Holiday Party Game Ideas

With festive family and work celebrations around the corner, don’t forget about entertainment! If you’re in charge of amusing guests, consider using these holiday party game ideas courtesy of The Iroquois Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Santa Limbo

Get everyone up and moving at your gathering with a game that’s perfect for any age! Bring pillows for guests to stuff under their shirts and Santa hats for them to act the part while participating in limbo. Proceed with the normal limbo rules (gradually lowering the bar after all participants have gone under) with the last “Santa” standing as the winner. 

Christmas Carol Pictionary

Before the event, write down various Christmas carols on flashcards. When it’s time to play, divide party-goers into teams and have them take turns racing to illustrate their selected Christmas carol. If their team guesses correctly, they score a point. If the competition ends in a draw, have teams sing their selected song as a tie-breaker.

Gift Exchange Game

For holiday parties that involve swapping presents, try making a game out of it! Have attendees bring a gender-neutral wrapped gift and sit in a circle while holding it. Use a story full of “right,” “left” and “across” to dictate where people will pass their item. When the story is over, each person gets to keep the present that ended up on their lap.

Who Am I?

No matter the size of your occasion, this game works great for guests to interact with a variety of people. Hosts should write down a Christmas character or object on a sticky note and place them on participants’ backs upon arrival. Party members must ask each other “yes” or “no” questions to narrow down who or what they are.

Holiday A-Z

Distribute papers with the alphabet written vertically on each paper. Then have teams compete to fill in the entire alphabet list with a holiday word for each letter. The first team to finish their list wins. Make sure the judge checks the winning team’s list to verify the words are all holiday-related and, if not, the second-fastest team wins.