30+ Christmas Party Games & Activities

Christmas Party Game & Activity Ideas

Keep guests merrily engaged from arrival to the last cookie with these Christmas party games and activities:

1. Candy Cane Hunt: Hide candy canes around your home or yard for guests to find — similar to an Easter egg hunt. Whoever collects the most wins. Works equally well for kids and competitive adults.

2. Secret Santa Gift Exchange: Organize a Secret Santa exchange where guests draw names and give a small surprise gift to their assigned person. Get Secret Santa gift ideas here!

3. Holiday Costume Contest: Encourage guests to dress as their favorite holiday characters — Santa, elves, reindeer, snowmen, or the Grinch. Award prizes for best costume, most creative, and funniest.

4. Christmas Cookie Swap: Ask guests to bring their favorite homemade holiday cookies to exchange with others. Provide festive boxes or bags so everyone goes home with a beautiful variety.

5. Cheerful Charitable Giving: Encourage guests to bring gift donations for a local charity, or set up a station for guests to assemble care packages for families in need. A wonderful way to weave the spirit of giving into your celebration.

6. Gift Wrapping Relay: Divide guests into teams and race to wrap and decorate a gift the fastest. Provide all the supplies and a timer. The results are always hilariously good.

7. Christmas Card Exchange: Ask guests to bring a stack of holiday cards. Everyone exchanges and personalizes cards to send to loved ones. A simple and meaningful activity that doubles as a party favor.

8. DIY Christmas Craft Station: Set up a crafting station with materials for making holiday ornaments, wreaths, or personalized cards. A craft station gives guests something to do on arrival and ensures everyone goes home with a handmade keepsake.

9. Sleigh-larious Charades: A festive twist on classic charades, where players act out Christmas-themed words or phrases without speaking. The wilder the acting, the better the laughs.

10. Reindeer Games: Host reindeer-themed games like Pin the Nose on Rudolph, Antler Ring Toss, and Pass the Antlers (played like hot potato). Get more Reindeer Games ideas here.

11. Christmas Story Charades: Instead of individual words, act out scenes from popular Christmas movies or stories and have guests guess the title. Classic movies, animated specials, and beloved holiday books all work perfectly.

12. Christmas Light Tour: Organize a walking or driving tour of local neighborhoods known for impressive Christmas light displays. Bring hot cocoa and a scoring sheet to rate each house.

13. Holiday Bingo: Print our Christmas bingo cards featuring holiday-related images or words. Use small candies or holiday-themed tokens as markers, and call out items for players to find. Great for all ages and large groups.

14. Guess the Number of Ornaments: Fill a clear jar with holiday ornaments and invite guests to guess how many are inside. The closest guess wins the jar. Simple to set up and endlessly entertaining.

15. Christmas Carol Karaoke: Set up a karaoke machine or app and let guests belt out their favorite Christmas songs. Festive, hilarious, and guaranteed to get everyone in the holiday spirit.

16. Holiday Scavenger Hunt: Print Christmas-themed clue cards and hide them around your home or venue for a festive scavenger hunt. Guests can work in teams to solve clues and find hidden prizes.

17. Festive Photo Booth: Set up a photo booth with holiday props, funny signs, and a festive backdrop. Provide an instant printer or a QR code to a shared album so guests leave with a physical keepsake.

18. Holiday Pictionary: Play a holiday-themed version of Pictionary where participants draw and guess Christmas-related words or phrases. Team Pictionary works especially well for larger groups.

19. Mistletoe Mad Libs: Create Christmas-themed Mad Libs with fill-in-the-blank holiday stories. Guests take turns supplying the words, and the resulting tales are always hilariously unexpected.

20. Christmas Cookie Decorating: Set up a decorating station with plain cookies, frosting, sprinkles, chocolate chips, colored icing, and edible ink markers. Works equally well as a structured contest or a free-form creative activity.

21. Gingerbread House Decorating: Provide gingerbread house kits, plenty of icing, and an assortment of candies for guests to decorate their own houses. Award prizes for most creative, most elaborate, and most structurally questionable.

22. Christmas Carol Sing-Along: Gather around and sing holiday favorites together. Print song lyrics on festive cards so everyone can follow along. Add a round of carols on the doorstep for the full experience.

23. Festive Puzzle Race: Give each team or individual a holiday-themed jigsaw puzzle of the same size and see who can complete it fastest. Add a timer and a prize to raise the stakes.

24. Jolly Jeopardy: Set up a Christmas-themed Jeopardy game with categories covering holiday traditions, movies, music, trivia, and pop culture. Free templates are easy to find online and can be customized for your group.

25. Christmas Storytelling: Have guests take turns sharing their favorite holiday memory or a funny family Christmas story. Works beautifully as a table activity during a holiday dinner.

26. Christmas Trivia: Test guests' knowledge of holiday facts, movie quotes, and musical history with a Christmas trivia game. Category-based rounds keep things moving and give everyone a chance to shine.

27. Merry Movie Marathon: Set up a cozy viewing area with blankets and pillows and screen classic Christmas movies. Offer popcorn, hot cocoa, and holiday-themed snacks to match each film.

28. Christmas Movie Bingo: Create bingo cards with common Christmas movie clichés or scenes: someone saying "Merry Christmas," a character wearing a Santa hat, a first kiss under the mistletoe. Guests mark their cards as they watch, and first to bingo wins a prize.

29. Holiday Word Search: Print out Christmas-themed word search puzzles for guests to enjoy during slower moments, between activities, or as a quiet option for those who prefer something low-key.

30. White Elephant Gift Exchange: Everyone brings a wrapped anonymous gift. Guests take turns selecting or stealing gifts from previous openers, adding an element of strategy and surprise that gets more competitive with every round. Get White Elephant gift ideas here.

31. Wine Tasting: For an adult holiday gathering, raise your glasses to the season with a curated wine tasting. Assign each bottle a number, have guests rate and guess each variety, and reveal the results over dessert.

32. Santa Says: A Christmas spin on Simon Says, where one guest plays "Santa" and issues commands that the others must follow... but only if they start with "Santa says." Quick, silly, and perfect for younger guests or as a rowdy group warm-up game.

33. Holiday Heads Up: Use the Heads Up app (or create your own cards) with Christmas-themed categories like Christmas movies, holiday songs, and gift exchange terms. Guests hold a card to their forehead and guess the word based on their team's clues. Fast-paced, loud, and genuinely hilarious.

Ready to coordinate all the sign-ups for your Christmas party games? Create a free SignUp to assign activity leaders, manage RSVPs, and coordinate potluck contributions... all in one shareable link.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are the best Christmas party games for adults?

A: The best Christmas party games for adults are ones with just enough competition and humor to get everyone engaged. Top picks include White Elephant Gift Exchange, Carol-oke, Holiday Jeopardy, Wine Tasting, Mistletoe Mad Libs, and Holiday Heads Up. For larger groups, games where everyone plays at once (like Bingo or Movie Bingo) tend to keep the energy high throughout the party.

Q: What are fun Christmas party games for kids?

A: Kids love active, hands-on Christmas party games. Top picks include Candy Cane Hunt, Reindeer Games, Santa Says, Gingerbread House Decorating, Cookie Decorating, Holiday Scavenger Hunt, and DIY Craft Stations. Keep rounds short and prizes festive, and consider printing our free Christmas activity sheets for quieter moments.

Q: How do I organize a White Elephant gift exchange for a Christmas party?

A: Create a free SignUp to collect participant names, set a price limit, and share the rules before the party. Use it to confirm RSVPs and automatically remind guests to bring a wrapped gift. 

You May Also Like:

Christmas Activity Sheets & Coloring Pages

Christmas Party Food Craft Ideas

SignUp's Christmas Planning Center

About the Author

Tara McAdams

Digital Marketing Manager, Content Strategist & Creator

Tara leads content strategy at SignUp and creates a variety of resources on a wide range of topics, including lifestyle trends, prep for holidays, volunteer management, and event planning. More about Tara →