Are you hosting a Christmas party for all your friends? One way to ensure the party is a success is to prepare some games to play beforehand. Whether you play in the afternoon before a hearty Christmas dinner or after when you’re feeling stuffed, here are 35 hilarious Christmas party games for adults. We’ve divided the games into three categories so that you can find the perfect Christmas games for your needs:
- Classic Christmas games
- Drinking Christmas games
- Funny Christmas games
Ready to jump in and incorporate these games into your party?
Psst! By the way, to amp up the stakes, why not provide some Christmas game prizes that everyone can play to win?
CLASSIC CHRISTMAS PARTY GAMES FOR ADULTS
Let’s start off with the classics. After all, these games are popular for a reason, so you know they’ll be a hit whether you’re hosting a Christmas party with family or friends.
1. CHRISTMAS CHARADES
Charades is one of our favorite parlor games to play at any party. If you want to play this game with a Christmas twist, play Christmas charades! To keep everyone in the holiday spirit, have everyone act out holiday-related phrases, songs, or movies. Some examples include:
- Opening a present
- Santa’s elves
- Miracle on 34th Street
- Santa Baby
2. CHRISTMAS PICTIONARY
Another game you can easily turn holiday-themed is Pictionary. Just as with Christmas charades, to play Christmas Pictionary, simply draw holiday themes within a certain amount of time. Every other player must try to guess this drawing as fast as possible. You can play this game either in teams or individually.
Examples of Christmas-related words you can draw include:
- Rudolph’s red nose
- Frosty the snowman
- Ugly Christmas sweater
- Snowball fight
- Home Alone
3. CHRISTMAS MOVIE TRIVIA
Do you think you know your Christmas movies? Put your knowledge to the test with a round of Christmas Movie Trivia. Prepare a quiz beforehand with questions about holiday movies. Each player must write down their answers. The player with the most correct answers wins!
Here are some examples of Christmas movie trivia questions and answers:
- What department store does the movie Miracle on 34th Street revolve around? Macy’s.
- In what year was How the Grinch Stole Christmas released? 2000.
- In Elf, what’s the first rule of The Code of Elves? Treat every day like Christmas.
4. SECRET SANTA
There’s no Christmas party with a gift exchange of some sort! The most classic gift exchange game is Secret Santa. Before the party, have each player draw the name of another player, for whom they must buy a gift! Exchange these gifts at the party.
5. WHITE ELEPHANT
Another super popular gift exchange game for Christmas is White Elephant. This is a quirky and funny twist on your standard gift exchange. In this game, players must bring a gift of a certain amount of money. Then, players take turns either picking a gift from the pile in the middle and unwrapping it or stealing an already-opened gift!
6. CHRISTMAS WHO AM I?
To play this game, give each player a Post-it note to secretly write a Christmas character or icon. They must then stick this Post-it note on the forehead of another player. Players must now go around asking yes-or-no questions to guess who their character is.
Examples of characters include:
- The Grinch
- Kevin McCallister
- Buddy the Elf
- Krampus
7. GUESS THE CHRISTMAS SCENT
Put your nose to the test with this classic Christmas game! Blindfold players and have them identify classic Christmas smells. The player who guesses the most smells correctly wins!
Here are some smells you can prepare:
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Gingerbread
- Roasted chestnuts
- Mulled wine
- Pine
8. REINDEER RING TOSS
Ring toss is a classic yard game you can play this Christmas if you have a lovely day outside. But play this game with a Christmas twist by having players toss rings onto reindeer antlers instead of your standard target!
This also makes for a great minute to win it game. For more like this, check out our post on Christmas minute to win it games!
9. GUESS THE CHRISTMAS CAROL
You might be surprised how many Christmas songs you do not know if the song is not sung properly! In this guessing game, read lyrics from Christmas songs in a monotone voice. Every player must try to guess these songs by writing down their guesses on a piece of paper. The player with the most correct answers wins.
10. CHRISTMAS TABOO
If you’ve ever played Taboo, you know how frustrating this game can get! But for Christmas, you’ll need to play Christmas-themed words. Just like the standard game, players must take turns getting their teammates to guess the word without using the word (or any related words). This game is a lot more difficult than it looks.
For example:
- Word: Santa Claus. Taboo words: Reindeer, Gifts, Chimney, Sleigh, North Pole
- Word: Elf. Taboo words: Workshop, Santa, Gifts, Pointy, Helper
- Word: Mistletoe. Taboo words: Kiss, Doorway, Plant, Tradition, Holiday
11. CHRISTMAS COOKIE COMPETITION
If there are bakers attending the Christmas party, turn the baking into a competition. Ask each baker to bring a plate of their best homemade Christmas cookies. Then, exchange and sample all the cookies and vote for your favorite one.
12. HOW MANY ORNAMENTS?
This is a very simple Christmas game that requires very little prep – as long as you already have your Christmas tree up, that is! Simply ask all the players to guess how many ornaments they think are on the tree. The player with the closest guess wins.
If your Christmas tree isn’t up yet, have everyone guess how many ornaments are in your ornament box instead.
13. CHRISTMAS BINGO
Prepare some bingo cards before the Christmas party. You can either make your own with Christmas-themed words or find some already-prepared ones online. Make sure each bingo card is unique!
Then, read out each item one by one until someone yells bingo when they have five in a row.
DRINKING CHRISTMAS PARTY GAMES FOR ADULTS
If you’re hosting an adult Christmas party, it makes sense you’ll want to play some drinking games as well. Here are our favorite drinking Christmas games for adults that you’ve got to play this holiday season!
By the way, if you want to also host a NYE party, here are the best New Year’s Eve drinking games!
14. EGGNOG PONG
Beer pong is a very classic drinking game that you can easily turn into a holiday game. Instead of playing with beer, play with eggnog! Two teams of two play against each other, throwing ping pong balls into cups in a pyramid formation. The first team to sink all of the other team’s cups wins.
15. CHRISTMAS MOVIE DRINKING GAME
We absolutely love to play movie drinking games. You get to drink and watch a nice Christmas movie… what’s better than that? But before you watch the movie, set up the rules about when to drink.
For example, if you’re watching Elf. You’ll drink anytime:
- Buddy says, “Santa”
- Buddy eats candy
- Buddy says, “Christmas cheer”
- Buddy’s dad gets annoyed
Feel free to add or subtract to this list, depending on how drunk you want to get!
16. NEVER HAVE I EVER: CHRISTMAS EDITION
An easy drinking Christmas game to play is Never Have I Ever. But instead of saying your usual Never Have I Ever phrases, try to say things that are Christmas-related, such as:
- Never have I kissed underneath a mistletoe.
- Never have I ever sung carols in public.
- Never have I ever been in a snowball fight.
- Never have I ever regifted a Christmas present.
As with the standard game, once a player makes a statement about something they’ve never done, everyone who has done it must put a finger down and take a drink.
17. CHRISTMAS CHARADES DRINKING GAME
Want to play Christmas charades with a drinking twist? To turn Christmas charades into a drinking game, anytime anyone guesses wrong, they must take a drink or a shot!
18. 12 DAYS OF SHOTS
This is a fun Christmas drinking game that is sure to get everyone pretty drunk by the end of it. It’s best to play this over a longer period of time. In this game, everyone will work together to prepare 12 different shots and name them with Christmas-themed names. Take each of the 12 shots together over a period of time.
19. CHRISTMAS COCKTAIL COMPETITION
Similarly, instead of working together to prepare shots, you can instead do a cocktail competition. Everyone must prepare a Christmas cocktail. Vote for your favorite one!
20. CHRISTMAS TRUTH OR DRINK
Play Truth or Dare with an alcohol twist! In this game, if you refuse a truth or dare, you must take a drink as punishment. Try to make the questions and dares Christmas-relate, if possible, in order to stay in the holiday spirit. Here are 250+ Truth or Dare questions to get you started.
Here’s a card version of the Truth or Drink drinking game if you’d like to play a game with a bit more structure.
21. CHRISTMAS LIGHTS DRINKING GAME
After Christmas dinner, if you’re feeling a bit stuffed, why not head out on a walk with your friends and family? This is a very simple drinking game to play while you’re walking. Just walk around the neighborhood, look at the Christmas lights, and take a drink whenever you see one of the following:
- Giant Santa
- Reindeer
- Light-up nativity
Feel free to add to or subtract from this list as you wish.
22. CHRISTMAS WOULD YOU RATHER
Would You Rather is a hit game at any party. To make this game holiday-themed, play it with funny holiday scenarios. Give two options and have the players choose between option one and option two. Players who pick the less popular option must take a drink! This is also a great way to get conversations started, making it a popular ice breaker drinking game.
Here are some examples of Would You Rather questions to get you started:
- Would you rather have to wear an ugly Christmas sweater every day in December or a Santa hat to every social event for a year?
- Would you rather spend Christmas with your favorite celebrity or with all of your closest friends and family?
- Would you rather listen to only Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” or “Jingle Bells” on repeat during the holidays?
23. STOCKING SHOTS
This is a great game to play to get the party started! Before the party, collect a bunch of small bottles of liquor and put them all in a large Christmas stocking. Then, players simply take turns reaching into the stocking and drawing a bottle. They must then take the shot!
FUNNY CHRISTMAS PARTY GAMES FOR ADULTS
Ready to laugh out loud with your friends and family? Here are the best hilarious Christmas games for adults that will have everyone clutching their stomachs in laughter.
24. CHRISTMAS MAD LIBS
Mad Libs is a classic party game that will have everyone laughing in no time. Prepare a holiday story and leave out some numbers, adjectives, nouns, and verbs. Then, have the players fill out each of those empty spaces by asking them for a random number, adjective, noun, or verb, depending on what needs to be filled out. When the story is complete, read it out loud for everyone to hear!
25. UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATER CONTEST
Ugly Christmas sweaters are a rite of passage during the holidays. Ask all your guests to wear an ugly Christmas sweater to participate in the ugly Christmas sweater contest. Vote on the worst and tackiest one!
26. SARAN WRAP BALL GAME
Prepare a ball of plastic wrap filled with small gifts in various layers of the ball. Players must then try to unwrap the ball of plastic wrap as much as possible to win whatever presents fall out of the ball as they unwrap. To make this game more difficult for adults, have everyone wear mittens!
27. BLIND GINGERBREAD HOUSE DECORATING
In this team game, two players work together to decorate a gingerbread house to the best of their ability. The twist? A blindfolded partner decorates while the other gives instructions. You’ll end up with some hilarious-looking gingerbread houses by the end of it!
28. CHRISTMAS MEME CAPTION CONTEST
Who doesn’t like memes? Create your own memes in this game. Before the party, prepare some holiday-themed memes – the picture only! Then, everyone must try to create funny captions for each of the memes. The best caption wins.
29. CANDY CANE RELAY
Divide the group into two teams and have the teams line up. The first player of each team has a candy cane in their mouth. The two teams must race to pass the candy cane down the line to the final player using only their mouths! This is not the game to play if you’re a germaphobe.
30. SNOWMAN BUILDING CONTEST
If it’s snowing outside, of course, you can build snowmen outside. But if you really want a laugh, you should play this indoor snowman building contest. Divide everyone into small teams. Each team must build a human snowman using toilet paper and common household accessories.
31. HOLIDAY COMMERCIAL PARODY
Divide the group into small teams again for Holiday Commercial Parody, one of the funniest Christmas party games for adults. Each team must act out a holiday-themed commercial for an absurd product of their choice! Perform or film each of these commercials for everyone to watch.
32. CHRISTMAS LIP SYNC BATTLE
Are you a performer at heart? Have everyone prepare a lip sync to a Christmas song of their choice that they must perform in front of everyone. Over-the-top gestures and elf-like enthusiasm are highly recommended!
33. CHRISTMAS ROAST
Before or after you eat your Christmas roast, do a roast! Take turns roasting holiday traditions or roasting their friends’ Christmas habits and other holiday-related things. Make sure to ask everyone to prepare a roast before the party so everyone comes ready.
34. THE CHRISTMAS EMOJI GAME
Somehow summarize a holiday movie plot with a few emojis. Have everyone else guess the movie! The player with the most correct guesses wins.
Here are some examples of emojis you can use:
- 🎅🎁🍝🍭 = Elf
- 🚂🎟️❄️☕ = The Polar Express
- 🎃🎅🎄👻 = The Nightmare Before Christmas
35. CHRISTMAS TREE RELAY
In this funny Christmas relay race, teams race to decorate a mini-Christmas tree using ornaments and garland, one ornament at a time. The first team to complete decorating their Christmas tree wins! You could also give a bonus point to whoever has the best-looking tree.
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