your guests put on a blindfold and take turns guessing each smell. Some ideas to get you started include cinnamon, peppermint, pine needles, or cocoa.

17. Christmas Guess

Fill vases and jars with small ornaments, Christmas candies, and even string lights. Make sure to count as you are putting the items inside. Have each player guess how many of each item are inside the vases and jars. The one closest to the actual number wins the vase or jar to take home.

18. Name That Christmas Song

Cue up and play a short clip of a Christmas song, then have your guests try to guess the name of the song. This is harder than you think, especially if you choose a short excerpt that isn’t the chorus. The winner gets to choose the next song.

19. Oven Mitt Gift Opening

This one is as hilarious as it sounds! Give each player a wrapped gift and a pair of oven mitts, then see who can rip open the wrapping paper and open their gift the fastest with bulky oven mitts on their hands. First one to open their gift wins.

20. Snow Relay

If the weather permits, have your guests bring sleds and snowsuits and head to a local hill to race. Split up into teams and take turns going down the snow hill. The first team to have all of its members slide down and climb back up the hill is the winning team. Don’t forget to bring a big thermos of hot chocolate to keep warm.

There are so many different family friendly Christmas party games that you can play at your next holiday gathering. Some will take a little effort and preparation, but others can be set up in less than a minute. No matter which Christmas party games you choose to play, your guests are sure to be thoroughly entertained and looking forward to the next gathering.