Christmas Games for Youth Groups, Events and Parties
Bring the Christmas cheer to your event with these themed games
Christmas is a time of celebration and cheer. The birthday of Jesus Christ is something to be celebrated and what better way to celebrate than by playing some fun games that are sure to bring laughter and joy to your event.
The following games are a mixture of 100% Christmas-themed games as well as Christmas-twists on normal youth group games. They are all really flexible and leave room for you to be creative and to theme it as you will - whether it's geared towards sharing the story of baby Jesus, exploring the fantastical world of Father Christmas, or simply leaning on the themes of snow or Christmas colours.
If you've got any new ideas for Christmas games and activities, we'd love to hear them so please share them with us and the community!
Secret Santa
Explore multiple ways of exchanging gifts with the classic gift exchange game of Secret Santa. Of course it also goes by the name of Kris Kringle or Yankee Swap.
Gift Wrapping Competition
Get everyone in the zone for Christmas by practicing their gift-wrapping skills with random objects.
Christmas Gift Giving
Christmas is all about giving, so why not encourage your youth group, family or Christmas gathering to work together to give a gift to someone else. Make cookies for neighbours or bring items to fill a box for someone who is less fortunate, whatever you do, do it together to share the gift of love.
All Wrapped Up
Teams must work together to wrap up a "human shaped present" as quickly and as nicely as possible!
Christmas Carol Challenges
These four Christmas carol musical challenges are sure to bring your group some Christmas cheer!
Mix & Meet
Give this simple get to know you game a Christmas vibe by taking out all the non-Christmas coloured M&Ms, leaving only green and red. Even better, if you can find the special Christmas-themed M&Ms packets to buy, that will suit even better.
Celebrity Head Mania
Celebrity Head Mania gets players mingling and competing to be the first to guess who their secret celebrity is. Turn this game into "Christmas Celebrity Head Mania" by giving the celebrities a Christmas-theme. All the celebrities could be musicians who've released Christmas songs, actors or characters who've been in Christmas movies or just traditional Christmas characters like Santa!
Santa's Coming!
One person is Santa - and chooses an action for the rest of the group to follow. Santa calls out actions in a random order. Command one and two usually go follow in that sequence, but Santa can insert another command to catch a player off guard. The same holds...
Pin the Tail on the Donkey
Don't pin the tail on the donkey - why not pin the beard on Santa instead! Everyone knows how to play this classic kids party game. Simply draw or print a picture of a beardless santa, as well as some beards, and then get blindfolded players to attempt to stick it in the correct spot on Santa's face.
Charades
Keep the laughs coming with a game of charades but add a Christmas twist by picking out Christmas-themed scenes and characters for players to act out to one another.
Ice Cream Snowmen
Wherever you are in the world, whether your Christmas season has snow or sun, everyone can play this icecream snow man building game. Be prepared for plenty of Christmas cheer... and mess!
Snowball Fight
This is a great fun get to know you game that works well as an ice breaker and it really quick to play. Give your Christmas event a winter wonderland atmosphere with this creative way to pretend to be in the snow.
Bag Of Goodies
Turn "Bag of Goodies" into a Christmas game by renaming it "Santa's Sack of Surprises", and then let the fun begin with all sorts of eating challenges. Why not also give the eating challenges a Christmas spin with items such as egg nog, Christmas pudding and candy canes (only make them a bit more difficult than that!?)
Play Dough Pictionary
Use a collection of Christmas scenes, objects and characters to put a Christmas twist on pictionary. Here's a start: elf, present, sleigh, reindeer, snow, north pole, candy, pine tree, lights...
Balloon Frenzy
Turn Balloon Frenzy into a Christmas Balloon Frenzy by using white, red and green balloons. And then play some Christmas tunes while playing of course!
Create A Commercial
Get the participants of your Christmas event in the Christmas spirit by getting them to create and act out a commercial for a common Christmas item such as a candy cane, tinsel or even a surprise present that the actors won't see until the final performance.
Silent Ball
Silent night = silent ball... It's as simple as that!
Jelly Bobbing
Dive into Christmas by playing Jelly Bobbing. Ensure you keep it Christmas-themed by placing classic Christmas candy items in the jelly - candy canes are a must!
Team Architect
Teams must work together to build a Christmas-themed challenge using a limited set of items. Here are some ideas for the challenge:
Build Santa's sleigh from straws and sticky tape - the sleigh that slides furthest / faster down a slope wins
Build the nativity scene from play dough - best looking one wins
Biblical Detectives
Put a Christmas spin on Biblical Detectives by making sure it works towards revealing the Christmas story from the bible.
Elf on the Shelf
The Elf on the Shelf is a fun holiday tradition for families to play in the lead up to Christmas. It can also be played in a unique style at a Christmas party or youth group Christmas event.
Christmas Tree Decoration Making
Cut out a shape of your choice from the construction paper or cardstock. You can choose any shape that you would like to use as a Christmas tree decoration, such as a star, a snowflake, a bell, or a gingerbread man. You can either freehand the shape or use a...
