Do you have a favorite family game that you always play at Christmas? Another round of charades or yuletide bingo anyone? If you’re looking for some different games and activities to try this holiday season, we’ve rounded up a few fun ideas that we think will bring a little extra laughter and cheer to your festivities.
1/10
Poke a Tree Game
Get crafty and make this classic Poke A Tree game. Each section of the tree can contain either a small surprise gift for each guest to break out beneath the tissue paper or, even better, a handwritten task for them to do on the day–this could be anything from the washing up to being in charge of stoking the fire!
How To
You’ll need:
- An assortment of red and green paper cups
- Matching tissue paper
- Rubber bands
- A large foam sheet or cardboard to mount your tree on
- Craft paper for the tree trunk
- Small gifts (chocolates, mini-bath bombs, soaps etc.) or handwritten tasks
Follow Oriental Trading’s step by step instructions to assemble your tree:
To Get
Here are some other downloadables you can print off and use to create your Poke a Tree:
2/10
Christmas Day Photo Challenge
This is one sure-fire way to capture all the fun of Christmas 2022! By putting together a list of photos or videos that you’d like each of your guests to take during the day, you’ll guarantee that a whole host of special moments will be recorded – and sharing them afterwards will probably be hilarious too!
How To
No fancy cameras or equipment is needed for this fun and simple game, mobile phone cameras are the way to go! The challenge is to see how many scenarios each of your guests can capture in one day – the funnier or sillier the scenarios the better! You could print the shots off or simply share them via a dedicated WhatsApp group. And if you’re feeling particularly creative, you could put together a collage and send the images to everyone as a gift of the day.
Here are some ideas to ask your guests to photograph or video:
- Somebody wearing something Christmassy – sweater, hat, tinsel…
- Someone telling a joke
- Someone dancing
- Someone singing a Christmas carol
- The person you think is the best dressed
- Your favorite gift
- A group photo with everyone pulling their silliest face
To Buy
Print off the best shots from everyone and collate a lovely keepsake:
3/10
Guess The Christmas Smell Game
The classic smelling game with a Christmas twist! A reindeer or Santa blindfold is optional but just make sure you have a wide range of items to smell so that everyone gets a go.
How To
The object of this game is to identify what’s in a jar or box by its scent. Each player is blindfolded, given a few seconds to smell an item and then write down their guess. Players take it in turns to smell each item and the person with the most correct guesses wins.
Things you’ll need:
- Jars or boxes with lids that will keep the content’s aroma well contained until the player is ready to sniff!
- Something to use as a blindfold
- Items to smell such as pinecones, pine needles, peppermint candy, cotton balls soaked in vanilla or almond extract, cloves, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, chocolate, gingerbread, spiced dried fruit
- Pens and paper for everyone to (secretly) write down their guesses
To Buy
Take a look at this game for a ready-made, not-specifically-Christmas version:
4/10
Chopsticks Challenge
Steady hands are needed for this game of skill, and you can make it as easy or as hard as you like.
How To
- Split into two teams. Each team member needs a pair of chopsticks, and each team needs two bowls and a number of marbles/sweets/peanuts/marshmallows. You can make this game easier by varying the objects. Marbles are hardest, marshmallows are the easiest!
- Place the bowls about 2 metres apart on tables or chairs.
- Put your chosen objects in one of the bowls.
- When you call "start", each player must pick up one of his objects, using only their chopsticks, and carry it to the empty bowl. They then return for the next object, and so on until they have moved all objects safely across.
- The first person to move all their objects, wins the heat.
- Continue until all team members have had their turn.
Important Rules
- Hands must not be used at any time!
- If an object is dropped, it must be picked up and put back in the first bowl.
- You are only allowed to move one object at a time.
To Buy
If fine-motorskills games are your thing, take a look at this board game that’s full of tricky tasks.
5/10
The Random Action Game
We think this one is perfectly hilarious and will be remembered for years to come. It’s all about doing random things at random times and seeing who can guess who is doing what. Sounds simple?
How To
When each guest arrives for lunch, give them an action that they need to perform over the course of the day and everyone else has to guess it. Examples include:
- Randomly sing a song when anyone says the word Christmas
- Do a small jig when anyone eats a sweet or chocolate
- Call out Happy Christmas when someone leaves the room
- Sit down when someone opens a present
To Get
Talking of random games, this one is all about the most random and ridiculous:
6/10
Christmas Family Trivia
Get to really know the faces around the table with a rousing game of family trivia.
How To
Have everyone write down a little-known fact about themselves when they arrive, then read them out after dessert. You could also ask everyone to guess which fun fact belongs to who. It's a game and bonding experience all rolled into one!
To Buy
This card game lets you ask your family members questions to find out some funny things about each other.
7/10
The Strike-A-Pose Challenge
Take your most Instagram-worthy pics this Christmas with a DIY photo booth.
An over-sized frame is the perfect prop for guests to strike their best pose for the camera and the kids will have endless fun trying to pull their funniest faces!
How To
Tape lengths of sturdy card together to create big frame (we suggest approximately 60cm x 90cm) and have everyone join in to decorate it with sparkly pens, paper holly, lettering and ribbon. You can make it as bold and colorful as you like, or perhaps a more sophisticated design is your thing. Either way, don’t forget to include a huge "Merry Christmas 2022" message at the top!
To Buy
Purchase some Christmas themed photo frames here:
8/10
Christmas Heads Up
This is the game with the sticky notes on foreheads. It’s a guaranteed laugh fest in our experience!
How To
Write the name of classic Christmas or movie characters on sticky notes and have each player paste one to their forehead without looking at what it says. Everyone takes their turn to ask questions about their character until they feel ready to guess who they are.
To Buy
9/10
Snowman Paper Plate Game
This game is all about the best snowman drawing but the catch is that you can’t see what you’re drawing!
How To
- Pass out plain, white paper plates to everyone playing the game
- Make sure everyone has a black marker pen – other pens and pencils don’t work so well
- Everyone places the paper plate on their heads and can’t take them down until the game host is finished reading the drawing instructions.
- The host then reads game directions for the players to draw on the paper plates (on their heads!).
- The one who draws the best snowman wins the game!
Here are some suggested instructions:
-
- We are going to draw a snowman scene. Draw a line for the ground.
- On top of the ground, draw a large circle for the bottom of the snowman.
- On top of the large circle, draw a medium circle for the body of the snowman.
- On top of the medium circle, draw a smaller circle for the snowman's head.
- Draw a top hat on top of the small circle.
- Add three buttons to the middle circle.
- Add eyes and a coal mouth to the top circle.
- Draw a carrot nose on the top circle.
- Add two stick arms to either side of the medium circle.
- Draw a scarf on the snowman.
- Now, look at your snowman drawing!
10/10
Christmas Movies Emoji Game
Have a go at Play Party Plan’s brilliant Christmas Emoji Game. It’s a Christmas movie enthusiast’s dream!
How To
Use the free print out and distribute a copy to each player. The emojis symbolize the name of a Christmas movie but who will be able to decode them?
To Buy
Emoji-fanatics will love this card game, all about collecting emoji cards to win the challenge.
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