17 Christmas Party Games for Family, Friends and Coworkers

ArtPix 3D Editorial Team · Updated November 2026 · 8 min read

Christmas party games decide whether the evening gets loud by nine or fades out on the sofa with everyone on their phones. The hard part is the guest list: a six-year-old, a grandmother and two coworkers who have never met your family.

Choose the games before you choose between christmas party themes, because an ugly sweater party or a carol night already has a game built in.

This list covers 17 games, from a plastic wrap ball the whole family can play to christmas party games for adults that run on conversation.

Quick answer: Pick the games by your youngest and oldest guest, not by the theme. A mixed family crowd needs games with no reading and no drinking, such as a plastic wrap ball or passing presents through a story; an adults-only party can run on talk, with two truths and a lie or party bingo. Plan three or four christmas party games for a three-hour party: a loud one before food and a seated one after. Expect to spend roughly $10 to $30 on props for the whole night.

Unwrap a plastic wrap ball of small prizes

Wind small prizes into a ball of plastic wrap the size of a melon: candy, lip balm, a $5 gift card, a pair of fuzzy socks. Players sit in a circle. One unwraps wearing oven mitts while the person on their left rolls two dice, and the ball moves on at the first double. Whatever falls out is theirs. It is one of the most reliable family christmas games, because a six-year-old and a grandparent play it on equal terms. Hide the best prize in the middle.

Act out Christmas movie titles in charades

Write 30 Christmas movie and song titles on slips of paper, fold them into a hat and split the room into two teams. One player acts out a title without speaking while their team guesses against a one-minute timer on a phone. Charades needs nothing beyond paper and works at any age, as long as the youngest players have actually seen the films. Mix in a few older titles for the grandparents.

Hum carols and make your team name them

A carol hummed with closed lips is far harder to recognise than it sounds, which is the whole game. Each player draws a carol title from a bowl and hums it, no words allowed, while their team has 20 seconds to name it. Keep score on a sheet taped to the fridge. Stick to carols everyone knows: an obscure one turns the round silent.

Draw a Christmas scene on a paper plate held on your head

Hand every guest a paper plate and a marker. They hold the plate on top of their head and draw what you call out, one item at a time: a tree, a snowman beside it, a star on top, a present underneath. Nobody sees their own plate until the end, and the results are reliably terrible. Score a point for each item in roughly the right place. Few fun christmas games work this well with every age at one table.

Pass presents left and right through a Christmas story

Sit everyone in a circle, each holding a small wrapped gift. The host reads a short Christmas story in which the words left and right come up again and again, and on every one the gifts move one place that way. When the story ends, everyone keeps what they are holding. Write the story yourself in ten minutes and put your guests' names into the plot; the laughter starts the first time someone hears their own name.

Hide a pickle ornament in the tree

Hang a green glass pickle ornament deep in the tree while the guests are out of the room. The first person to spot it wins a small prize or opens the first present. Green on green, it takes longer to find than anyone expects. For a bigger group, hide five ornaments in different colours, each worth a different number of points, and keep the hunt going until all five are found.

Wrap a teammate up as a snowman

Give each team of three a roll of toilet paper, a scarf and a few paper circles for eyes and buttons. One player stands still while the others wrap them into a snowman in three minutes. A guest who did not play picks the winner. Among christmas games for family gatherings, this one gets the adults down on the floor with the kids, and it costs almost nothing.

Hook candy canes without using your hands

Each player holds a candy cane in their mouth by the straight end and uses the hook to lift other canes out of a bowl, hands behind their back. Whoever moves the most in one minute wins. Buy wrapped canes, so the ones that hit the floor can still be eaten. With a big group, run it as a team relay with 30-second turns.

Toss rings onto reindeer antlers

One player wears a headband with soft antlers while their teammates throw rings from about six feet away and try to land them on the points. Inflatable antler sets often come with the rings in the box. The wearer can move their head to help, which is half the comedy. It is one of the fun christmas party games that is as good to watch as to play, so move the throwing line back for the adults and give the kids a chance.

Write a trivia quiz about your own family's Christmases

Generic trivia turns up on every list of Christmas games and party ideas, and it is forgotten by dessert. A quiz about your own family is not: which year the tree fell over, who burned the turkey, what Grandpa gives everyone every single year. Write 15 questions, read them aloud and let teams of mixed generations answer on paper. The older guests know the history and the younger ones know the last few years, so nobody sits it out.

Play bingo with things that happen at the party

Make bingo cards where each square is something likely to happen tonight: someone mentions the weather, the dog steals food, a carol plays twice, a child falls asleep on a coat. Guests mark squares as the evening goes and shout when they finish a row. It runs in the background without stopping dinner, which makes it one of the easiest christmas party ideas for a host who is also cooking. Print the cards before anyone arrives.

Hold an ugly sweater contest with secret ballots

If the invitation already says ugly sweaters, turn the dress code into a contest. Run several categories, such as ugliest, most lights and best homemade, so more than one guest wins. Collect votes on folded slips in a jar rather than by a show of hands, which always goes to the host's best friend. Announce the winners after dessert.

Make the guests build a photo puzzle to see the picture

Heart Photo Puzzle - 75 pieces from ArtPix 3D

A photo puzzle turns a picture into a reveal: nobody knows what it shows until the last pieces go in. Our Heart Photo Puzzle has 75 pieces and no straight edges, so no one builds the border first and the table works from the picture. Save it for a photo with news in it, or a family picture from decades ago. It is the wrong choice for a quick race or for small children: the board is under eight inches across, and a heart takes longer than its count suggests.

Play two truths and a lie, Christmas edition

Of the christmas games for adults, this one needs no props at all. Each guest tells three short stories about Christmases past, two true and one invented, and the room votes on the lie. It works best at office parties and with in-laws, where people know each other a little but not well. Go first yourself, with a story that is true and sounds made up. One round per person, or it drags.

Steal gifts in a white elephant exchange

Everyone brings one wrapped gift under a set limit and draws a number. On your turn you open a new gift or steal one already opened, and the person who lost it chooses again. The stealing is what turns a swap into a game, and most groups cap it at three steals per gift so the evening ends. Agree the details first, using our white elephant rules and how to play, before the first number is drawn.

Make everyone guess their Secret Santa

Turn a Secret Santa draw into a game by tying a clue to each gift: a hobby, a hometown or the joke the giver tells every year. Recipients open their gift and get one guess at who sent it, and a right answer earns a point for both of them. It suits offices and friend groups where people know a little about each other. For what goes inside the box, these Secret Santa gifts for coworkers start at the desk.

Race to build gingerbread houses in teams

Buy one gingerbread house kit per team of three or four, set a 30-minute timer and let them build. Add one rule that makes it a game: one builder wears oven mitts, or the team can only talk through a single spokesperson. Judge on whether the roof stays on after a gentle tap on the table. The houses then decorate the room for the rest of the night.

Pick three games from this list for the crowd you actually have, and keep a fourth in reserve for when dessert runs long. If the party ends with presents, our Christmas gifts for the family bring personal photos into the exchange.

Related from ArtPix 3D

• White elephant rules and how to play
• Secret Santa gifts to impress your coworkers at the office Christmas party
• Christmas gift exchange ideas for big families