Christmas Party Games for Family, Adults and the Office
Twelve Christmas party games, white elephant rules with the steal limit, and ready-to-read Christmas charades and Would You Rather lists.
The best Christmas party games are short, need no special equipment and work for whoever turns up: a room of cousins from four to eighty, a group of friends with drinks, or a team of coworkers who only half know each other. This page has twelve games that clear that bar, marked by which crowd each one suits, the full rules for a white elephant gift exchange, a running order for the night, and three lists you can read off your phone: 45 Christmas charades ideas from easy to hard, 20 Christmas Would You Rather questions and eight Christmas movie quotes for a quick round.
Three of the games are minute-to-win-it challenges, the kind that take a minute each and use things already in a house in December: candy canes, ribbon, oven mitts, a roll of tape. The rest are talking, guessing and acting games that run straight off this page.
The twelve games at a glance
| Game | Players | Time | You need | Works for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christmas charades | 6 to 30 | 20 to 30 min | The list below, a timer | Family, adults, office |
| White elephant gift exchange | 6 to 30 | 30 to 60 min | One wrapped gift per player, numbers | Family, adults, office |
| Christmas Would You Rather | 4 to 30 | 15 min | The 20 questions below | Family, adults, office |
| Christmas movie quote round | 4 to 30 | 15 min | The quotes below | Adults, office |
| Name that carol | 4 to 30 | 15 min | Someone willing to hum | Family, office |
| Reindeer roll call | Any | 5 min | Paper and pens | Family, office |
| Candy cane hook race | Teams of 2 to 6 | 10 min | Candy canes, a table | Family, office |
| Jingle bell shake | 4 to 12 | 10 min | Tissue boxes, jingle bells, belts | Family, adults |
| Oven mitt unwrap | Teams of 2 | 10 min | Oven mitts, a small wrapped gift | Family, office |
| Christmas Pictionary | 4 to 16 | 20 min | Paper or a whiteboard | Family, adults |
| Ugly sweater contest | Everyone | 10 min | Sweaters, a vote | Adults, office |
| Christmas Fishbowl | 8 to 20 | 45 min | Slips, a bowl, a timer | Adults |
1. Christmas charades
Christmas is the easiest season for charades because everyone shares the same songs, films and rituals. Split into two teams, give each actor 60 seconds, and pick from the three lists below: one point for easy, two for medium, three for hard. The medium list leans on the films and songs every generation knows, so it is the right default for a mixed room. The charades rules guide has the standard signals, and the movies for charades list adds a Christmas genre row and 105 more titles.
2. White elephant gift exchange
The game most Christmas parties are built around. Everyone brings one wrapped gift within a price everyone agreed on beforehand (20 to 30 dollars is the common range) and draws a number. The full rules, with the three house rules that stop it dragging, are in their own section below.
3. Christmas Would You Rather
Read a question, everyone answers at once, and the minority defends their choice. It needs no setup and no teams, so it is the right opener while guests are still arriving. The 20 questions below are work-safe, which makes this the best talking game for an office party. For more, the funny Would You Rather questions keep the same light tone.
4. Christmas movie quote round
The host reads a line and the first person to name the film scores. Eight quotes take about ten minutes, and the mix below covers family films, classics and the annual argument about whether Die Hard counts. Swap in more recent films if the room is younger.
5. Name that carol
One person hums a Christmas song with their mouth closed and the room races to name it. No words, no lyrics, just the tune. Songs with a famous opening work best: Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, Rudolph, Silent Night, All I Want for Christmas Is You. It is surprisingly hard after the first five, and it works for every age.
6. Reindeer roll call
Hand out paper and give everyone 60 seconds to write down all of Santa's reindeer. The answer is nine: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph. Most adults get six or seven, and the arguments about Donner versus Donder are half the fun. It is a perfect arrival game because it needs no explanation.
7. Candy cane hook race
Each player holds one candy cane in their mouth by the straight end and uses the hook to pick up other candy canes from a table, no hands. Most canes hooked in a minute wins. Play it as a relay in teams for an office party, because it is funny to watch and nobody has to say anything.
8. Jingle bell shake
Tie an empty tissue box filled with a dozen jingle bells around each player's waist with a belt or ribbon, box at the back. Players have one minute to shake every bell out without using their hands. It is the loudest and silliest minute of the night, so save it for a family room or a crowd of friends rather than coworkers.
9. Oven mitt unwrap
Wrap a small gift in several layers of paper and tape. Pairs take turns wearing oven mitts and trying to unwrap it while the other player rolls a die; a six swaps the mitts over. Whoever tears off the last layer keeps the gift. Five minutes, one roll of tape, and a good way to give away a small prize.
10. Christmas Pictionary
Use the charades lists below as drawing prompts, or pick from the 180 words on the Pictionary words page with its random picker. Sixty seconds per drawing, teams of three or four. It suits the late part of the night when people would rather sit than act.
11. Ugly sweater contest
Ask everyone to wear their worst sweater, then vote at the end of the night. Categories make it fairer than one winner: ugliest, most homemade, best lights or sound effects. Votes go on slips in a bowl. It needs no game time, just one announcement at the finale.
12. Christmas Fishbowl
For a group of friends who stay late, play Fishbowl with Christmas slips: every player writes a Christmas film, a Christmas food and a memory from a past party. Three rounds with the same slips (describe it, one word, act it out), so by the final round everyone is miming last year's office party. Allow 45 minutes for ten players.
White elephant rules, step by step
White elephant goes by other names (Yankee swap, Dirty Santa, Thieving Secret Santa), but the core is the same: gifts get opened one at a time and the good ones get stolen. These are the rules most groups use.
- Agree on a price limit before anyone shops. Everyone brings one wrapped gift, with no name on it.
- Put the gifts in a pile and have each player draw a number.
- Player 1 opens any gift from the pile and shows it to the room.
- Each player after that chooses: steal an already opened gift from anyone, or open a new one from the pile.
- A player whose gift is stolen chooses the same way: steal a different opened gift, or open a new one.
- No immediate steal-backs: you cannot take back the gift that was just taken from you on the same turn.
- A gift is frozen after its third steal, and whoever holds it then keeps it.
- When the pile is empty, player 1, who never had a choice, may swap once with any player.
Three house rules keep it moving. Cap the price, so nobody feels bad about a 15 dollar gift next to a 60 dollar one. Keep the steal limit at three, or one popular gift will eat twenty minutes. And for groups over 25, run two circles so nobody waits half an hour for a turn. For an office, add a fourth rule: gifts must be something you would hand over in front of your manager.
A running order for a Christmas party
Seated and talking first, acting in the middle, gifts as the main event, and a vote to finish. This assumes a three to four hour party; for a two-hour office party, keep the arrival game, one minute-to-win-it game and the white elephant.
| When | Games | Why here |
|---|---|---|
| Arrival | Reindeer roll call on the table, ugly sweaters judged by eye | No setup, works while people take coats off |
| First hour | Christmas Would You Rather, the quote round | Seated games while drinks and snacks go round |
| Middle | Christmas charades, then one or two minute-to-win-it games | Everyone up and moving once the room is full |
| The main event | White elephant gift exchange | The game people came for; give it the most time |
| Late | Christmas Pictionary or Christmas Fishbowl | For the guests who stay after the gifts |
| Finale | Ugly sweater winner announced | Ends the night on a vote, not a game dying out |
For the general version with what to do when a game stalls, see the party games night checklist. If you are hosting family a month earlier, the Thanksgiving games guide uses the same approach around a long meal.
45 Christmas charades ideas
Fifteen prompts per tier. Easy ones are one gesture, medium ones are the films and songs everyone knows, and hard ones are classics and ideas that need a creative actor.
Easy Christmas charades
- Santa Claus
- Reindeer
- Snowman
- Decorating the tree
- Wrapping a present
- Snowball fight
- Elf making toys
- Candy cane
- Sleigh ride
- Opening presents
- Ice skating
- Drinking hot cocoa
- Gingerbread man
- Hanging a stocking
- Building a snowman
Medium Christmas charades
- Home Alone
- Elf
- The Grinch
- Jingle Bells
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Frosty the Snowman
- Building a gingerbread house
- Kissing under the mistletoe
- Ugly Christmas sweater
- Coming down the chimney
- Christmas carolers
- The Nutcracker
- Untangling the lights
- The Polar Express
- Writing a letter to Santa
Hard Christmas charades
- A Christmas Carol
- It's a Wonderful Life
- Die Hard
- Silent Night
- The Twelve Days of Christmas
- Scrooge
- Last Christmas
- Elf on the Shelf
- Regifting
- Secret Santa
- Stealing a gift at white elephant
- All I Want for Christmas Is You
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- A New Year's resolution
- Assembling a toy at 2 a.m.
For younger players who want more after these, the charades for kids list is sorted by age.
20 Christmas Would You Rather questions
Every question is office-safe. Skip any that the whole room answers the same way.
- Would you rather get one perfect gift, or ten random ones?
- Would you rather spend Christmas on a beach, or in a snowed-in cabin?
- Would you rather wear an ugly sweater every day in December, or never wear one again?
- Would you rather listen to only one Christmas song all month, or no Christmas music at all?
- Would you rather be one of Santa's elves, or one of his reindeer?
- Would you rather wrap every present in the house, or untangle every string of lights?
- Would you rather have Christmas dinner cooked for you, or open presents a day early?
- Would you rather have snow on Christmas morning, or no work until January?
- Would you rather give a speech at the office party, or sing a carol solo?
- Would you rather eat only gingerbread for a day, or only candy canes?
- Would you rather know every gift before you open it, or never be allowed to say thank you?
- Would you rather host Christmas for thirty people, or spend it alone with a pile of movies?
- Would you rather get coal in your stocking, or socks in every present?
- Would you rather have a real tree that sheds everywhere, or a fake tree that leans?
- Would you rather watch Home Alone every year forever, or never watch it again?
- Would you rather be stuck in an airport on Christmas Eve, or stuck in a car with your family for twelve hours?
- Would you rather have Santa's job for one night, or the Grinch's heart for one week?
- Would you rather draw your boss in Secret Santa, or have your boss draw you?
- Would you rather open presents at midnight, or wait until after breakfast?
- Would you rather lose at every game tonight, or win every game and do all the dishes?
Christmas movie quotes for a quote round
| # | Quote | Film |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keep the change, ya filthy animal. | Home Alone |
| 2 | Son of a nutcracker! | Elf |
| 3 | The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear. | Elf |
| 4 | You'll shoot your eye out. | A Christmas Story |
| 5 | Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. | It's a Wonderful Life |
| 6 | Bah! Humbug! | A Christmas Carol |
| 7 | Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. | How the Grinch Stole Christmas |
| 8 | Now I have a machine gun. Ho, ho, ho. | Die Hard |
Picking games for your crowd
Family with kids: easy charades, reindeer roll call, name that carol, the candy cane race and the oven mitt unwrap, with a kids-only white elephant at a low price limit. Adults: white elephant with the steal limit, hard charades, the quote round and Christmas Fishbowl, plus the 18+ lists on the best party games for adults page if the night goes late. Office: white elephant, Would You Rather, name that carol and team relays, with every acting game volunteers only. Six people or fewer: skip team games and play the quote round, Would You Rather and Pictionary at one table.
What usually goes wrong
Starting white elephant before everyone has arrived, which means late guests miss the one game they brought a gift for: set a start time and announce it in the invite. Letting the steal rounds run without a limit. And planning six games for a two-hour party: three is plenty, and the one people talk about afterwards is almost always the gift exchange.
FAQ
What are good Christmas party games for adults?
White elephant with a steal limit, Christmas charades with the hard list, a Christmas movie quote round, Christmas Fishbowl and an ugly sweater contest. Plan three or four games for a three-hour party, and give the white elephant the longest slot because it is the one people remember.
What are the rules of white elephant?
Everyone brings one wrapped gift within an agreed price and draws a number. Player 1 opens a gift. Each next player either steals an opened gift or opens a new one; anyone whose gift is stolen also chooses to steal or open. A gift cannot be stolen straight back, and it is frozen after its third steal. At the end, player 1 may swap once with anyone.
What are good Christmas games for an office party?
Games that are quick, work-safe and need no performing from people who do not want to: white elephant, Christmas Would You Rather, name that carol, reindeer roll call and the candy cane hook race. Keep charades to volunteers and leave anything with drinking or dares off the list.
What are easy Christmas charades ideas?
Santa Claus, reindeer, snowman, decorating the tree, wrapping a present, snowball fight, elf, candy cane, sleigh ride and opening presents. Each has one obvious gesture, which makes them right for kids, grandparents and first-time players.
What are Santa's reindeer names?
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen are the eight from the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas (where the last two appear as Dunder and Blixem). Rudolph was added in 1939, which is why he is the ninth.
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