Christmas is right around the corner, and being one of the most exciting holidays of the year, everyone’s gearing up to have a fun-filled time. People would travel millions of miles across the world to be with their loved ones and share in each other’s celebrations. However, most families usually fall into a routine and when the last activity has been completed, there isn’t much left to do other than to talk, watch TV, and sleep.
Between presents, meals, desserts, movies, carols, and stories, it can be a bit of a task to keep everyone happily occupied, especially when you have guests over. The kids can’t watch movies 24 hours a day.
Christmas games are an amazing way to keep your home bustling with laughter and excitement throughout the holiday. Friendly competition and enticing games keep both kids and adults hooked when the main activities have gone by.
Here are 20 amazing games you and your family can enjoy this season. [1]
Candy Cane Hunt
Candy canes are usually part of the Christmas decorations. If you already have some, hide them around the house for the children to find, just like an Easter egg hunt.
The White Elephant
This is a really interesting game that gets everyone very excited. The White Elephant is also called Dirty Santa, and it’s played with a raffle draw. Everyone brings a wrapped gift to place in a pile. The players then sit in a circle around the gifts. If you have 20 people in the house, cut up numbers one to 20 on pieces of paper so everyone can pick a number. Whoever picks number one gets to pick a gift from the pile first. Then they open it so everyone can see what’s inside. Number two gets the choice to either take number one’s gift or pick a wrapped one, and so on.
Christmas cup tower
Everyone takes turns stacking disposable cups into a high tower without the entire thing toppling over.
Christmas Spot It! edition
You can buy the holiday edition of the Spot It! card deck for extra Christmas fun. Every deck has 55 cards with eight holiday-themed objects. Challenge everyone to play and find the matching symbols at top speed.
Ring toss
For a ring toss, all you need are hollow circles and flat-base poles. You could easily find these from left-over decoration materials, or purchase a ring toss set. Get the kids to toss as many rings as possible into the pole. You could make it more interesting by rewarding each perfect toss with a piece of candy.
Sort the ornaments game
This educational game is suitable for toddlers and pre-kindergarten children. You can build a triangular cardboard tree with circular holes in the middle, each painted a different color. Toddlers can try to match the colorful ornaments to the appropriate spaces. You could also cut out more shapes depending on the decorations you have.
Snowman drawing game
This is an interesting game that brings out the artistic talent in kids and lets everyone see how clumsy the adults are! Have your guests place a paper plate on their heads and attempt to draw a snowman standing on the ground. Click here to download the scoresheet for this game. [2]
Reindeer toss game
This game is more Christmassy than the ordinary ring toss. Find some v-shaped sticks and get rings out of the decoration pile. Mount the sticks on a box and make sure they are sturdy. Everyone tries to toss the rings onto the sticks and whoever has the highest number of rings tossed correctly wins the round.
Feed the snowman
For this amazing game, you’ll need a large piece of cardboard and some crayons. Cut out a small hole and a larger one below it and color them to resemble the mouth and belly of a snowman. You can also buy an already-made game from the store. Have your kids throw balls, circular ornaments, or even balled-up yarn at the cardboard holes. If they get them into the bigger hole, they get to sing a snowflake song. If the ball gets in the smaller hole, they get to pick their favorite song to sing.
Snowman Maze
Download the amazing Joe Wos Myths and Monster: 50 Mazes for kids so the kids will enjoy a brain-racking Christmas puzzle during the holiday. Don’t forget to supply crayons and cookies!
Christmas-edition monopoly
Monopoly is a great excitement booster and an educational way to keep an entire family occupied for hours. Be sure to use a Christmas-themed monopoly set.
Christmas Trivia Game
Question: What name is given to small sausages wrapped in bacon, a staple at a British Christmas dinner?
Answer: Pigs in blankets!
Log onto Ice Breaker Ideas to find “121 Interesting Christmas Trivia” questions and answers. [3] Everyone gets to have so much fun and possibly learn a few things along the way.
The Saran Wrap
This is an exciting game that requires at least two people to play. Get a pile of gifts and wrap them tightly in a saran plastic wrap. Wrap one gift at a time with a long roll of wrap separating it from the next gift so they’ll be hard to free from the thick ball. The first player begins to rapidly unwrap the gifts while the second player tries to get a pair of doubles from rolling dice. Once doubles turn up, the roles are switched and it continues this way until all the gifts are out.
Guess the Christmas smell
Let’s see who’s got the sharpest sense of smell! Find some Christmassy spices, leaves, and ingredients and place them in a bowl. Pine, nutmeg, and peppermint are some of the most common ones. Everyone has to pick an item out of the bowl and try to guess the scent — blindfolded.
Antler ring toss
Get one person to wear the reindeer headband while others try to toss inflatable rubber rings onto the antlers. The person with the highest number of tosses wins the round.
Christmas Jigsaw puzzle
Puzzles are amazing and they get everyone working together to build a final, rewarding image. For Christmas, you could get a puzzle themed with Santa checking his list or Mrs. Claus waving goodbye as he leaves. Get everyone to play in groups so the children can learn the value of teamwork.
What’s in Santa’s hat?
Everyone has to guess what’s inside Santa’s hat without getting a peek; they have to feel the outside and make their guesses. Ornaments, cookies, watches, candy, and other items could be stuffed into hats and long stockings. This game is great for kids but adults can also play.
Cookie decorating game
This is a cute way for adults to get out of their cookie decorating duties. Bake a batch of cookies in different shapes and set up a decoration contest. Whoever makes the most creative cookie gets a prize at the end, and everyone gets to eat or swap the cookies they decorated.
Christmas Family Feud game
Bring the game show to your living room by dividing everyone into two groups. The first group gets to scream out answers to trivia questions until they get one wrong. The next group then takes their turn and begins to answer until they miss one. The group with the highest number of questions correctly answered wins the game. Nothing builds up the spirit of family togetherness like a good old trivia game.
Oven mitts game
This hilarious game works just like the saran wrap game and would hopefully slow the kids down when they open their gifts. Get them into pairs; the first player wears oven mitts and tries to open a wrapped gift. This is actually pretty tough. The second player rolls two dice until a double turns up, then they switch roles and go on.
Reference:
- “29 Fun Christmas Games Your Whole Family Will Love,” Delish. December 2018.
- “Snowman Drawing Game,” That Crazy Bag Lady.
- “121 Christmas Trivia Questions & Answers, Games + Carols,” Ice Breaker Ideas. April 2019.
- “Spot It! Holiday,” Amazon.
- “Bust Kids’ Boredom With This Clever Christmas Maze,” Good Housekeeping. November 2017.
- “Christmas-opoly,” Amazon.
- “The Saran Wrap Ball Christmas Party Game Challenge,” YouTube. December 2017.
- “Vermont Christmas Company Santa & Friends Kid’s Jigsaw Puzzle 100 Pieces,” Amazon.
- “25 Interesting Christmas Facts You Probably Didn’t Know Before This Second,” Good House-keeping. September 2019.