Christmas Party Games

Some of the most memorable Christmas parties from the past years are ones where the host and hostess involved everyone in a few games. Here are just a few to get your guests involved in making memories of more than just your food!

Noah's Ark Game

This game is perfect for all ages, even really young guests. It is a loud game that will get everyone laughing. Everyone stands in two parallel lines facing each other. Each person in one line is given a piece of paper with an animal on it. The same animals are given to the people in the other line. After being given a few minutes to think about their responses, at the word "GO," everyone acts like their assigned animal - flapping their wings, stomping their hooves, howling like a monkey. While everyone is acting like their animal they try to find their "mate" on the opposite side of the room. The main rule to this game is no talking!

Lost Reindeer

This is a Christmas version of hiding Easter eggs. Before the party, get a number of small plastic or stuffed reindeer and hide them throughout the house. Some should be in obvious places, and some should be harder to find. Tell the children that Santa's reindeer have been lost somewhere in the house, and it is their job to find them. Each reindeer that is found can be exchanged for a small favor.

Christmas Alphabet

Give each guest a piece of paper that has the letters vertically written from A to Z. Your guests must then come up with a word for each letter that relates to Christmas. The first one that completes the list with legible words wins a gift.

Right and Left Gift Game

This game requires some preparation, but can be really funny to play. You need to write a story that will last a few minutes when read aloud contains the words "left" and "right" many times. Here is an example:

Mr. Right said that his left hand was hurting. "Your right hand?" said Mrs. Right. "No, my left hand," said Mr. Right.

All of the party participants stand in a circle, holding a small wrapped gift. I would use a small gift that each person has brought. While the host reads the story, each time the words "right" and "left" are read, the players pass the gift they are holding in that direction. When the story is done, the player gets to keep the gift that they are holding.

Find Santa's Clothes

Get a Santa outfit about the size of a beanie baby or so. Hide the various pieces of clothing like jacket, pants, boots, and cap throughout your holiday decorating. You may want to even take a photo of Santa before he lost his clothes, so that everyone has an idea of what to look for.

Everyone is given a pad and pen when they enter and told to look throughout the decorating to find Santa's clothes. When they find Santa's clothes they need to write it down and prizes can be given to the first 5 people who get everything correct. This is a way of getting everyone to see all your decorating throughout the party area. Make sure you tell your guests if there are any "off-limits" areas in your house.

If you don't have a Santa outfit, make a list of holiday items among your decorations that guests can search for and the first one to find them wins a small gift or ornamentt.

Christmas Tree Guessing Game

This game can be played in a few different ways. One way is to guess the total number of ornaments on your Christmas tree. Another way is to guess the total number of lights on the tree. You can figure this out by knowing the number of strands of lights you put on the tree and multiplying by the number of lights on each strand. Count your ornaments before you place them on the tree for the easiest way to total your ornaments. The winner of this contest is the person coming closest to the correct number without going over.