When our extended family started getting together around the holidays, we needed ideas for games to entertain five adults and six kids under 10. That’s how the inaugural Camino O’Keefe Rowell Extravaganza (or CORE) came to be. With a clever name, paper to keep score, and a little healthy competition, we turned classic and (not-so-classic) games into an epic battle still talked about today.
You can bring on the jolly with your own style of reindeer games. Add these 15 Christmas party games for families to your next holiday get-together, and create life-long memories for everyone (and bragging rights for the winner!).
Familiar Games with a Merry Twist
1. Christmas Movie Charades – Have everyone write down five to ten Christmas movies or characters on separate slips of paper. Then, divide into teams and play charades by acting out the scenes.
2. Guess Who? Christmas Edition – On index cards or sticky notes, write down familiar-to-your-family Christmas characters, such as Rudolph, Santa, the Grinch, and Scrooge. Or, go with a Christian-focused version, with baby Jesus, angel, Mary, shepherd, etc. Each person draws a card and places it on her forehead. Then, every player gets one minute to ask yes or no questions about their person. After 60 seconds, it’s time to guess who!
Games You Can Eat
3. Gingerbread House Decorating Contest – Provide gingerbread house kits and hold a contest to see who can decorate the best house. Variation: Use sugar cones, icing, and candy to hold a tree decorating contest instead. (Or would this be a “cone-test?”) Whatever you call it, this version works well for little kids!
4. Cookie Decorating Contest – Hold your own Holiday Baking Championship, At Home Edition. Decorate pre-baked sugar cookies with various toppings, then vote on the best-decorated cookie. Or, start from scratch and make baking the cookies part of the game. Up the ante by setting a 40-minute timer from start to finish.
5. Hooked on Candy Canes – Give each player 10 individually wrapped candy canes. Each person puts the straight end of the cane in her mouth and then tries to hook as many canes as she can. The first person to 10 wins. Variation: Turn it into a relay race with teams. Each teammate takes a turn hooking a candy cane, racing to put it in a bowl across the room before tagging the next person in. The first team to finish wins.
Minute to Win It Games
6. Jingle All the Way Relay – You’ll need plastic spoons (one for each person) and jingle bells. Divide your family members into teams. Give each team a pile of jingle bells and spoons. The object of the game is to race from one end of the room to the other filling up a bowl with jingle bells. The catch? The bells must be carried in a spoon held in a player’s mouth. No hands! The team with the most bells in the bowl wins.
7. It’s a Marshmallow World Made for Stacking – In this game, players see how many marshmallows they can stack using only their mouths. Make the game extra challenging using small marshmallows instead of larger ones. (And, yes, this can also be one of those Christmas party games for families you also get to eat.)
8. Forecast Calls for Snow – See who can toss the most cotton balls—um, snowflakes, into a bowl or cup. Does that sound as basic as a modern-day Christmas movie? Bring out the blindfolds for whiteout conditions. Or use marshmallows and toss them into someone’s mouth.
9. A Game Fit for Rudolph – Add a dab of petroleum jelly to every player’s nose and see how many red pom-poms folks can move from one plate to another. By the way, make sure everybody can say, “Look, Ma! No hands!” because it’s noses only in this one.
Games Even Your Teen Will Play (Maybe)
10. Christmas Scavenger Hunt – Create a list of holiday-themed items for players to find around the house or neighborhood. Or, better yet, save your energy for these Christmas party games for families, and use our already-created Spirited Christmas Scavenger Hunt printable.
11. Sounds Familiar – Play short snippets of Christmas songs and have people guess the title and artist. One point for each! Put your teen in charge and let her play DJ. She’ll probably throw in a few lesser-known Christmas songs by some of her favorite musicians.
Games for the Little Ones
12. Christmas Bingo – It’s not your Memaw’s bingo, well, unless your grandmother is Mrs. Claus. Use our Christmas Bingo printable to play different versions, such as classic straight-line bingo, four corners, or blackout.
13. Jingle All the Musical Chairs – Finally, you can force your family to hear your favorite Christmas carols in 20-second increments. So, cue up the Muppets’ “We Need a Little Christmas,” Bluey’s version of “Jingle Bells,” and (sigh) Mariah Carey. It’s a Christmas-themed musical chairs. 
14. Santa Says – Give Simon the night off and listen to what Santa says for a change. Santa says, “Touch your toes.” Santa says, “Put a cookie on a plate for me.” Santa says, “Ho-ho-hold your nose.”
15. Do You Want to Build a Snowman? – Set out the modeling clay, googly eyes, buttons, and candy pieces. Then, invite everyone to participate in a snowman-building contest.
What Christmas party games for families make your list each year?
