24 Christmas Party Games for Large Groups
Getting a big group to play Christmas games is much easier when everyone has something to do. A quick team quiz can get the whole room involved; a relay needs several teams playing side by side. One person taking a turn while twenty others wait is a harder sell.
These Christmas party games for large groups include icebreakers, team games, relays and short challenges you can run at different stations. Some suit a noisy crowd of friends; others work around the dinner table with kids, teens and adults playing together.
I’ve included the supplies and rules here so you can choose a game and get it ready. Seven of the ideas also feature in our 22-game Christmas Games Bundle, if you would like the ready-made sheets and prompts.
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For around 12 to 30 guests, teams of four to six are a useful starting point. With a bigger crowd, duplicate the equipment or run several smaller games at once. Choose one arrival game, one team game and a short challenge for later; you do not need to squeeze in the whole list.
Christmas icebreakers for a big group
1. Christmas Find the Guest Bingo
Give people a reason to move beyond the relatives or coworkers they arrived with.
Best setup: Guests mingle; best when people know a few faces but not everyone.
What you need: A Find the Guest sheet and pen for each person.
How to play: Guests find someone who matches each festive prompt and write their name beside it. For a homemade version, use prompts such as “has already watched a Christmas movie this month” or “has made a gingerbread house.” Allow five minutes, then compare who found the most matches. Agree beforehand whether the same person can fill more than one space.
For your party: For a large party, limit each name to one appearance per sheet to encourage more conversations. The ready-made Christmas Find the Guest game is included in the bundle.
2. Christmas Who Am I?
This one gets people asking questions before they have even worked out who they are.
Best setup: Everyone plays at once, mingling or in small circles.
What you need: Sticky labels or slips of paper, tape and a list of familiar Christmas characters.
How to play: Give each player a character label to wear on their back without reading it. Use names your guests will recognize, such as Santa, Rudolph, the Grinch or Frosty. Players ask yes-or-no questions to discover their identity. When mingling, ask one question per person before moving on. After ten minutes, reveal any remaining identities.
For your party: Keep spare labels ready for quick guessers, and choose characters from different generations of Christmas movies and stories.
3. Don’t Say Christmas
How long can you talk at a Christmas party without saying “Christmas”?
Best setup: A background game guests can join as they arrive.
What you need: One clothespin per guest and a clearly announced finishing time.
How to play: Give each guest a clothespin to clip onto their clothing and explain the forbidden word. If someone hears another player say it, they can claim one of that person’s pins. Players with no pins can still win them back by catching someone else. Finish after 30 minutes, or at a specific point such as dinner, and count the pins.
For your party: Choose one word and explain that only conversations after joining the game count. That keeps disputes about the rules to a minimum.
4. Guess How Many Ornaments
A guessing jar gives guests something to do while coats come off and drinks are poured.
Best setup: An arrival activity with one entry per guest.
What you need: A clear container of small, unbreakable ornaments, paper slips and pens.
How to play: Count the ornaments before putting them in the container, then keep the answer hidden. Ask guests to write their name and estimate on a slip. Close entries before revealing the total. The closest guess wins; if guesses are equally close, share the win or draw between the tied names.
For your party: Use a container people can inspect from several sides. Put it away from a busy doorway so nobody blocks arriving guests.
5. Christmas This or That
Real tree or artificial? Colored lights or white? Some Christmas opinions are surprisingly firmly held.
Best setup: The whole room answers together, from their seats.
What you need: Festive pairs of choices, read aloud by a host.
How to play: Read two choices and ask guests to raise their left hand for the first or their right for the second. Try hot chocolate or eggnog, opening gifts early or sleeping in, and Christmas movies or Christmas music. Invite a few people to explain a particularly divided answer. Play eight to ten rounds without keeping score.
For your party: This works well before a team game because nobody has to perform alone. The bundle includes a ready-made Christmas This or That sheet.
Christmas team games everyone can join
6. Christmas Charades
Watching someone attempt to become a Christmas tree is often as entertaining as guessing the answer.
Best setup: Teams of four to six; one team acts while the others watch, or several games run in parallel.
What you need: Christmas prompts, a bowl, a timer and a score sheet.
How to play: One player draws a prompt and acts it out without speaking while their team guesses. Give each team 60 seconds and one point for a correct answer. Alternate teams and give everyone the same number of turns. Simple prompts include wrapping a present, putting up Christmas lights and building a snowman.
For your party: With a very big crowd, run separate games at different tables so turns come around faster. The bundle includes 30 Christmas Charades prompts.
7. Christmas Pictionary
Drawing skills are optional. A spectacularly bad sketch can make this game even better.
Best setup: Teams of four to six, with a drawing space for each simultaneous game.
What you need: Large sheets of paper or whiteboards, markers, Christmas prompts and a timer.
How to play: One teammate draws a prompt while the others guess. Allow 60 seconds, with no talking, letters or numbers. Award one point for each correct answer and change artists every turn. Start with objects such as a stocking or a candy cane before moving on to Christmas movies or songs.
For your party: The bundle includes Christmas Pictionary and a Song & Movie Pictionary version. Treat them as two difficulty levels within the same game.
8. Christmas Movie Match
A good choice when the crowd includes the person who watches every Christmas movie and the person who only knows Home Alone.
Best setup: Teams or pairs answer at their tables.
What you need: Movie-matching sheets, pens and the answer key.
How to play: Give each team the same sheet of characters and movie titles. Set a five-minute timer and ask teams to match them. Read out the answers and award one point per correct match. For a homemade round, prepare ten familiar characters and their films, with a checked answer key.
For your party: Mix ages and movie knowledge within teams. The Christmas Movie Match sheet and answer sheet are included in the bundle.
9. Finish the Christmas Carol Lyric
Ideal for the guests who claim they know every word, right up until you stop singing.
Best setup: Teams answer together; the host reads prompts to the room.
What you need: Carol prompts, pens, paper and an answer key.
How to play: Read or sing the beginning of a familiar carol line, then stop. Teams write down the missing words without calling them out. Allow about 20 seconds per answer, then move to the next prompt. After ten rounds, check answers and award one point per correct completion. You can finish by singing a favorite together.
For your party: Keep the competitive round to songs your guests are likely to recognize. The bundle includes a Finish the Christmas Carol Lyric game.
10. Christmas Scattergories
This is the game where an unusual Christmas food suddenly becomes a very useful thing to know.
Best setup: Pairs or small teams work simultaneously.
What you need: A festive category list, paper, pens and a timer.
How to play: Give everyone the same categories and choose a starting letter. Allow two minutes to find an answer for each category beginning with that letter. Categories might include Christmas food, a decoration, a winter item and something you could give as a present. Award one point for each valid answer no other team has used. Agree any disputed answers before adding the scores.
For your party: Try one practice round before keeping score. The bundle includes a Christmas Scattergories sheet.
11. Name That Christmas Tune
A few opening notes can turn a quiet table into a surprisingly competitive team.
Best setup: Teams at tables, with one host controlling the music.
What you need: A prepared playlist, a speaker, answer paper and a checked list of song titles.
How to play: Choose ten to fifteen recognizable Christmas songs and play about five seconds of each. Teams write down the title without shouting it out. Give one point for each correct title; if you also want artists, announce that extra point before starting. Use songs from different decades and check that each clip starts where you intend it to.
For a starter round, try Jingle Bells, Silent Night, Deck the Halls, Joy to the World, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Last Christmas and All I Want for Christmas Is You. Choose recordings your guests will recognize.
For your party: Keep one extra song for a tie-breaker. Test the speaker from the back of the room before guests arrive.
Also read: Family-friendly Christmas playlist.
12. Christmas Memory Tray
Everyone thinks they will remember the objects. Then the tray disappears.
Best setup: Small teams, all answering at the same time.
What you need: Ten to fifteen festive objects, a tray, a cloth, pens and paper.
How to play: Arrange items such as a ribbon, cookie cutter, ornament, gift tag, bell and Christmas card on a tray. Let guests study it for one minute without taking notes or photos, then cover it. Teams have two minutes to list as many objects as they remember. Award one point for each correct item.
For your party: For a large room, walk the tray past each table for the same amount of time before starting the answering round.
13. Christmas Photo Scavenger Hunt
The photo reveal can be the funniest part, especially when teams get creative with the same challenge.
Best setup: Teams of three to five, each with a phone.
What you need: A list of photo challenges, one phone per team and a defined playing area.
How to play: Give teams the same eight photo challenges: recreate a Christmas movie poster; pose like reindeer; photograph three different tree ornaments; make a human Christmas tree; recreate a Christmas album cover; find something red, something green and something gold in one shot; pose as a team of gift-wrapping elves; and recreate a scene from a Christmas song. Allow 15 minutes and award one point for each completed challenge. Finish with each team showing two favorite photos; give one announced bonus point for the most creative.
For your party: Set the boundaries before starting and ask permission before photographing other guests. Keep it within the party space so teams return together.
Christmas relays and active team challenges
14. Christmas Gift-Wrapping Relay
Make everyone responsible for one part of the wrapping, and even an ordinary box becomes a team challenge.
Best setup: Equal-size teams of four to six, each at a table.
What you need: An identical empty box per team, wrapping paper, tape and ribbons.
How to play: Prepare an equal-sized sheet of paper for each team. The first player folds it around the box, the next closes one end, the next closes the other, and the final player adds ribbon. For bigger teams, assign extra jobs such as taping seams or adding a gift tag. The first team to finish with the box covered and the paper secured wins.
For your party: Use pre-cut paper and tape strips so the race is about teamwork rather than waiting for scissors.
15. Ornament Spoon Relay
A festive version of the egg-and-spoon race, with considerably less cleanup.
Best setup: Equal-size teams in parallel lanes.
What you need: A spoon per player, a lightweight, unbreakable ornament per team and turning markers.
How to play: The first player walks to a marker and back with the ornament balanced on the spoon, then transfers it to the next player’s spoon. No holding the ornament in place. If it drops, the player stops, retrieves it and resumes from that spot. Every player completes the course; the first team to finish wins.
For your party: Keep the distance short indoors. In a seated version, teams pass the ornament down a line using spoons, then back again.
16. Sock Snowball Relay
All the satisfaction of snowball throwing without bringing wet snow into the living room.
Best setup: Teams of four to six, each with their own throwing line and basket.
What you need: Ten rolled-up white socks and a laundry basket per team.
How to play: Teams line up behind matching throwing marks. Each player throws one sock snowball toward the basket, then moves to the back of the line. Continue until each team has thrown all ten. Count the socks in the baskets and play three rounds, moving the baskets farther away if you want a harder finish. The highest combined score wins.
For your party: Allow a nearer line for younger players, with the same adjustment available to every team.
17. Candy Cane Fishing Relay
Those curved candy cane ends make surprisingly fiddly little fishing hooks.
Best setup: Teams at separate tables, taking short turns.
What you need: A bowl of candy canes, a hand-held candy cane hook and an empty bowl per team.
How to play: Each player has 20 seconds to transfer candy canes between bowls using only the hook of the cane held in their hand. The other hand stays off the bowls and candy. When time is up, pass the hook to the next teammate. After everyone has had one turn, count the transferred canes. The highest total wins.
For your party: Provide identical candy canes and bowl positions for each team. These canes are game equipment rather than shared snacks.
18. Reindeer Antler Ring Toss
A good choice for a Christmas games tournament because the rules take seconds to explain.
Best setup: Several team stations, with a thrower and target at each.
What you need: Antler ring-toss sets, or freestanding antler targets, and throwing-line markers.
How to play: Each player throws five rings from the marked line and scores one point for every ring that stays on an antler. Rotate through all teammates, then add the scores. If using wearable antlers, the target player stays still and swaps roles after the round. Play a second round from slightly farther away if teams tie.
For your party: Use soft rings with wearable targets. Several sets let a large group play without forming one long queue.
19. Stack the Presents Relay
The race gets interesting when the smallest present ends up holding up the biggest.
Best setup: Equal-size teams, with a stack-building space for each.
What you need: An identical set of six to eight empty wrapped boxes per team.
How to play: Put each team’s boxes at one end of a short course. Players take turns carrying one box to the building area and adding it to their tower. They may rearrange boxes on their own turn, but teammates stay behind the start line. If a tower falls, the current player rebuilds before the next turn. The first complete tower to stand for five seconds wins.
For your party: Use light boxes in a mix of sizes, with the same selection for every team.
Short Christmas challenges for teams and tables
20. Snow Shovel Challenge
Cotton-ball snow is much harder to feel on a spoon than you might expect.
Best setup: One station per team, with players taking 30-second turns.
What you need: Cotton balls, two bowls, a spoon and an optional eye covering per station.
How to play: Seat a player at a table with a bowl of cotton balls and an empty bowl beside it. With eyes closed or covered, they have 30 seconds to transfer as many as possible using only the spoon. A teammate counts the balls that reach the second bowl. Reset the bowls for the next player and combine the team’s scores.
For your party: Keep both bowls in easy reach and let a teammate steady them. An eyes-open version with a smaller spoon works too.
21. Jingle Bell Shake
Expect enthusiastic wiggling and very little dignity.
Best setup: One contestant per team competes at once; rotate contestants between rounds.
What you need: An empty tissue box, a secure fabric belt and eight ping-pong balls per contestant.
How to play: Attach a tissue box at each player’s waist with the opening facing outward and fill it with eight balls. Players have 60 seconds to shake the balls out without using their hands. Score one point per ball that comes out. Reset for another teammate, then total the scores after everyone has played the same number of rounds.
For your party: Leave space between contestants and clear loose balls between rounds. Ping-pong balls are easier to collect than tiny bells.
22. Jingle Bell Box Challenge
Everyone gets quiet for this one, because listening is the whole point.
Best setup: Teams work at separate tables, with an identical set of boxes at each.
What you need: Five opaque boxes per team, filled with one, two, three, four and five identical bells, plus an optional sixth box for a tie-breaker.
How to play: Mark the boxes with letters and keep a record of their contents. Without opening them, teams shake and listen, then arrange them from fewest to most bells. Allow two minutes. Award one point for each box in the correct position. For a tie-breaker, ask teams to identify the exact number of bells in a sixth box.
For your party: Use matching boxes and bells so differences in the containers do not give the answer away. Run this before turning the music back up.
23. Christmas Paper Plate Drawing Challenge
You may be able to draw a snowman. Can you draw one without seeing your drawing?
Best setup: Everyone draws simultaneously; teams judge the results together.
What you need: A paper plate and a washable marker per person.
How to play: Players hold a plate on top of their head while the host gives instructions: draw the ground, draw three snowballs, add a hat, then a carrot nose and two arms. Nobody looks until the end. Announce the scoring afterward: one point if the snowman touches the ground, one if the hat touches its head, one for a nose inside its face and one for arms attached to its body.
For your party: Read each instruction slowly and give everyone time to finish it. Players can also draw on a table while looking away from their plate.
24. Oven Mitt Christmas Unwrapping Game
An ordinary piece of tape becomes quite an obstacle when your fingers are inside oven mitts.
Best setup: Circles of six to eight players, with a wrapped box in each circle.
What you need: A small box wrapped in several layers, a pair of oven mitts, a die and a tray per circle.
How to play: One player puts on the mitts and starts unwrapping. The next player rolls the die in the tray until they get a six, then takes the mitts and box. The following player starts rolling. Continue around the circle until someone removes the final layer and opens the box. That player wins the small prize inside, or earns a point for their team.
For your party: Use ordinary paper and tape, with no tools needed to open it. For a big party, make several similar boxes rather than putting everyone in one circle.
For help arranging teams, turns and scorekeeping for the short challenges, use my Minute to Win It party plan for 10, 20 or 30 people.
Choose a few games that fit your party
For a party where guests do not all know each other, start with Find the Guest Bingo or Christmas Who Am I? If everyone is staying seated, try Movie Match, Name That Christmas Tune or the Memory Tray game. For a competitive crowd with room to move, choose Gift-Wrapping Relay, Stack the Presents or a few team challenge stations.
If you would like another seated option, our Christmas trivia questions and answers give you a complete quiz to run for teams. For the ready-made versions of the seven featured bundle games, see the 22-game Christmas Games Bundle.
Have the supplies ready before the party, explain one practice turn when needed, and stop while people are still enjoying themselves. A couple of games that get everyone laughing will do the job.
Also read: Christmas party planning and hosting tips.
For more seasonal games and family activities, explore our Christmas games and activities.
Hello, I’m Luci, founder of Mums Make Lists. The site is full of useful and fun ideas for life and seasonal celebrations. Plus a growing selection of instantly downloadable fun printables and party planners. Read more.