19 Christmas Party Games With Free Printables That Can Handle Your Uncle After Three Glasses

These 19 christmas party games are sorted for one specific reality: your living room contains a seven-year-old who has eaten six mince pies, an adult who has strong opinions about everything, and at least one person who claims they hate games but will absolutely play if you phrase it right.

Printables are sized for standard cardstock, active games need nothing but people, and every single one has been chosen because it keeps the room warm without starting a family incident.

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1. Christmas Trivia in Three Rounds

Split the room into teams and run three back-to-back quiz rounds: one on Christmas films, one on festive facts and traditions, and one on Christmas number-one singles.

Each round is a separate sheet, so you hand them out one at a time and collect before moving on. Teams write answers in secret, swap sheets to mark, and the host reads from the answer key aloud.

Print one sheet per team per round, plus one key per round for the host. Six to twenty players works well. Each round runs about eight minutes, so the full game lands under thirty. You need pens and a tiebreaker question ready for the inevitable dead heat.

The common problem is one team finishing fast and loudly announcing it. Tell every team to keep writing until time is called, even if they think they are done. It stops the pressure and quietly buys the slower tables another forty seconds.

2. Wrapping Paper Relay

Divide into two teams. Each team gets an empty box, a roll of wrapping paper, a strip of tape and thirty seconds per person.

The relay baton is the box itself: the first player wraps it however they can in thirty seconds, then passes it still wrapped to the next player, who wraps over the top of the previous layer.

After everyone has wrapped, a judge awards a point for neatest job and a point for thickest result.

No printing needed for this one. You need one box per team (shoe-box size works), one roll of bargain wrapping paper per team, tape, and a timer on your phone. Six to sixteen players, twenty minutes total including the judging argument. Clear a bit of floor or use a dining table.

Tape dispensers disappear at critical moments. Pre-tear four strips of tape per player and stick them to the edge of a table before the game starts. It keeps the pace up and stops the relay grinding to a halt while someone wrestles with a dispenser.

3. Carol Lyric Finish

Each card shows the opening line of a well-known Christmas carol with the final word or phrase blanked out. Players fill in the blank from memory. The twist: if you get it wrong but your answer rhymes and scans correctly, the host can award a half-point, which keeps the competitive adults generous and gives the children a fighting chance.

Print the sheet and cut along the marked lines to get six cards. One card per player or per pair. Works for four to thirty people, runs in about ten minutes and needs nothing except pens. The fill-in format means there is a real answer, so the key is on the sheet for the host to check quietly.

Adults consistently misspell carol titles and then argue the blank was unfair. Keep the wording on the card literal: the first line of the carol exactly as it is sung, no paraphrasing. Ambiguity is where the argument lives.

4. The Memory Tray of Things From Under the Tree

Arrange twelve to fifteen small gift-related objects on a tray: a bow, a gift tag, a candy cane, a small bauble, a pine cone, a nutcracker, a piece of ribbon and so on.

Give everyone sixty seconds to study the tray, then cover it with a tea towel. Players write down everything they remember. The person with the most correct items wins.

No printing needed. You need a large tray or board, a tea towel, twelve to fifteen small objects from around the house, paper and pens. Works for five to thirty people. Total game time: about fifteen minutes including the reveal and the inevitable dispute over whether a candy cane and a striped stick are the same item.

Make the reveal theatrical: remove the tea towel and read the official list aloud so players can self-mark. If you just say the answers verbally, three people will claim they wrote something they did not. The list on paper, read slowly, closes the argument before it opens.

5. Christmas Movie Quote Quiz

Players read fifteen film quotes and write down which Christmas movie each line comes from. The quotes range from lines a five-year-old would know to ones that only the person who has seen Gremlins seventeen times will get right. That spread is intentional: it keeps the room competitive without making anyone feel stupid.

Print one sheet per player. Works solo or in pairs. Fifteen questions run about twelve minutes. Pens only, no other setup. The answer key is on a separate section of the same printable, torn off and kept by the host before handing out sheets.

The argument this game always generates is over films with more than one title (Die Hard is Christmas, Die Hard is not Christmas). Pre-empt it by adding a note at the top of the sheet: only films listed by their original release title count.

Then make your own decision about Die Hard and commit to it publicly before the game starts.

6. Pass the Parcel for Adults

Same childhood mechanic, upgraded contents. Wrap a central prize in ten to fifteen layers.

Between each layer of paper, tuck a dare, a forfeit or a small treat: a chocolate, a miniature, a printed question the unwrapper must answer aloud, or a task like “do your best impression of a carol singer in the cold.”

Music stops, person unwraps one layer, does what the slip says, music resumes.

No printing needed if you write the forfeits by hand on slips of paper as you wrap. Prepare the parcel in advance: it takes about twenty minutes to assemble properly. Works for six to twenty players.

Run it for about fifteen minutes before the music cuts out. You need a music source with a pause button and a willing DJ who isn’t playing.

Adults unconsciously slow-unwrap to avoid the forfeit. Keep the layers thin (one sheet of paper, not three) so each stop takes under ten seconds and the pacing stays quick. If someone genuinely won’t do their forfeit, the slip passes to the next person and the parcel continues.

7. Holiday Would You Rather

Each card poses a Christmas-specific dilemma with two equally unappealing or equally appealing options. “Would you rather spend Christmas Day entirely alone with a perfect meal, or surrounded by everyone you love eating cereal?” Players read their card aloud and the group votes or debates. No wrong answer, no personal information required, and the argument it generates is entirely harmless.

Print and cut into six cards. One card per person or pair, passed around the table. Works for any number from four upward. No pens needed: this is a talking game. Total time is flexible, usually fifteen to twenty-five minutes depending on how much the group argues about option B on card three.

The only way this game stalls is if someone keeps saying “neither” or “both.” Add a house rule before starting: you must pick one, you must give a reason, and you have thirty seconds. That structure keeps even the most evasive family member in the game.

8. Sing the Advert Jingle

The host names a well-known brand whose Christmas television advert has a distinctive jingle or song, and players must sing or hum the tune. First person or team to get it right scores a point.

You can layer in difficulty by moving from famous jingles everyone knows to more obscure ones from a decade ago that only the people who watched a lot of television will remember.

No printing needed. Prepare a list of ten to fifteen brands on your phone beforehand. Works for four to thirty players. Runs about fifteen minutes. The only equipment is your own memory and a phone to play the answer clip if anyone disputes it.

Disputes will happen, specifically around whether someone hummed the right melody or “close enough.” Designate a non-playing judge before the game starts and make clear their ruling is final. If that judge happens to be the competitive relative, point out gently that judges don’t score points.

9. Christmas Bingo

Four unique bingo grids, each filled with Christmas words and images rather than numbers: think mince pie, nativity, advent calendar, elf, tinsel, mistletoe. The host calls from a separate call list, players mark off matching squares, and the first to complete a row calls it.

Because every grid is different, four players can each hold one, or teams of two to three can share.

Print all four grids and the call list. The call list lets you track what has been called so you can verify a winning card. Works for four to twenty-four players (multiple people share one grid per team). Runs twenty to thirty minutes. You need something to mark squares: coins, chocolate buttons or a pen all work.

The most common problem is the winning player calling “bingo” and nobody being able to verify it because the host lost track. Read each called item loudly and keep a physical check on the call list as you go. A pen mark on the host’s sheet takes two seconds and saves five minutes of re-calling to reconstruct what was said.

10. Guess the Christmas Scent

Prepare six small numbered jars or cups, each containing a cotton ball soaked in a different Christmas-associated scent: cinnamon, orange, clove, pine, peppermint and vanilla. Pass them around and players write their guess for each number on their tally card. No peeking at each other’s answers until everyone has smelled all six.

Print one tally card per guest. You need six small opaque cups or jars (yoghurt pots work), cotton balls and six essential oils or kitchen spices. Works for four to twenty people. Runs about fifteen minutes. Keep the cups numbered clearly so nobody confuses jar three with jar five mid-round.

The variation that works particularly well with children: replace one or two festive scents with something funny and unexpected (coffee, cheese, old book) and see who writes the most confident wrong answer. It repositions the game as a comedy rather than a test, which is exactly what you need at hour four of Christmas Day.

11. Name That Carol in Three Notes

One player hums exactly three notes from a Christmas carol. Everyone else writes their guess on the answer sheet. The host checks against the song list. Players score two points for a correct answer after three notes, one point if the hummer needs to hum three more before anyone gets it. Rotate the hummer clockwise so everyone gets a turn.

Print the song list for the hummer only (they pick any carol from the list and hum without showing it). Print one answer sheet per player for writing guesses. Works for six to twenty people. Runs about twenty minutes. No instruments needed: humming only, no lyrics, no mouthing the words.

The person who cannot carry a tune will claim the game is unfair. It isn’t: three recognisable notes from “Jingle Bells” are unmistakable even through a terrible hum. The songs on the list should all have iconic opening melodic hooks, not obscure harmonies from verse three. Keep the list to carols everyone actually knows.

12. The Boxing Day Sweepstake

Before or during Christmas dinner, each player writes their name in one box on the shared poster and predicts a specific outcome for the coming year: the date the last Christmas decoration in the house comes down, the first person to eat a selection box for breakfast, which television programme gets watched on Boxing Day afternoon.

One poster, everyone writes on it, and it lives on the fridge until the predictions can be checked.

Print one poster for the whole group. Players need a pen each and take turns writing at the poster. Works for five to thirty people. There is no set playing time: it circulates during dinner. No judging on the day, the fun is in the checking later.

This game needs no answer key: there are no right answers yet. The host simply keeps the poster somewhere visible and revisits it. The best version of this game is when someone finds the poster in February still on the fridge and reads it aloud. That is a better payoff than any prize.

13. The Sock Rummage

Fill a pillowcase or large stocking with twelve to fifteen small objects of different textures: a bottle cap, a cookie cutter, a rubber duck, a small ornament, a marble, a walnut. Players put one hand in, feel around for ten seconds and write down everything they can identify by touch alone. No looking, no second guessing aloud.

No printing needed. You need a pillowcase or oversized stocking, twelve to fifteen small objects and pens and paper for guesses. Works for four to twenty players taking turns or simultaneously if you make two stockings. Runs about fifteen minutes. Keep the objects varied enough in texture that pure luck does not win.

Time the hand-in-the-bag stage strictly. Without a timer, some players will spend ninety seconds cataloguing every object and the queue loses patience. Ten seconds in, ten seconds out, write your list. It levels the playing field and keeps the energy up.

14. Two Truths About Christmas Past

A Christmas twist on Two Truths and a Lie. Each card prompts the player to write two true Christmas memories and one completely invented one. They read all three aloud. The group votes on which is the lie. The writer scores a point for every person they fool, and the guesser scores a point for correctly identifying the lie.

Print and cut into six cards. One card per player. Works for five to twenty people. Runs twenty to thirty minutes depending on how many stories each person tells. Pens needed. This is a talking game at its core, so the card is just the prompt.

The game slows when people overthink their lie. Set a two-minute writing limit before the cards get read aloud: it stops the person who wants to craft a perfect story and keeps everyone moving. The most obvious lie is often the one nobody picks because they assume nobody would choose something so obvious.

15. Silent Night, First to Speak Loses

At a random point during the party, the host announces Silent Night. Everyone must stop speaking immediately. The last person to stop talking is already out. From that point, anyone who speaks, laughs audibly or makes any vocal sound is eliminated. The last person remaining in silence wins.

No printing needed. No equipment needed. Works for any group size. Duration is completely unpredictable: anywhere from forty-five seconds to eight minutes depending on the group. The chaos is the point. Start it when the room is already loud, which is usually right after dinner.

Children find this almost impossible, which makes them genuinely funny to watch and keeps the adults entertained without anyone needing to perform. The person most likely to win is the one who seemed least engaged with the party. That is, unexpectedly, a feature.

16. Guess the Weight of the Wrapped Gift

Wrap a single gift (or a box filled with random items to reach a specific weight) and pass it around the room. Each player holds it, has five seconds and writes their guess on the fill-in card.

Closest guess without going over wins the gift or a prize. The cards are collected, the actual weight is revealed on a kitchen scale, and the winner is read out.

Print four cards per sheet, cut apart. One card per player. Works for five to forty people. Runs about fifteen minutes including weighting and reveal. You need a wrapped gift, a kitchen scale for the reveal and something to mark the actual weight on the host’s notes before the game begins.

The game breaks down if the gift is passed too quickly or too slowly. Set a five-second rule and count aloud for each person. It keeps the room’s attention on each handoff rather than everyone chatting while the gift circles the room unnoticed.

17. Christmas Charades Cards

Standard charades with Christmas-specific prompts: films, carols, festive phrases, gifts, Christmas characters. One player draws a card and acts it out without speaking while their team guesses. Two minutes per card. The acting player cannot gesture letters or mouth words. Rotate until all cards are used or time runs out.

Print and cut into eight cards per sheet. Works for six to twenty-four players split into two or three teams. Runs thirty to forty-five minutes for a full game. No other equipment needed beyond a timer. As a christmas party game for all ages, charades scales well because even children who cannot read can act.

The argument charades always generates is over whether a gesture was legal. Set two simple rules before the game: no mouthing words, no pointing at objects in the room that match. Everything else is allowed. Post those two rules somewhere visible so the dispute has a reference point that isn’t the host’s memory.

18. Who Bought What, Guessing From the Wrapping

Before gifts are opened, lay all the wrapped presents out on a table. Players study the wrapping, the tag handwriting, the bow choices and the general aesthetic, then write down who they think bought each gift. After everything is opened and givers are revealed, compare guesses. The person who correctly matched the most gifts to their buyer wins.

No printing needed. This game runs itself during the gift-opening portion of the day. You need the actual gifts, pens and paper or the notes app on a phone. Works for any group size and costs nothing. It transforms the passive gift-opening ritual into something everyone participates in.

The only failure mode is if one person buys all the gifts and wraps them all, which removes the variation that makes guessing possible. If the host bought everything, swap the mechanic: guess what is inside each package based on size and weight, checked once it is opened.

19. The Family Quiz Nobody Can Argue With

A single quiz sheet of twenty questions where every answer is a verifiable fact: the year a classic Christmas film was released, the real name of a famous carol, the country that started a particular Christmas tradition.

No opinions, no pop culture that varies by age, no questions about films released in the last five years. The answers are checkable by anyone with a phone, which is precisely the point.

Print one sheet per player or pair. Works for four to thirty people. Runs about twenty minutes. The key tears off the bottom and stays with the host.

The design of this quiz is its own argument-proofing: factual answers exist independently of the host, so if anyone disputes an answer, they can verify it and the disagreement resolves itself.

Find a wider selection of christmas party ideas and games if you want to build a longer afternoon around it.

Questions should be specific enough to have one clear answer but not so obscure that nobody in the room has heard of the topic.

A question about the original lyrics of a famous carol hits differently from a question about the third verse of a medieval hymn nobody knows.

Target questions that at least two people at the table already know the answer to: then it feels like a fair fight.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many christmas party games should you plan for one afternoon?

Three to five games is the realistic ceiling for a four-hour gathering. Plan for two games before food, one during (something passive like the sweepstake or gift guessing), and one or two after. Build in a dropout game, something people can leave and rejoin, so the non-players do not feel trapped.

What christmas party games work for mixed ages, children and adults together?

Games with physical actions (charades, relay, memory tray) level the field because children often outperform adults at pure physicality. Avoid anything requiring reading speed or obscure pop culture knowledge for a genuinely mixed group. Bingo and scent guessing are the easiest cross-age games on this list because neither requires prior knowledge.

How do you handle a guest who refuses to join in christmas party games?

Give them a job. Judge, scorekeeper, DJ for Pass the Parcel, timekeeper for the relay. Most game-refusers are avoiding the feeling of being watched or evaluated, not the social experience itself. A role with authority removes the performance pressure and usually draws them in before the second game ends.

What is the best christmas party game for a large group of 20 or more?

Team-based games scale best: Christmas Trivia in Three Rounds, Christmas Bingo and Christmas Charades all work for twenty-plus players because the team format means nobody has to perform alone. Bingo in particular requires almost no facilitation once the cards are printed, so it runs itself while the host catches a breath.

Can you play christmas party games without printing anything?

Yes. Seven games on this list need nothing printed at all: the Memory Tray, Pass the Parcel, Wrapping Paper Relay, Sing the Advert Jingle, the Sock Rummage, Silent Night and Who Bought What. Between them they cover active, quiet and medium-energy options for any part of the day.

How do you stop christmas party games from turning into an argument?

Two rules solve most of it. First, state all rules aloud before the game starts, not during a dispute. Second, designate a non-playing judge whose decision is final before anyone picks up a pen or a prop. The argumentative guest needs a clear authority to appeal to that isn’t the host, because the host’s authority always gets challenged.