Christmas Party Game Ideas for Family Gatherings

Everyone loves a holiday party. I like to plan at least one party just for the family. My father and brother come from out of town to visit, me, my two sisters, and our families for the Christmas holidays. Party games get laughter and good times rolling at a family gathering. Here are a few suggestions for Christmas party game ideas.

Name that Carol. Remember "Name that Tune"? Well, at Christmas, we want to guess the carol. Pull out the CD player and pop one in. Divide the family into two teams and play head-to-head competition just like the game show. Play a few seconds of the Christmas carol to see who can guess it. Start with simple carols for the children in your family who are participating. Use Christmas songs recorded with words and music for them. Throw in some instrumental Christmas carols for the adults so the players won't get a hint from the words. To make the game more challenging, ask the players to name the carol and the musical artist for the songs with words accompanying the music.

Guess who? For the guests give them a series of descriptions of Christmas people. The people described are associated with Christmas in some way. They can be people from the bible, popular Christmas movies or cartoon shows. Mix it up. Throw in some easy ones for the kids, but make sure you add some tougher descriptions for the adults in the game.

Christmas Charades. A party isn't a party without a game of charades. Keep the puzzles based on Christmas. Divide into two teams again. Let each team of family members come up with five to ten puzzles for their opponents to act out. Use movie titles, songs, book titles, etc. to stump the other team.

Carol Karaoke. Choose a Christmas carol for someone else to sing for the group. Everyone will get a chance in the spotlight to bring down the house or bomb out. Choose lesser known Christmas carols to make the game a little more interesting.

Taboo Word. This game is played often at baby and bridal showers. Here, we just give it a holiday twist. As each family member arrives, give them an item like a bell or small ornament. Tell them what the taboo word will be during the party. Choose a word that people are likely to say like "tree", or "present" or "holiday". If anyone catches another person using these words, they get to take their item. The game will continue throughout the party until the end. At the end, count up the items to see who has the most. The person with the most items is the winner. Remember to suspend the taboo word rule during the games as the taboo word is likely to be used a lot at that time.

Christmas party games get people into the spirit of the season. These game ideas are just a few suggestions to get you started. Depending on how long the party lasts, you may need more ideas.