We R Christmas's Top 10 Favourite Christmas Party Games
Charades
Charades is a mainstay amongst games traditionally played at Christmas, and it is one of our favourites. This game is excellent for getting the whole family up and about and making a fool of themselves.
Charades is cheap to play, and you only need very basic equipment to partake, such as paper, a pencil, a stopwatch and a large bowl.
Another great thing about charades is that there are no limits on players, and the game can be played individually or as teams of players. This is especially fun if you and your family and friends are very competitive.
So, how do you play charades?
First, players are split into teams or remain individual.
Next, a category, such as animals, films, music, etc., should be selected. Once everyone has selected a chosen category, they should write down phrases related to these categories and place them in a large bowl or basket.
Then, teams should take turns picking out a phrase from the bowl. Here comes the fun part: The teams must act out their selections using gestures, movements, and facial expressions.
But here is the catch: You are not allowed to use your voice or write down your phrase to convey your answer.
The teams should run through as many phrases as they can in a designated time slot and be awarded points for every phrase they guess correctly.
After the party has run through all the phrases, you can begin another round—if you haven’t already descended into a good ol' family argument, that is.
In the end, the team with the most points wins and will forever be known as the Christmas champion.
Blinds Man Buff
Blinds Man Buff is another classic game played by both adults and children at Christmas time. It was traditionally an adults' game, where the person blindfolded would be “buffeted,” hence the name Blind Man's Buff. This would be a gentle push in the old sense of the word.
What’s great about this festive game is that it is completely free and not limited to a specified number of players, which means that everyone can join in the fun.
So how does one play blind man's buff?
A player is designated as “it” and blindfolded so that they can not see their surroundings or other game participants.
Then, they are spun around in a circle to disorientate them. The objective is to find the other players, but it isn’t quite that simple. The other players will call out “blind man” to alert you to their direction, but as you move closer, they will try to evade you and change their position.
Once the player designated as the “blind man” has caught another player, the roles are then reversed, and it is the new player's turn to act as the blind man.
This game effectively has no conclusive end or winner and ends when everybody has had enough of playing.
20 Questions
20 Questions is another absolutely free game that can be played by adults and children and can provide a very comical and lighthearted experience. Players must use deductive reasoning and are encouraged to be creative with their questions.
Initially invented in the United States, the game became very popular during the 1940s, and it remains a very popular game to this day, with many people having this as a staple in their Christmas day party games.
So, how is 20 Questions played, you ask?
First, a player is designated as an “answerer,” and they must choose something that the other players must ask questions about in order to guess the answer.
And, you guessed it, those asking the questions only have 20 between them to guess the correct answer.
The answerer must not lie and must answer either yes or no to each question, but in some modern versions of the game, some allow the answer of maybe.
Several new iterations of the game have been released over the years, and it is ultimately your choice which one to play.
Suppose all 20 questions have been asked, and the players still have not guessed the correct answer. In that case, the “answerer” retains his position for another round until another player can deduce the correct answer.
Pass The Parcel
Pass the Parcel is a classic British party game that is believed to have originated in medieval times. In preparation for the game, a present or multiple presents are wrapped in multiple layers of parcel paper.
The players arrange themselves in a seated circle where music is then played and the parcel is passed around the circle, after a short period of time the music is stopped and the player holding the parcel must open the top layer of wrapping paper. The player who opens the last layer of wrapping paper wins the present within.
Adults can use this game to spice up Secret Santa, where coworkers, friends or family each purchase a gift for a nominal fee and pre-wrap it. This is a lot of fun as it makes the surprise even greater as the person who purchased the present may end up with their own gift, which makes the dilemma of buying a great gift or a joke gift even harder.
Musical Chairs
Musical chairs is another time-honoured traditional party game that is often played by children at Christmas. It is not exactly known when this party game first originated, but it can be traced back to at least the 18th century.
Chairs are arranged in a circle with each child starting in a seated position. Music is then played, and the children must get up out of their seats and walk in a circle around the chairs until the music stops, but as the children are walking, a chair is removed.
Once the music stops, the children must try to get a seat as quickly as possible, this can result in friendly tussles between participants to be the winner of the chair. If a child does not win a seat, they are “out” of the game, and the next round begins. This continues until there are 2 participants left and one chair remaining in the game. The final round culminates with the eventual winner of the game. During Christmas, this child may win a small novelty prize.
Musical Statues
This is another game that originated in Britain and is played at children's parties and Christmas parties. Very similar to musical chairs, it remains a popular party game to this day, and it is one of our favourites for kids because of its simplicity.
It's free to play, and all that is required to play is a radio or music player.
The game is pretty simple: music is played, and the participants dance about until the music stops. Once the music stops, all children must freeze on the spot like a statue, and anyone who moves when the music isn’t playing is removed from the game. This cycle continues until there is only one player left in the game. As with musical chairs, a small novelty gift may be presented to the winner as an added bonus, especially at Christmas.
Celebrity Heads
Celebrity Heads is a very fun game and one of the most famous party games there is. Participants each write a celebrity name on a sticky note and place it in a bowl without showing anyone the name that is written on the piece of paper.
Players are either individual or split into teams. If in teams, a team will be picked to go first and choose a designated “clue giver” who will give them hints about the celebrity.
The clue giver can say virtually anything they want except for the name or parts of the name of the chosen celebrity, and doing so would void their turn.
When the team guesses the name correctly the cluegiver picks a piece of paper with a name written on it an the game continues.
If a celebrity name is not guessed, it goes back into the bowl and can be used later on by another team.
Ultimately, the team that has guessed the most names wins the game.
Christmas Quiz
A Christmas quiz isn’t really a game per se, but I have included it because it follows many of the same principles and is something that everyone can get involved with.
First, you need a quiz master who will devise all the Christmas-related questions, or in the modern day, you can use a quiz app that will pick questions at random.
It's probably the simplest game to explain; the people who answer the most questions at the end of the quiz win.
If people so desire, the quiz winner could be presented with a novelty gift, or if they wish the fun to continue, they can devise their own list of Christmas quiz questions.
Ring Toss (with reindeer horns)
This game is exactly as it sounds, except with a Christmas twist. In the original version of ring toss, people would have a selection of rings or hoops that they would throw at a stick and try to hook the hoop around. The ones with the lowest success get knocked out every round until there is only one. In the event of a dead heat, the contestants will play sudden death until someone misses.
Pin The Tail on Rudolph
This is a variation of the classic game pin the tail on the donkey, except the donkey is replaced with a festive Rudolph the red nose reindeer instead. This is just for fun and doesn't really have a winner, it is especially fun for children to play.
I hope you have enjoyed our top 10 list of our favourite Christmas games and provided you with lots of fun activities to enjoy with your family, friends and coworkers this Christmas.