What are good Christmas party games for a big group?

Paper games everyone plays at once: Christmas bingo, music bingo, trivia sheets, holiday word scrambles and a find-the-guest card. Team games such as charades or the human Christmas tree also scale, since you only add more teams. Print one sheet and pen per guest.

What Christmas party games work at the office?

Games people can play from their seat without drinking or performing: Christmas trivia in teams, emoji pictionary, a Christmas taboo round, bingo and a gift swap with a clear price limit. Keep teams mixed across departments and let anyone sit out a round.

What are fun Christmas games for adults?

Christmas trivia, name that tune, who am I with sticky notes, two truths and a lie, Christmas charades with film titles, and a white elephant gift swap. They need little setup and get people talking.

What Christmas games need no supplies?

Charades, twenty questions, two truths and a lie, holiday A to Z, and the word ban game, where saying a banned word like 'Christmas' costs you a token. All of them work with just players and a timer on a phone.

Christmas Party Games for Family, Adults and Work

Good Christmas party games are easy to explain and let everyone play at once. For families, try pass the parcel, Pin the Nose on Rudolph, charades and a scavenger hunt. Adults enjoy trivia, name that tune and a gift swap. At work, stick to seated team games like trivia, bingo and emoji pictionary, with no drinking or performing required.

How to pick Christmas party games

Answer three things before you choose, in this order:

Who is coming: children, adults, colleagues, or a mix.
How many: a table of six plays differently from a hall of forty.
How much time you have the day before: some games need nothing, others need printing, wrapping or hiding.

Plan one game that needs no explaining for when people arrive, one longer game in the middle, and a gift swap or quiet game near the end. Keep a printed spare in case a game falls flat.

Christmas party games for the whole family

These work when grandparents and small children are in the same room.

Pass the parcel: a gift wrapped in many layers goes round while music plays; whoever holds it when the music stops unwraps one layer. Paperless Post lists it as a children's game.
Pin the Nose on Rudolph: a blindfolded player sticks a red nose on a reindeer poster.
Christmas charades: act out carols, films or songs; teams of two keep everyone involved.
Scavenger hunt: a list of Christmas items hidden around the house; Paperless Post suggests teams of two or three.
Christmas bingo: picture cards for children who don't read yet, word cards for those who do.
Musical chairs with carols.
Holiday Guess Who or "who am I": a character name on your forehead, yes or no questions to find it.

For a party mostly for children, our guide to party games for kids sorts games by age and space and covers what to watch for with balloons and food. A colouring table with dot marker activities gives the youngest a calm corner.

Christmas party games for adults

Adults tend to prefer guessing, trivia and a bit of friendly competition.

Christmas trivia in teams.
Name that tune: play a few seconds of a carol or a Christmas pop song.
Two truths and a lie, Christmas edition: two real holiday memories and one invented.
Christmas movie emoji game: guess the film from a row of emoji.
Saran wrap ball: small prizes and sweets wrapped inside a big ball of cling film. It goes round while music plays, and whoever holds it unwraps as fast as they can until the music starts again.
White elephant gift swap: everyone brings one wrapped gift, then players take turns picking a new gift or stealing one already opened.
Holiday this or that: quick-fire choices, such as tree or no tree, that start a conversation.

Melissa Jane Lee's list includes a few drinking games; if you play one, give a soft-drink version to anyone who wants it, so the game doesn't decide who drinks.

Office Christmas party games

At work, people don't all know each other and not everyone wants to stand up and act. Shutterfly has a separate office section with games such as holiday emoji pictionary, Secret Snowflake and a work edition of Christmas taboo; Play Party Plan suggests sit-down games like Christmas Jeopardy for the office.

Rules that keep it comfortable:

Pick games people can play from their seat: trivia, bingo, emoji pictionary, a word scramble.
Make teams that mix departments, so the same people aren't always together.
Skip drinking games and anything that asks people to undress, dance alone or share private details.
Let anyone sit a round out and keep score instead.
For a gift swap, set a clear price limit in the invite.
For a team spread across offices, send printable sheets as files and run the answers on a video call.

Printable Christmas party games

Printables solve the group size problem: one sheet per guest, and the game works for eight or eighty. Play Party Plan recommends printable games like Christmas music bingo for large groups.

Games that work printed:

Christmas bingo and Christmas music bingo.
Trivia sheets with an answer key for the host.
Christmas word scramble and word search.
Holiday A to Z: fill in a Christmas word for each letter.
"Find the guest who" cards for mingling.
Christmas would you rather cards.
Left-right story: guests pass a gift left or right each time the story says so.

Card stock holds up better than copy paper for bingo cards that get passed around. Put a pen at every seat before guests arrive. For a small prize, a printable coupon book ("one free coffee run") suits an office swap.

Games by group size and prep

Game	Best group size	Prep needed	Works at work
Charades	Any, in teams	None	Yes
Two truths and a lie	Small	None	Yes
Christmas trivia	Any, in teams	Write or print questions	Yes
Christmas bingo	Large	Print one card per guest	Yes
Emoji pictionary	Any	Print or show on a screen	Yes
Pass the parcel	Small circle	Wrap many layers the day before	Yes
Scavenger hunt	Teams of 2 or 3	Hide items before guests arrive	Sometimes
White elephant	Small to medium	Each guest brings a gift	Yes, with a price limit
Pin the Nose on Rudolph	Any, one at a time	Print a poster	Yes

Shutterfly lists a minimum player count for each game on its page, which helps if your group is very small. For six to ten people, Play Party Plan suggests game-show style games such as Christmas Family Feud and Christmas Price is Right.

Christmas games that need no supplies

When the printer is out of ink or the party is spontaneous:

Charades with films or carols.
Twenty questions: one player thinks of a Christmas character, the rest ask yes or no questions.
Holiday A to Z said out loud, one letter per player.
Word ban: everyone gets three tokens (coins work), and saying "Christmas" or "Santa" costs one to whoever catches you.
Who am I, using sticky notes if you have them, or just guessing aloud.

If you are planning the whole season, our Thanksgiving games cover the table a month earlier, and the Games & Puzzles section has more, starting with our baby shower games ideas sorted by group size.