22 Christmas Games for Adults for a Grown-Up Night In

If you’ve ever sat through a party where the ‘games’ were basically just watching someone untangle fairy lights, this list of christmas games for adults is your redemption arc.

We’re talking murder mysteries, blind mulled wine tastings, escape rooms, savage hot-takes rounds, and enough competitive trivia to separate the real Christmas nerds from the people who just watched Elf once.

These are the games that actually get people off their phones, into each other’s faces (affectionately), and talking about that one round for the rest of the year.

I’ve road-tested a lot of these at my own holiday gatherings — some were absolute bangers, some were chaotic in the best way, and one (I won’t say which) ended a six-year friendship over a disputed movie-ranking (kidding… mostly).

Whether you’re hosting a cosy night in for eight or a full office party for thirty, there’s something in this lineup that’ll make your party the one everyone talks about in January.

Pull up a Christmas budget plan if you need to, grab a bottle of something festive, and let’s go.

1. Christmas Murder Mystery

Christmas Murder Mystery is hands-down the most ambitious game on this list — and absolutely worth it.

Someone’s been killed at the North Pole (or a festive country manor, or a glam hotel, depending on your kit), and every guest plays a suspect with a secret backstory, hidden motives, and scripted dialogue prompts they can follow or gleefully improvise.

Across several rounds, players mingle, question each other, reveal clues, and ultimately accuse a killer. The big reveal at the end? Pure theatre — especially when the actual murderer has spent the whole evening looking suspiciously innocent.

You can buy downloadable print-at-home kits from sites like Maple Mystery Games or Masters of Mystery — most support 6–20 players and take about two to three and a half hours when combined with dinner.

Send character booklets to guests in advance so they can get into the spirit (costumes are optional but highly encouraged).

The host can absolutely play too — most modern kits are designed so the host takes on a character role rather than just being a referee standing in the corner looking stressed.

This game works best when you commit to the bit. Put on a festive playlist, set a dress code, and maybe reward the best costume with a small prize.

Pro tip: pair it with a dinner so the food naturally creates the mingle time needed between rounds. If your group is full of big talkers and natural performers, this will be the highlight of their entire December — guaranteed.

2. Christmas Scattergories

Christmas Scattergories is the fast-thinking, letter-based word game that absolutely descends into gleeful arguments — which is exactly why it belongs at a grown-up party.

Each round, a letter is drawn at random and players have two minutes to fill in twelve Christmas-themed categories (think: Christmas movie, Christmas cocktail, something you’d find in a stocking, a carol lyric word, a festive food, a gift you’d regift…) with a word or phrase starting with that letter.

The catch: if two players write the same answer, neither scores. Only the unique ones count. Cue the outrage.

Print one sheet per player — the sheet has twelve numbered categories with a blank answer line under each, plus a small scorebox in the corner. Set a two-minute sand timer (or use a phone timer) and let everyone scribble furiously.

Read answers aloud after each round; cross out duplicates and award one point per unique answer. Play three rounds with different letters, tally totals, and crown the most creatively minded Christmas brain in the room.

The magic of this game is the reading-aloud phase — that’s where it gets chaotic and funny. Someone will inevitably argue that ‘Brandy Butter’ absolutely counts as a Christmas cocktail for the letter B, and honestly? They’re not wrong.

For a spicier variation with adults, add an ‘Adults Only’ category each round (something you’d find under the mistletoe, a gift you’d never admit you bought, etc.) and watch the room light up.

3. White Elephant / Bad Santa

White Elephant — also known as Bad Santa, Dirty Santa, or ‘the game that ended my cousin’s marriage’ (I’m joking, she’s fine) — is the gift-exchange game that rewards chaos over generosity.

Everyone brings one wrapped gift within a set price limit, and players take turns either unwrapping a new gift from the pile or stealing one that someone else has already opened. Yes, stealing is not just allowed — it’s basically the whole point.

The person whose gift gets stolen gets to unwrap a new one. Gifts can only be stolen a set number of times (usually three) before they’re ‘frozen.’

Set a budget (£10–£20 or $15–$25 works well) and a theme if you want extra laughs — ‘useful but embarrassing,’ ‘stuff from your cupboard,’ or ‘the most passive-aggressive gift possible’ all work brilliantly for an adult crowd. Draw numbers to determine turn order.

Round one, player one picks and unwraps. Each subsequent player can steal any open gift or grab a new one.

The game ends when the last gift from the pile is opened — but player one gets one final chance to steal if they want it.

Here’s the hosting secret: the funnier or more ridiculous the gifts, the better the game. Encourage people to bring things that will cause genuine debate — a novelty bottle opener, a questionable piece of art, the world’s largest bag of peanuts.

You want a room that is half delighted, half outraged at all times. For a truly unhinged variation, add a rule where stolen gifts get rewrapped first so the new recipient has to open them again blind.

4. Christmas Movie Emoji Quiz

Christmas Movie Emoji Quiz is exactly what it sounds like: a row of small picture icons representing a Christmas film title, and you have to decode what movie it is. No words, no hints — just emojis.

It sounds easy until you’re staring at a snowman, a leg, and a lamp for forty-five seconds and nothing is coming to you (it’s ‘A Christmas Story,’ by the way — you’re welcome).

This one travels the full spectrum from ‘obvious’ to ‘genuinely evil,’ and the table noise when someone finally cracks a hard one is absolutely worth it.

Print one sheet per player. Each numbered clue is a row of small illustrated emoji-style icons — actual picture symbols, not words — followed by a blank answer line.

Run it as either a silent solo race (first to finish wins) or as a team challenge where groups huddle and confer. Set a 10-minute timer to keep energy high.

Answers are checked against the answer key at the bottom of the sheet in small light-grey italic text. Award one point per correct answer; bonus point for the fastest finisher.

This game is brilliant as a warm-up before a bigger game, or as a quiet filler while people are still arriving.

A great variation for a competitive group: cover the answer key on everyone’s sheet with a sticky note, collect all sheets at the end, and mark them as a host for a proper reveal moment.

For the real sadists in the room, swap out some of the easier films for deep-cut classics like ‘The Holiday,’ ‘Klaus,’ or ‘Trading Places’ and watch the table descend into respectful chaos.

5. Blind Mulled Wine Tasting

Blind Mulled Wine Tasting takes the classic sommelier challenge — guess the wine without seeing the label — and makes it gloriously festive.

Instead of fancy Burgundy vs Bordeaux, you’re comparing three to five mulled wines, each made to a different recipe (different spice blends, different base wines, different sweetness levels), all numbered and served in identical mugs or glasses with labels hidden.

Guests taste each one, note their impressions, and score them on spice intensity, sweetness, and overall ‘Christmas-ness’ (yes, that’s a category now). Then they rank them and try to identify the base wine or standout ingredient.

The host prepares the mulled wines in advance — you can use a slow cooker to keep them warm throughout the evening.

A classic version uses a Merlot base with cinnamon sticks, star anise, and orange zest; a wild version might use a spiced cider base or swap the traditional red for a white wine mulled situation.

Wrap each jug or decanter in foil so no one can sneak a look at the bottle label. Give everyone a simple scorecard (spice level 1–5, sweetness 1–5, would-drink-again yes/no) and a pen. Reveal the recipes at the end and announce who scored highest.

This game is secretly educational AND an excuse to drink mulled wine competitively, which is a sentence I never thought I’d write but here we are.

The real winner is whoever gets to finish the leftover pots afterwards (that’s the host, by the way — you earned it).

Pro tip: prep the base up to three days ahead and refrigerate; just reheat slowly on low and whatever you do, do not boil it or you’ll burn off the alcohol and have a very sad, very sober party on your hands.

6. Dirty Santa Trivia

Dirty Santa Trivia is a cheeky, grown-up twist on Christmas quiz night — no nursery rhymes, no which-reindeer-is-which for the fortieth time.

These are the questions adults actually want to answer: the scandalous Christmas ad controversies, the real origins of holiday traditions that are actually kind of wild, the Christmas number-one battles, the box-office records broken by festive films, and the frankly ridiculous amounts of money spent globally on wrapping paper each year.

It’s smart, funny, and just irreverent enough to keep a grown-up table genuinely engaged.

Print one sheet per player or one per team. The sheet contains 20 trivia questions across five categories — Christmas Pop Culture, Festive Traditions Origins, Holiday Box Office, Real vs. Myth (Christmas ‘facts’ that are actually fake), and Naughty List (slightly cheeky pop-culture Q’s).

Players circle or write their answers on the sheet. Mark together as a group at the end, reading the answer key aloud so each reveal becomes a conversation starter. Award one point per correct answer; bonus points for the funniest wrong answer (host’s discretion).

The beauty of trivia with an adults-only lens is how often it subverts expectations — half the table will be shocked that the Christmas cracker was invented by a Victorian sweet-shop owner, and the other half will be scandalized that a certain beloved Christmas ad cost more to make than a small film.

Lean into that energy when you read out answers. For a variation, split into teams and add a speed round where teams buzz in (bang the table) for the final five questions — it gets properly rowdy.

7. Christmas Jeopardy

Christmas Jeopardy takes the iconic TV quiz format — where the host reads an answer and contestants have to respond in the form of a question — and dresses it up in tinsel for a night that feels like your own festive game show.

Set up a board with five Christmas categories (Christmas Films, Holiday Traditions, Festive Food and Drink, Christmas Music, and Wild Card Christmas Facts) and five point values per category (100 through 500).

Teams or individual players take turns choosing a category and point value, then the host reads the clue — and players must answer ‘What is…’ or ‘Who is…’ to score.

You can build your board on a free PowerPoint template or a dedicated Jeopardy-style app — there are several free ones available online that let you customise clues. Print a scoreboard on a whiteboard or flip chart.

Divide players into two to four teams, use a buzzer system (or just ‘first hand up’), and appoint a host who commits to the dramatic pause between reading the clue and accepting answers. Include a Daily Double for maximum tension.

Plan for about 25–30 clues per game, which typically runs 45–60 minutes.

The key to a great Christmas Jeopardy night is calibrating your difficulty spread properly — 100-point clues should be genuinely easy (nearly everyone gets them) and 500-point clues should be the ones that cause a full minute of silent panic followed by a brilliant wrong answer delivered with complete confidence.

Mix in at least one completely unhinged Wild Card clue per category so it doesn’t get too worthy.

This is a fantastic game for offices or larger groups because teams naturally include someone who knows music, someone who knows films, and someone who confidently knows nothing but buzzes in anyway.

8. Hot Takes: Christmas Edition

Hot Takes: Christmas Edition is the deceptively simple game that will reveal exactly what kind of people you’re spending the holidays with — and you might not be ready for the truth.

The premise: players take turns drawing a prompt card and reading their genuine (or deliberately provocative) hot take on a Christmas topic aloud to the group.

The rest of the table votes on whether it’s a legitimate take, a chaotic-neutral take, or a straight-up wrong take — not to eliminate anyone, but to debate it.

Topics include things like: ‘Die Hard is/isn’t a Christmas movie,’ ‘Christmas music should start after/before December 1st,’ ‘Sprouts are underrated/an affront to vegetables,’ and ‘Advent calendars are for children/completely valid for adults.’

Write your prompts on small cards in advance (20–30 prompts is plenty) and fold them into a bowl or Christmas hat. Each player draws one per turn and must defend their take for at least 30 seconds — no wriggling out with ‘it depends.’

The table debates for two minutes max before moving on. You can award points for the most entertainingly argued position (host decides) or just play it purely for the chaos with no score — honestly, that version is arguably more fun.

This game works brilliantly as a mid-evening breather between more structured games, when energy is high but brains are starting to get a bit fuzzy.

It’s also the rare party game that gets better the more opinionated your group is — so if you’ve got friends who will die on a hill about whether Quality Street or Roses tins are superior, this is their moment to shine.

Warning: the Die Hard debate may go long. Budget accordingly.

9. Christmas Escape Room

Christmas Escape Room brings the puzzle-solving, clue-cracking energy of a real escape room into your living room — and the festive theme makes it feel genuinely magical rather than just stressful (okay, it’s a little stressful, but the good kind).

Players work as a team to solve a series of interconnected puzzles — cyphers, riddles, hidden clues, combination locks, logic puzzles — all wrapped in a Christmas narrative.

Maybe Santa’s workshop has been sabotaged, maybe the Christmas star has gone missing, maybe the naughty list has been hacked. The team has 60 minutes to crack the case before the Christmas Eve deadline hits.

You can buy print-at-home Christmas escape room kits (search ‘Christmas escape room printable kit’ — several Etsy sellers have excellent ones for under £10/$12) or build your own using a series of riddles where each answer unlocks the next clue.

Prop it up with physical elements: a locked box with a combination, an envelope sealed with wax, or Christmas-themed envelopes numbered 1–6. Dim the lights, play an atmospheric soundtrack, and let the timer run on a visible screen.

Groups of 4–8 work best; larger groups tend to have some players watching rather than solving.

Here’s what makes a home escape room sing: the physical prop factor.

The moment someone has to actually pick up a Christmas cracker to find a hidden clue, or decode a message written in a cipher grid on a ‘Christmas card,’ the immersion goes up tenfold.

If you’re building your own, make sure every puzzle has a clear logical path to the answer — vague clues that require the host to explain them defeat the purpose.

For a variation, run it competitively with two teams in separate rooms solving the same puzzles and racing the clock.

10. Name That Christmas Number-One

Name That Christmas Number-One is a music-trivia sheet game that is significantly harder than it looks — and that’s exactly the point.

Players are given a list of clues about UK Christmas number-one singles: the year, the artist’s initials, a lyric fragment with blanks, and the genre. Their job is to write the full song title and artist on the answer line. Easy for 1984? Sure.

But 1993? 2009? The novelty years? Suddenly everyone’s staring at the ceiling and humming something that might be right and might be completely wrong.

Print one sheet per player. The sheet lists 15 numbered clues — each one gives the year of the UK Christmas number-one, the artist’s initials (e.g. ‘B. M.’

for Band Aid), the genre label, and a partial lyric with key words blanked out — followed by a blank line for ‘Song Title: ________________________’ and ‘Artist: ________________________.’

Players work solo in silence for 10 minutes, then answers are read out and marked against the answer key at the bottom of the sheet. One point for the title, one for the correct artist — max 30 points.

This one has a beautiful generational split built in: the people who lived through the 80s and 90s will crush the early rounds, while anyone under 35 will absolutely know the 2010s entries everyone else has blanked on.

That natural reversal — where different age groups take the lead at different points — keeps it competitive all the way to the final reveal.

For a variation that makes it active, play the actual song clips through a speaker for 10 seconds each and have players buzz in live.

11. Christmas Song Lyric Battle

Christmas Song Lyric Battle is a fast, loud, and genuinely savage competitive game where two players (or two teams) go head-to-head in a lyric face-off.

The host names a Christmas song, and the two competitors take turns singing — yes, actually singing — the next line of the song back and forth without pausing or repeating.

First person to stumble, go silent for more than three seconds, or repeat a lyric they already sang loses the round. The rest of the table is the audience and judge, and they are ruthless.

Run it tournament-style: bracket out your players at the start of the evening (seeding based on who confidently claims to know every Christmas song — those people always crack under pressure, it’s delightful). Each head-to-head lasts until someone falters.

Winners advance; the final two face off in a grand finale.

Songs are chosen by the host from a prepared list — mix obvious ones like ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Deck the Halls’ with slightly trickier ones like ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ and ‘Good King Wenceslas’ (verse two — nobody knows verse two).

The beauty of this game is how quickly it collapses into joyful chaos. Even the people watching who think they know the words will start mouthing along and then realise they definitely don’t know what comes after the first chorus of ‘O Holy Night.’

If you want to make it even more chaotic, add a Wild Card rule: once per game, any spectator can challenge the current players by shouting ‘Wild Card!’

and naming a harder song — if the players agree to switch, the spectator has to join in too. Instant carnage. Maximum fun.

12. Worst Holiday Story Contest

Worst Holiday Story Contest is the game that every group secretly needs but never thinks to play — a structured excuse for everyone to share their most spectacularly disastrous Christmas memory, and compete for the title of ‘Person Whose Holiday Was Most Chaotic.’

Did someone’s Christmas dinner catch fire? Did a gift exchange go catastrophically wrong? Did a family member make a scene that is now a legend told every year? Did someone spend Christmas Eve assembling 400 pieces of flat-pack furniture? This game is for them.

For all of us, really.

Each player gets three to five minutes to tell their worst holiday story — real, embellished for effect, or a combination of both (host’s discretion on how strict you want to be about the ‘real’ rule; tbh, the embellished ones are often better).

After all stories are told, the group votes anonymously by writing a name on a slip of paper for ‘most chaotic,’ ‘most relatable disaster,’ and ‘best storyteller.’ Tally the votes and announce the winners.

Have a small prize ready — a novelty Christmas item works perfectly.

This game creates something genuinely rare at a party: real connection through shared vulnerability and laughter. People bond over the Christmas that went sideways in a way they never do over the Christmas that was perfect.

It also works brilliantly as an ice-breaker at the start of the evening if you have guests who don’t know each other well — turns out almost everyone has a story about a family member who lost it over the turkey, and that’s an instant equaliser.

Just make sure you have a story ready yourself — as host, you go last, and yours better be good.

13. Christmas Movie Trivia Showdown

Christmas Movie Trivia Showdown is your full-on, buzzer-ready, pub-quiz-style battle — but exclusively about the films your group has collectively watched approximately forty-seven times. We’re covering everything: Home Alone’s budget vs.

its box office haul, the real name of the elf who plays in the mailroom in The Holiday, which actor almost turned down the lead in Elf, the exact number of booby traps Kevin McCallister sets, and whether Love Actually’s airport scene is at Heathrow or Gatwick (it’s Heathrow — but you’d be amazed how often people argue about this).

No film is too obscure, no detail too small.

Divide into teams of two to five.

The host runs through 30 questions across six rounds: Year It Released, Quote Identification, Cast Deep-Cut, Plot Detail, Box Office Fact, and a Lightning Round where you get 30 seconds to name as many films in a given category as possible (e.g., ‘name every film where a child is separated from their family at Christmas’).

Keep score on a whiteboard. Half-point for close answers at the host’s discretion — because someone who says ‘1990’ for Home Alone when it was actually 1990 deserves the point, not a debate.

The secret weapon here is the Quote Identification round: you read a famous Christmas movie quote with the film title bleeped out, and teams buzz in. Get these right and they’re crowd-pleasers; get them slightly wrong and they’re maddening in the best way.

For maximum drama, save the Lightning Round for last — it’s the come-from-behind round where a team that has been quietly losing all night suddenly names sixteen films in 30 seconds and steals the win. It’s happened. It will happen again.

14. Regifting Roulette

Regifting Roulette is the gift game that rewards shamelessness. Each guest brings one item from their home — genuinely something they’ve received as a gift before and never used, or something that has been lurking in a drawer for two or more years.

It can be a scented candle they hate, a novelty kitchen gadget, a book they’ll never read, a piece of clothing still with tags that was never their vibe.

These gifts go into a central pile, all wrapped or in bags so no one can see what’s inside.

Then, using a random spin mechanic (spinning a bottle, rolling dice, or a wheel-of-names app), players are assigned a wrapped gift — and here’s the twist: before unwrapping, they must defend it.

They have 30 seconds to sell the gift to the room without having seen it yet.

Once the pitch is done, they unwrap it — and the reveal is almost always the funniest part. If they land something genuinely good, the room is delighted for them.

If they unwrap a 2019 novelty cheese board shaped like a cactus that has never seen cheese, the room is equally delighted, just for different reasons.

After all gifts are revealed, the group votes on: Most Suspiciously Enthusiastic Pitch, Best Gift Actually Received, and Most Honest Regift (as in, the one that most obviously came from a drawer). Small prizes for each winner.

This is one of those games that benefits enormously from a good brief sent out in advance.

If people know they need to bring a ‘lovingly rehomed item,’ they’ll actually put thought into finding something genuinely funny or interesting rather than just grabbing the nearest thing.

Link it loosely to a Christmas gift guide for anyone who wants to bring something new instead — some people are too proud to regift, and that’s fine, their fresh gift will probably get stolen first anyway.

15. Guess the Price: Gift Edition

Guess the Price: Gift Edition is the festive version of those addictive ‘how much does this cost?’ social media videos — except it’s live, it’s competitive, and your friends are surprisingly terrible at it.

The host secretly sources five to eight wrapped gifts at a range of price points — from a £3/$4 novelty stocking filler to a £60/$75 experience voucher — and presents them one at a time.

Guests examine each gift (no unwrapping yet — just weight, packaging, size) and write their price guess on a slip of paper.

Reveal the actual price after each round; closest guess without going over wins a point for that round (Price Is Right style) or you can simply award the point for the nearest guess overall.

The setup is genuinely easy: shop in the week before the party, keep all receipts, and wrap everything in identical plain paper so no branding gives the game away.

Mix high-quality items in small boxes with cheap things in large extravagant wrapping — the deception is the game. At the end, after all prices are revealed and points are tallied, unwrap everything so guests can actually see what they’ve been guessing about.

The winner gets first pick of the gift pile, or you can do a mini gift exchange with the items themselves.

This game works especially well if you know your group has a mix of savvy shoppers and hopeless ones — there is something deeply satisfying about the person who confidently guesses £50 for a £4.99 novelty mug, and equally satisfying when someone nails the actual price of a fancy item within 50 pence.

The unwrapping reveal at the end doubles as a mini gift exchange moment, which means the game practically runs itself into another round. Plus, if anyone needs actual gifting inspiration after playing, there’s always the colleague gift guide to raid for ideas.

16. Unpopular Christmas Opinions

Unpopular Christmas Opinions is the game where you finally get to say, in a socially sanctioned setting, that you actually prefer Christmas pudding to Christmas cake, that the John Lewis ad peaked in 2013 and has never recovered, or that Elf is objectively overrated (controversial but hear me out).

Each player writes their most unpopular Christmas opinion on a slip of paper anonymously — one per person — and all slips go into a bowl.

The host reads them out one by one, and the group votes: thumbs up if you secretly agree, thumbs down if you think the opinion is unacceptable, jazz hands if you’re neutral. The opinion with the most ‘secretly agree’ votes wins the ‘Actually Unpopular’ crown.

No names are attached to the slips — this is crucial because anonymity unlocks opinions people would never say out loud with their name on it. Someone will confess they find carols boring. Someone will admit they skip Christmas entirely.

Someone — and this happens every single time — will reveal they actually think Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ is not a Christmas song. The ensuing debate will last twelve minutes and no one will have changed their mind, but everyone will have enjoyed the argument enormously.

The magic of this game is that it normalises disagreement in a playful, low-stakes way — it’s the adult version of ‘would you rather’ except with actual stakes because these are real opinions and real friends.

Play it during a natural lull between bigger games, or use it as the final game of the evening when everyone’s settled in and the defences are down. Keep a pen and paper ready for a quick tally board.

No winners, no losers — just a room full of people who now know exactly what everyone actually thinks about Christmas pudding (and it’s messy in there).

17. Guess the Christmas Cocktail

Guess the Christmas Cocktail is the festive drinks game that separates the cocktail connoisseurs from the people who think ‘gin and tonic with a candy cane’ counts as a Christmas cocktail (it does, but that’s not the point).

The host prepares five numbered festive cocktails — think Mulled Wine Martini, Eggnog White Russian, Cranberry Champagne Fizz, Baileys Hot Chocolate, and a Sloe Gin Bramble — served in identical cups or glasses with no labels.

Guests taste each one and write their guess of the cocktail name or its key ingredient on a score slip. The most accurate identifier wins the round.

Keep all your prep discreet — batch the cocktails in advance and decant into numbered carafes or labeled jugs kept behind the host’s ‘bar.’ Small pours per cocktail keep things social and safe across five drinks. Provide palate cleansers (plain crackers, water) between each one.

Award one point for naming the spirit correctly, one for the correct secondary ingredient, and a bonus point for naming the full cocktail. This means even beginners can score something, and the real cocktail nerds have to work for perfection.

The variation that sends this game from fun to unforgettable: include one decoy — a non-alcoholic festive mocktail in the lineup that tastes almost like the real thing — and don’t tell guests. Watch as people confidently claim they can taste the gin. (They cannot.)

As an extra host tip, if you want to skip the cocktail prep entirely, buy five different festive liqueurs — Advocaat, Baileys, Pimm’s Winter, a good spiced rum, and a sloe gin — and serve those straight as the mystery tasting lineup instead.

Simpler, equally fun, equally chaotic.

18. Two Truths and a Christmas Lie

Two Truths and a Christmas Lie is the classic icebreaker format made festively devious — each player shares three Christmas-themed statements about themselves (two true, one a lie) and the group has to identify the lie.

The Christmas angle makes it significantly more interesting than the standard version because Christmas stories tend to be either surprisingly wholesome, secretly chaotic, or outright unbelievable.

‘I once cried at a Christmas ad,’ ‘I have never watched It’s a Wonderful Life,’ and ‘I kissed someone under the mistletoe at a work party in 2018’ — now try to figure out which one is the lie. Exactly.

No setup required — just go around the room, giving each player 30–45 seconds to think of their three statements before sharing.

The rest of the group votes simultaneously by holding up fingers: one finger for statement one, two for statement two, three for statement three.

The person reveals the lie, collects one point for every person who guessed wrong (you want people to believe your lies, obviously), and play moves on.

Run two to three rounds per person for a full game, or do one round per person and save the game for later in the evening.

The Christmas frame elevates this game in one specific way: people’s holiday memories are vivid and varied enough that genuinely true statements often sound like lies.

Someone will casually mention they spent Christmas in Japan and the whole room will vote it as the lie — then it turns out to be completely true, and now you have an entire new conversation on your hands.

This is also the perfect game to play while Christmas gifts are being handed out, since it fills the space between unwrappings naturally without demanding too much focus.

19. Rank the Christmas Movies Debate

Rank the Christmas Movies Debate is organised chaos dressed up as a game. Each player is given an identical list of fifteen well-known Christmas films and has five minutes to rank them from best to worst — silently, on their own. Then the debate begins.

Pairs are randomly matched and have three minutes to reconcile their lists into a shared ranking. Pairs then merge into groups of four and repeat.

Eventually the whole room has to agree on one final definitive ranking — and that final negotiation is where it gets truly, spectacularly argumentative.

Write the list of fifteen films on a card or print one per player: choose a range of eras and tones — classics, comedies, romantic ones, animated, and at least one divisive entry (Die Hard, obviously).

Give everyone a pen and their blank ranking sheet to number 1–15. Set a five-minute timer for the individual round, then run the pairing merges with three-minute timers.

The final group negotiation has no timer — it ends when consensus is reached or someone gives in out of exhaustion, whichever comes first.

This game has a secret structural genius: because everyone starts solo, you discover what people actually think rather than what they say they think under social pressure.

The pairing phase then forces compromise and debate, and the final group round rewards whoever is most articulate and stubborn in equal measure.

It’s a brilliant late-evening game because it requires opinion rather than knowledge — which means it gets better as the night goes on and people are progressively less willing to pretend they like films they don’t.

‘Love Actually is not a top-five Christmas film’ has ended many a negotiation round and I’m not here to tell you who was right.

20. Guess the Spotify Wrapped Song

Guess the Spotify Wrapped Song is the game that uses everyone’s actual music listening data as ammunition — delightfully personal, occasionally embarrassing, and always more revealing than expected.

Each player shares (either by screenshotting or reading aloud) their top Christmas song from their Spotify Wrapped or most-played holiday playlist, but only the first three seconds of the song is played — the rest is silence.

The other players have 10 seconds to write their guess on a slip. Then the full song title and player is revealed, and the commentary begins (‘You listened to that Christmas song 47 times? In a single December?’).

You can run this two ways: each person queues up their song on the party speaker and plays just the first three seconds, or the host collects everyone’s top Christmas song beforehand and builds a playlist to control the reveal.

The second method creates a cleaner game flow and means no one is fumbling with their phone mid-game.

Award one point for guessing the song correctly, one point for guessing whose Wrapped it came from, and let the group roast each other’s listening stats as loudly as they see fit — no points needed for that part, it’s self-reinforcing.

This game is especially good for groups who know each other well because the song choice is genuinely revealing. Someone’s top Christmas song being a deep-cut Italian opera carol says something about them.

Someone’s being ‘Fairytale of New York’ for the eighth consecutive year says something different. And the person whose most-played song is a children’s Christmas TV theme they ‘listened to ironically’ will have a lot to answer for.

For a variation that escalates the stakes, add a bonus point for correctly guessing how many times the person listened to their song — closest wins without going over, Price Is Right rules again.

21. Guess the Christmas Ad Slogan

Guess the Christmas Ad Slogan is the game for anyone who unironically cries at the John Lewis Christmas ad every year (no judgement — I said what I said).

The host reads out a famous Christmas advertising slogan or tagline — with the brand name removed — and players race to identify both the slogan’s brand and, for a bonus point, the year the campaign ran.

Think slogans from John Lewis, Coca-Cola, Sainsbury’s, M&S, Aldi, Apple, and the legendary (and chaotic) ones you forgot existed until this exact moment.

Prepare 20 slogans in advance — mix well-known ones with deep cuts. Some years’ slogans are iconic enough to be instantly recognisable; others are trickier because they’re more narrative-driven than catchphrase-y.

Read each one twice, give the group ten seconds to write their answer, then reveal. Award one point for the brand, one for the year within two years (exact year gets a bonus point).

Run it buzzered for the final five — fastest hand up wins the right to answer. Keep score on a flip chart.

What makes this game secretly brilliant is how much it reveals about the room’s media diet. The person who can identify the year of every Sainsbury’s Christmas ad is either a marketer or has watched far too many YouTube compilations, and either way they’re dangerous.

Include at least two American Christmas ad slogans in the mix to level the field internationally.

And if you have anyone from a marketing or advertising background in the room, give them a handicap — they go last on every question and get no bonus points. It’s only fair, and it’s very funny to watch them comply with visible physical pain.

22. Christmas Confessions Circle

Christmas Confessions Circle is the warm, slightly unhinged way to end a Christmas party night — the game where the social contract loosens just enough for people to admit the festive truths they’d never say sober at Christmas dinner.

Each player writes one genuine Christmas confession on a slip of paper: something they’ve never told anyone, a Christmas habit they’re mildly ashamed of, a gift they hated but pretended to love, a festive tradition they secretly resent, or the year they nearly cancelled Christmas and meant it.

All slips go into a bowl. The host reads each one aloud, anonymously, and the group guesses who wrote it before the writer reveals themselves.

Run the guessing phase like a vote: everyone points at who they think wrote it simultaneously on the count of three — no peeking, no swapping. The writer reveals themselves after the vote.

Award a point to every person who correctly identified the writer, and a point to the writer if they fooled more than half the room.

After ten to fifteen confessions, tally up and crown the Most Anonymous Confessor (fooled the most people) and the Most Transparent (everyone knew immediately — often the funniest result).

This game earns its place as the closer because it leaves the room feeling genuinely closer.

Shared confessions — especially low-stakes festive ones like ‘I have eaten an entire advent calendar in one sitting,’ ‘I told my family I loved the jumper and then donated it January 2nd,’ or ‘I actually cried at a Greggs Christmas ad in 2022’ — are levelling in the best way.

Everyone has them; nobody admits them; this game makes it safe to. As a host bonus: you’ll find out who in your friend group has been quietly eating the good chocolates out of the tin and leaving the toffees. The room will act shocked.

The room is not shocked.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best Christmas games for adults at a large party?

For large groups, games that work in teams or involve the whole room simultaneously are your best bet. Christmas Jeopardy, Christmas Murder Mystery, Christmas Movie Trivia Showdown, and Dirty Santa Trivia all scale brilliantly to 20–30+ people because they naturally break into competing teams.

Printable games like Christmas Scattergories and the Christmas Movie Emoji Quiz also work for any size group since everyone plays at once on their own sheet.

How do you make Christmas party games more fun for adults?

The key is to lean into competition, personality, and a bit of edge — no one over 25 wants to play pass-the-parcel. Add a scoring system even to casual games so there’s always something at stake.

Include games that use personal information (Two Truths and a Christmas Lie, Christmas Confessions Circle) because those create real moments of connection and surprise.

And always have at least one food or drink game (Blind Mulled Wine Tasting, Guess the Christmas Cocktail) — people engage instantly when there’s something to taste.

What Christmas games work for office parties?

Office Christmas parties need games that don’t require people to be too physically close or too personally revelatory with colleagues — at least to start.

Christmas Jeopardy, Christmas Movie Trivia Showdown, Guess the Christmas Ad Slogan, Name That Christmas Number-One, and Dirty Santa Trivia are all brilliant for offices: they’re competitive, skill-based, team-friendly, and don’t require anyone to share anything more personal than a Christmas movie opinion.

White Elephant / Bad Santa is also a staple office Christmas game — just set a reasonable budget and a clear ‘no offensive gifts’ rule.

How long should Christmas party games last?

A good rule of thumb: plan for 2–3 games across an evening, with a total game time of 90 minutes to two hours spread between dinner, drinks, and natural breaks.

A big game like Christmas Murder Mystery or Christmas Escape Room can anchor the whole evening on its own (2–3.5 hours). Shorter games like Blind Mulled Wine Tasting or Two Truths and a Christmas Lie run 20–30 minutes and work as warm-ups or fillers.

Printable games like Christmas Scattergories typically run three rounds in about 30–40 minutes total.

Do I need to buy anything for these Christmas party games?

Several games on this list need zero materials: Two Truths and a Christmas Lie, Rank the Christmas Movies Debate, Hot Takes: Christmas Edition, and Worst Holiday Story Contest require nothing but people and opinions. Others need minimal supplies (slips of paper, a pen, a timer).

The games with the most prep are White Elephant / Bad Santa (wrapped gifts), Blind Mulled Wine Tasting (mulled wine batched in advance), Christmas Murder Mystery (a downloadable kit), and the printable sheet games — but the printables just need a printer and five minutes.

What’s a good Christmas icebreaker game for adults who don’t know each other?

Two Truths and a Christmas Lie is the absolute gold standard for a room full of strangers — it’s structured enough that no one has to improvise but personal enough that you actually learn something real about people.

Worst Holiday Story Contest works brilliantly too because shared chaos is an instant bonding mechanism. Christmas Confessions Circle is best saved for later in the evening when people are warmed up.

For a completely no-pressure icebreaker, hand out the Christmas Movie Emoji Quiz sheet as people arrive — it gives everyone something to focus on while the room fills up.

There you have it — 22 christmas games for adults that are genuinely, properly grown-up, and zero of them involve a nursery rhyme.

Whether you’re after the full murder mystery experience, a competitive trivia showdown, a blind tasting that doubles as an excuse to drink mulled wine professionally, or a late-night confessions circle that will have everyone talking in January, this list has your evening covered.

Print the sheets, prep the cocktails, download the mystery kit, and have the best Christmas party night you’ve had in years. Your guests will thank you — and honestly, so will your January-self when people are still bringing it up.

Pin this list for next year too, because it’s going to be just as chaotic and wonderful the second time around.

And if you’re still sorting out what to actually get people this season, don’t miss our women’s Christmas wish list and the ever-reliable gift guide for him — because the best party host always comes prepared.

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