The gingerbread cookie slid off my cousin’s forehead, bounced off his nose, and landed in his mom’s mug of cocoa. Grandpa wheezed so hard he had to set down his plate. Four-year-old Ellie screamed, “Do it again!” That was the moment I knew good xmas games for family beat any movie marathon.
Below you’ll find 19 Christmas games sorted by what you have on hand. Every one carries a tag for group size, ages and prep time, so you can scan and pick in 30 seconds. You’ll also get a big-family section, prize ideas, and printable card lists you can make yourself.
How to Pick Christmas Games That Won’t Flop
Read the room first. After a big dinner, nobody wants to sprint. Start with sit-down games, then bring out the run-around ones once the cocoa kicks in.
Here is how I tag every game:
- Group size: 2-4, 5-9, or 10+
- Prep time: 0-5 minutes, 5-15 minutes, or 15+ minutes
- Ages: the youngest age that can play without a grown-up doing the work
Three rules keep a mixed-age crowd happy:
- Prepare one easier version of each game. Pair a child with a grandparent and both of them play.
- Skip elimination. Nobody should sit out for 20 minutes holding a candy cane.
- Leave 20 minutes between games for eating and mingling.
Set a price cap before any gift exchange. Keep prizes in a bag by the door so you aren’t hunting for them mid-game.
If you only have 20 minutes: play Christmas Charades (#1), Candy Cane Spoons (#3) and Gingerbread Shuffle (#5). That’s three games, almost no supplies, and a lot of noise.
Zero-Prep Christmas Games You Can Start Right Now
These need paper, a pen and a phone timer. Nothing to buy. Nothing to set up.
1. Christmas Charades
Group: 4-20 | Ages: 5+ | Prep: 5 minutes
Write 30 Christmas words on slips of paper. Try “Grinch,” “snow angel,” “eggnog,” “tangled lights” and “Santa stuck in chimney. Split into two teams.
One player draws a slip and acts it out with no talking. Their team has 60 seconds to guess, and the first team to 10 points wins.
For little kids, use picture slips and let them act out animals like reindeer. Grandparents get easy ones too.
2. Christmas Song Pictionary
Group: 4-12 | Ages: 6+ | Prep: 5 minutes
Same setup as charades, but players draw song titles. “Jingle Bells,” “Let It Snow” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” all work. Rounds last one minute, and drawers can’t use letters or numbers.
For a silly twist, blindfold the drawer and have them sketch on a paper plate. The results are awful, and everyone loves them.
3. Candy Cane Spoons
Group: 4-8 | Ages: 7+ | Prep: 2 minutes
Use a deck of cards and one fewer candy cane than you have players. Deal four cards each. Everyone passes one card at a time, trying to collect four of a kind. Once someone has them, they grab a cane, and everyone else lunges for the rest.
The player left without a cane is out for the round. Hand them a mug of cocoa as a consolation prize.
4. Christmas Name That Tune (Doo-Doo Version)
Group: 4-20 | Ages: 5+ | Prep: 0 minutes
Hum a carol with no words, just “doo-doo-doo.” Your team gets one guess per round. Give two points if they name it in the first five notes.
Play it with a phone, too. Start a carol playlist and pause after three seconds.
Minute to Win It Christmas Games (1 Minute, 1 Winner)
Each game takes 60 seconds. Set a phone timer and let everyone cheer from the sidelines. Most supplies cost under $15 total.
5. Gingerbread Shuffle
Group: 2-10 | Ages: 6+ | Prep: 2 minutes
Place a gingerbread cookie on your forehead. Wiggle your face until the cookie reaches your mouth, with no hands. The first one to eat it wins. Keep spare cookies handy, because they break.
Budget note:
A $4 box of gingerbread men covers a whole family. Crumbs are the only cleanup.
6. Candy Cane Slide
Group: 2-8 | Ages: 8+ | Prep: 3 minutes
Hold one candy cane in your mouth, hook-end out. Using only that cane, pick up as many other canes as you can in 60 seconds. Most players land three or four. Whoever hooks the most wins.
Adult supervision for this one, and keep it to older kids. Hard candy and open mouths don’t suit anyone under 8.
7. Tannenbaum Avalanche
Group: 2-8 | Ages: 4+ | Prep: 3 minutes
Give each player 21 small red plastic cups. They have 60 seconds to build the tallest tree. A pyramid with six cups on the bottom row, then five, four, three, two and one uses exactly 21.
Little kids can stack freestyle. Tall and wobbly still counts.
Cost reality:
A 50-pack of red cups runs about $5. Save them for the Christmas dinner table.
8. Mistletoe Kiss Toss
Group: 4-12 (teams of 2) | Ages: 8+ | Prep: 3 minutes
One partner unwraps Hershey’s Kisses, one at a time. The other sits two feet away and catches them in their mouth. Most catches in 60 seconds wins.
Sit the catcher down, and toss softly. Skip this one for anyone under 8, since chocolate bites make a choking risk.
Christmas Games for Big Families & Groups of 10+
Large rooms need games that keep everyone busy at once. These scale up without a pile of supplies.
9. White Elephant With the 3-Steal Rule
Group: 8-30 | Ages: 10+ | Prep: 10 minutes
Each guest brings one wrapped gift under a set price cap, usually $20. Draw numbers. Player 1 opens a gift. Each later player can open a new gift or steal an opened one.
Here are the rules that keep it fair:
- A gift locks after three steals.
- You can’t steal back the gift just taken from you.
- Player 1 gets a final swap at the end.
Keep it to older kids and adults. Little ones tend to cry when their present vanishes.
10. Lump of Coal Saran Wrap Ball
Group: 6-20 | Ages: 7+ | Prep: 20 minutes
This is the game everyone remembers. You wrap 15 to 20 small prizes into a plastic wrap ball. Players race to unwrap it while others roll dice.
What you need:
- 2 rolls of plastic wrap (200 feet each)
- 1 pair of oven mitts
- 2 dice
- 15-20 small prizes: candy bars, scratch-offs, quarters, hot cocoa packets
How to build it:
- Start with a prize in your hand and wrap plastic around it.
- Add another prize every few layers. This takes 15 to 20 minutes.
- Slip in six “coal cards” with dares from the printable, like “sing a verse of Jingle Bells” or “do your best reindeer impression.” Whoever unwraps one must do the dare.
- Seat everyone in a circle with the ball and mitts at one spot.
How to play: The first player wears the mitts and unwraps. The rest of the circle takes turns rolling the dice. When someone rolls doubles, they swap the mitts with the unwrapper and begin. Everything you peel off is yours to keep.
Common mistake: Using thick tape in the layers. Tape makes the ball impossible to unwrap in mitts. Use plastic wrap only.
Cost reality:
Around $15 to $25 for wrap, prizes and dice. Be ready for a mess of plastic. Keep a trash bag nearby.
11. Match the Gifts
Group: 10+ | Ages: 5+ | Prep: 10 minutes
Wrap two matching sets of six gifts in identical paper. Set one on each of two tables. Players from two lines step up and pick one gift at the same moment on “go.”
If both grab the same one, the pair wins a prize. If not, both put them back and go to the end of the line. It’s a pure luck game, so little kids and grandparents have equal odds.
12. Holiday Family Feud
Group: 10-30 | Ages: 8+ | Prep: 15 minutes
Before the party, text 10 relatives with 8 prompts, such as “Name something you hang on a tree.” Rank the answers by how many people gave each. Split into two teams, and have the host read each prompt.
Teams guess the top answers. Points equal the number of people who said it. Three wrong guesses is a strike, and the other team gets a chance to steal.
Christmas Games for Toddlers & Little Kids (Ages 3-8)
Shorter distances, softer rules, and prizes for everyone. For children under 4, skip small candy, balloons and tiny toys. All three are choking hazards, so adults should supervise every game here.
13. Pin the Nose on Rudolph
Group: 3-12 | Ages: 3+ | Prep: 10 minutes
Draw a big reindeer face on poster paper and tape it to the wall. Use a red pom-pom with a loop of double-sided tape as the nose. A blindfolded child gets one spin, then walks toward the poster.
Closest to the nose wins, but everyone gets a sticker. For toddlers, skip the blindfold and let them peek.
14. Christmas Scavenger Hunt
Group: 2-10 | Ages: 4+ | Prep: 15 minutes
Hide 15 to 20 wrapped candies or small treats around the house, in places a four-year-old can reach. Hand each child a basket. For under-4s, hide plush ornaments or picture cards instead of candy.
Every child keeps what they find. Nobody leaves empty-handed.
15. Fill the Stocking Relay
Group: 4-10 | Ages: 4+ | Prep: 5 minutes
Set two stockings on chairs eight feet away. Each team carries one wrapped candy at a time on a spoon. The first team to fill its stocking with five wins.
Dropped candy goes back to the start line. For toddlers, shrink the distance to three feet and use big pom-poms.
Christmas Games Teens & Adults Will Actually Play
Teens are happy to join in if you give them something to win. Point systems, bragging rights and a trophy help.
16. Higher or Lower Christmas Trivia
Group: 4-20 | Ages: 10+ | Prep: 10 minutes
Ask a number question: “How many days between Christmas and New Year’s?” Give a starting guess. Players say “higher” or “lower.” Since it is a 50/50 call, a 10-year-old can beat a trivia buff.
Write 20 questions in advance. Print them (see the printable section below).
17. Holiday Movie Bingo
Group: 2-12 | Ages: 6+ | Prep: 10 minutes
Make cards with 9 squares each: “snow falls,” “someone burns cookies,” “a dog in a Santa hat.” Players mark squares as the movie plays. First to complete three in a row yells “Ho ho ho.”
Use candy corn or chocolate chips as markers. Big kids get the same cards. Little ones just like the snacks.
Christmas Eve & Christmas Day Traditions to Repeat Every Year
These last longer than a single round. They’re the activities families ask about next year.
18. Gingerbread House Decorating & Cookie Swap
Group: 4-20 | Ages: 4+ | Prep: 15+ minutes
Buy kits at around $10 each, or bake the walls yourself. Set out bowls of candy and a pastry bag of royal icing for every two people.
Pair this with a cookie swap. Everyone brings a dozen sugar cookies and leaves with a mixed box. Add a cocoa bar with marshmallows and peppermint sticks. Hot cocoa bombs are a fun add-on for older kids.
Budget note:
Kits for ten people run about $100. Homemade walls from graham crackers and icing cost about a third of that.
19. Guess the Candy in the Jar
Group: Any | Ages: 5+ | Prep: 5 minutes
Fill a jar with Hershey’s Kisses, counting as you go. Write the number on a slip and hide it. Everyone guesses during the party. The closest wins the jar.
Save your jar and note the winner. Next year, they get a say in the rules.
Cheap Prize Ideas That Make the Games Matter
A prize doesn’t need to cost much. A $15 bag covers a night.
- Candy canes, hot cocoa packets and festive stickers
- Quarters, scratch-offs or small gift cards tucked into the saran wrap ball
- Handmade certificates: “Best Team Spirit” or “Most Creative Answer”
- A $5 dollar-store trophy that gets re-won every year
Use a no-elimination rule so younger kids always leave with something. For a sore loser, give them the job of scorekeeper. For a teen who won’t join, give them the host role.
Free Printable Christmas Game Cards
You don’t need a design tool. Ten minutes at the computer does it.
- Charades and Pictionary: 30 words, one per card, printed on cardstock
- Higher or Lower: 20 questions with answers on the back
- Family Feud: 8 prompts, each with 5 ranked answers
- Coal cards: 6 dares for the saran wrap ball
- Score sheets: one for each team
Laminate them with self-seal sheets for about $8 a pack. Store them in a bin labeled “Christmas Eve game night,” and you’ll have them next December.
One Last Round
The gingerbread cookie in my cocoa mug has become a family legend. Every year somebody asks, “Are we doing the forehead cookie again?” You don’t need all 19 games. Pick three, set a prize bag by the door, and watch your own cookie fly.
FAQ
What are the best Christmas games for a large family?
White elephant, the saran wrap ball, Match the Gifts and Holiday Family Feud scale best. They keep 10 or more players active at once. Split into two or three teams so nobody waits long for a turn.
What Christmas games can you play with no supplies?
Charades, Name That Tune and Pictionary need only paper, a pen and a phone timer. Candy Cane Spoons needs a deck of cards and a bag of candy canes.
Are these Christmas games good for mixed ages?
Yes. Shorten the distances, drop elimination and put a child with an adult on each team. That keeps ages 3 through 80 playing together.
What do you use for prizes at a family Christmas game night?
Candy canes, cocoa packets, quarters, scratch-offs and small gift cards are plenty. Handmade certificates cost nothing and get saved for years.
How long do Christmas party games take to set up?
Zero-prep games take under five minutes. Minute to Win It games take about 10 to buy and lay out. The saran wrap ball and printable trivia take 15 to 20 minutes to prepare ahead of time.