I love it when people take the time to let me know that they’re reading my blog or that they have benefited somehow from the information I’ve posted on my site.  Yesterday, Pia dropped me an e-mail to let me know that she stumbled upon my Christmas Party Games page that I posted back in 2001 on my old site (champuru.com) and that she was using some of the ideas.  I had completely forgotten about this page until Pia’s e-mail, so I thought I’d repost it here — just in case you have a Christmas party that’s coming up and you’d like to spice it up with a few games.  If you use any of the ideas, I’d love to hear from you!  What’s your favorite Christmas party game?  Please share them with us!

Blind Artists (2 games)

Materials
Construction Paper
Scratch Paper (8.5″ x 11″)
Markers

Christmas Tree Challenge: Have players attempt to rip the sheet of construction paper into the shape of a Christmas tree — behind their back. Players are not allowed to look at their creation until it is complete. Hang the works of art for everyone to judge. Give prizes for the best-looking trees.

Frosty’s Portrait: Give players a piece of paper and a marker. Instruct them to draw a snowman — with the piece of paper on the top of their heads. Display the drawings and have players vote on the best-looking drawings.

Santa Dress-up

Materials
Red crepe paper or tissue paper
White cotton batting
Black construction paper
Masking tape (one per team)

Make teams, 4 is ideal. Each team should designate someone to be Santa. Give each team a set of materials. Instruct them to use those materials to make a costume for their Santa. (They don’t get a pair of scissors — this makes it more challenging.) Give them a time limit, 5-7 minutes, but use your judgment. If they still don’t look like they’re going to be done in 7 minutes, give them a few more. You’d be surprised how elaborate people can get! Have everyone judge the Santas for different categories so that everyone’s a winner. Award prizes.

Christmas Pictionary

Materials
A white board or Rip Charts to draw on
Markers

Preparation
Think of words and phrases relating to Christmas. Write them on index cards or slips of paper.

Create 2 teams. One member from each team go up at a time. You show them the index card (easier than trying to whisper it to them), have them go back to their stations (best to position them on opposite ends of the room), and give them the “ready-set-go!” They may draw anything to describe the word/phrase, but may not write words or numbers. The team that guesses correctly first wins that round. Rinse. Repeat.

Fun with Play-Doh

Materials
Cans of Play-doh (1 per team)

Preparation
Think of words and phrases relating to Christmas. Write them on index cards or slips of paper.

This works similarly to the Christmas Pictionary game (above). However, I would recommend smaller teams. We split up the group into 4 teams instead of 2 massive groups. (This depends on how many in your group, though.)

Reindeer Poop

Materials
Various chocolate candy bars
Powdered Sugar (optional)
Paper plates
Signs with Reindeer Names (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, etc.) for the number of different varieties of candies that you have.

Preparation
Crush and smash pieces of candy to form clumps (reindeer poop) and put them on small paper plates. (If you have powdered sugar, sprinkle some on the plate — like snow.) Place a sign with a reindeer’s name on it beside each plate. Prepare forms with the reindeer names on it with a space beside it for players to fill in the blanks.

Players are to study the plates of “reindeer poop” and identify what type of candy is on each plate. Have them fill out the forms. Read the answers and award a prize to the one(s) who guessed the most correctly.

Christmas Trivia

Materials
Prepared trivia questions
Projector/Laptop -or- Overhead projector (optional)

Depending on how tough the questions are, you can either read the questions — or if doing multiple choice, you may wish to have some kind of visual aid so that your players can read the questions and the choices. This year, I created a PowerPoint presentation and used a projector to display it.

Make two teams and make them create a team name for themselves. Keep score on a white board (if available).

Option 1:
Make it a game of speed. Players from each team take turns being the “spokesperson” for each round. You ask the question and players can confer with their teammates before answering — or they can simply run for the buzzer to indicate that they know the answer. Whichever team gets there first gets the first shot at answering the question. If he is incorrect, the other team gets a chance to answer the question. Point is awarded to the winner of the round.

Option 2:
Jan-Ken- Po. If you’re limited on space, maybe running for a buzzer is a bad idea. You can also administer the game in this fashion: Give teams paper with A, B, C, and D (if multiple choice — or blank sheets of paper, if not). You ask the question and teams can discuss and determine which answer is correct. Designated players from each team hold up the correct answer. Point goes to team with correct answer. If both teams get the answer correct, have them jan-ken-po (rock-paper-scissors) to determine the winner. Point is awarded to the winner of the round.

Mean Grab Bag

Preparation
Set a price limit for grab bags. Have players bring a wrapped gift within the price limits that you set up. Make sure they don’t discuss what they brought with others.

Put all of the grab bags in a pile where players can access them easily.

Write numbers on sheets of paper and throw them into a hat. Have players pick a number. Lowest number goes first.

Player with #1 goes to the pile and picks out a gift. He should open the gift and show everyone what it is.

Player with #2 can either take a gift from the pile — or take the gift that Player #1 opened. He should open the gift and show everyone.

Player with #3 can take a gift from the pile — or take any of the opened gifts. And so on…

If your gift is snatched, you must take a wrapped gift from the pile. You cannot take back a gift — or take a gift from someone else.

Depending on how creative and coveted the gifts are, this game can get pretty funny with people always snatching away certain gifts.

Of course, the person with the highest number is the luckiest — because they get to see what everything is before they pick. Or if they like the element of surprise, they can always take the last wrapped gift.

I usually do this game last. It’s usually a good end to the party activities.