It is the season for family, friends, food and festivities! With the busy Christmas holidays underway, it’s an opportunity In between catching up, baking treats, or watching your favourite holiday films, there’s a great opportunity to play some games to further brighten your Christmas cheer!
Whether you have little ones running around, teenagers or a house full of adults, there are lots of options to choose from. With games using strategy skills, teamwork or a little bit of nostalgia for the past, there’s no shortage of fun for the whole family.
Personalized Trivia
Move over, Trivial Pursuit! Ahead of your festivities create a fill-in-the-blank (or multiple-choice) trivia card either with fun facts that include everyone in attendance or a mixture of personalized facts about your guests, along with general Christmas-themed facts. Have everyone try to fill in the information with the correct answers. An excellent way to have different topics to discuss too!
Christmas Bingo
Create your own bingo card. Maybe it has been a while since you have seen some family members? Bingo is a great option. Include a wide variety of choices for answers to allow everyone to participate and get conversations going. For example, someone wearing the colour red, a person who travelled the furthest for the holidays, etc. You can be as specific or general as you want, based on the group.
Gift Wrap Game
For this game, get into pairs. Tie one person’s left hand to their partner’s right hand. Then, using only your free (non-connected) hands, work together to wrap a gift. Set a timer while others watch – or have multiple pairs of participants start at the same time and see who is the quickest!
Holiday Charades
A festive twist on the classic charades game. Create a list of holiday-themed words and divide your guests into teams. Remember no talking as your teammates try to guess correctly. You’ll be putting your mime acting skills to the test!
Memory Connections
Print or draw 10 different Christmas images (e.g.- snow, sleigh, Christmas tree, etc.) on paper or 3×5” index cards. Create two of each image so that you have 20 cards in total. Shuffle and place all cards face down on a table. Each player takes turns choosing one card, then has a chance to pick a second card. If they find the matching pair, they get a point. If not, cards are returned, facedown, and the next player participates. This continues until all matches have been found.
Guess the Stocking
Have the host fill a stocking with a wide variety of objects (don’t let participants see what goes in!). Once the stocking is full, tie a ribbon or elastic around the top so that no one can see inside. In a circle, pass around the stocking so each member can feel it and guess the objects within. Each person writes down their answers on a piece of paper. Once all participants have had a chance to feel the stocking and guess, reveal the contents. Person with the most correct answers wins!
Gingerbread House Competition
In teams (ideally a maximum of 4 people per team), using either prepackaged gingerbread house kits or your own kitchen supplies, have each team work on a house. Split this game into a few parts – first, set a timer and give teams 45 minutes to build their houses. When the time is up, allow for approximately a one-hour break (this will provide enough time for the icing on the houses to set). Once the break is complete, the teams return to their houses for an hour in order to decorate them. After the time is up, have teams (or the host) award the winners! You can have multiple winning categories including: most unique, best use of sprinkles, most festive, etc. Don’t forget to take photos of each team with their tasty creations!
A few other games to consider that you might have at home can include Monopoly, Blokus, Dominos, Pictionary, Code Names, Scrabble, Yahtzee, or various card games such as euchre, Crazy 8s or Uno. Lots of extra energy? Get outside and play a friendly game of touch football or soccer in the snow!
Whether you’ve been naughty or nice this holiday season, there’s lots of fun and games for everyone!
Stephanie Hawkins | Contributing Writer
