Office Christmas Party Games for Large Groups, and for Home

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Office Christmas Party Games for Large Groups, and for Home

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  1. Carol Title ChainGo round the circle naming Christmas songs, one per turn, with five seconds to answer and no repeats. Anyone who stalls or repeats is out. The last player in wins, and a disputed title counts only if someone at the table can hum it. Players: 4 to 15. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  2. Snow Story Gift PassWrite a one-page story that uses the word "snow" about twenty times and "ice" five times. Everyone stands in a circle holding a wrapped gift and passes it one place to the right on every "snow". Every "ice" reverses the direction. Keep what you hold at the end. Players: 8 to 80. Time: 10 min. Props: one wrapped gift per person and a written story.
  3. Indoor Snowball FightDivide the room with a line of tape and give each side a heap of crumpled paper snowballs. For sixty seconds both teams throw snowballs over the line, underarm only. At the whistle, the side with fewer snowballs on its floor wins. Players: 10 to 100. Time: 5 min. Props: scrap paper and tape.

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Gift swaps and exchanges 10

  • Conspiracy Santa In place of one secret buyer, the whole team conspires for each colleague: a private thread without that person in it settles on one small gift that fits them, and one volunteer buys it. At the party everyone opens theirs and guesses whose idea it was. Players: 5 to 20. Time: 30 min. Props: one group gift per person.
  • Dice Gift Swap Everyone holds a wrapped gift and takes turns rolling a die. A 1 swaps with the left, a 2 with the right, a 3 with anyone, on a 4 every gift moves one place left, a 5 keeps, and a 6 steals from anyone. After three times round, open what you hold. Players: 6 to 15. Time: 20 min. Props: one wrapped gift per person and a large die.
  • Guess Your Secret Santa Weeks ahead, each person is randomly given one other guest to buy for, in secret and under a price cap. Every gift carries a clue about the giver and no name. Receivers open in turn and get two guesses at their Santa before the giver owns up. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 30 min. Props: one gift per person, each with a written clue.
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Gift swaps and exchanges, continued

  • One-Theme White Elephant Put one theme and a price cap on the invitation: mugs only, something from a hardware store, things that are red. Then run the usual swap with numbers, opening and stealing. A shared theme keeps every gift in the same league and makes the steals funnier. Players: 8 to 15 per circle. Time: 40 min. Props: one themed wrapped gift per person and numbered slips.
  • Ornament Exchange by Numbers Each guest brings one wrapped tree ornament. Draw numbers and pick from the pile in order. When every ornament is open, allow five minutes of swaps that both sides agree to. Everyone goes home with something for the tree. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 20 min. Props: one wrapped ornament per person and numbered slips.
  • Prize Table Pick by Points Keep a running score for every table across the evening's games. At the end, lay out one wrapped prize per table. The table with the most points picks first, then the next, down to the last. Nothing is opened until every table holds a prize, and tables may agree a swap afterwards. Players: 10 to 150. Time: 10 min. Props: one wrapped prize per table and a scoreboard.
  • Snow Story Gift Pass Write a one-page story that uses the word "snow" about twenty times and "ice" five times. Everyone stands in a circle holding a wrapped gift and passes it one place to the right on every "snow". Every "ice" reverses the direction. Keep what you hold at the end. Players: 8 to 80. Time: 10 min. Props: one wrapped gift per person and a written story.
  • Trivia Steal White Elephant Run a gift swap by numbers, but make players earn a steal. On your turn the host asks one Christmas trivia question. Answer it correctly and you may steal any opened gift. Miss it and you unwrap a new one from the pile. Players: 8 to 15 per circle. Time: 45 min. Props: one wrapped gift per person, numbered slips and a question list.
  • White Elephant With a Two-Steal Cap Everyone brings one wrapped gift of similar value and draws a number. Player one opens a gift. Each later player unwraps a new gift or steals an opened one, and anyone who is robbed makes the same choice. A gift stolen twice stays where it is. With a big crowd, run one circle for every 12 to 15 people. Players: 8 to 15 per circle. Time: 40 min. Props: one wrapped gift per person and numbered slips.
  • Wrapped Book Swap Everyone wraps a book they enjoyed and writes three words about it on the paper, with no title and no author. Draw numbers and choose in order by the three words alone. There is no stealing, and each giver explains the choice as the book is opened. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 25 min. Props: one wrapped book per person and numbered slips.

Carols and music games 13

  • Carol Charades, Sing the Answer A volunteer actor draws a carol title and mimes it without a sound. Guessing the title is not enough: the team has to answer by singing the first line together. Give each actor one minute. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 20 min. Props: carol slips, a bowl and a timer.
  • Carol Hum-Off by Table Each table sends up a volunteer hummer, and the host whispers a carol to them. The hummer's own table has twenty seconds to name it from the humming alone. After that, any other table may steal the point. Players: 12 to 150. Time: 15 min. Props: none.
  • Carol Title Chain Go round the circle naming Christmas songs, one per turn, with five seconds to answer and no repeats. Anyone who stalls or repeats is out. The last player in wins, and a disputed title counts only if someone at the table can hum it. Players: 4 to 15. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Clap That Carol A volunteer claps the rhythm of a carol, with no humming and no mouthing of words. The first table to stand and name it scores. Rhythm alone is harder than it sounds, so allow each clapper two tries. Players: 6 to 100. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Department Carol Rewrite Each table has ten minutes to rewrite one verse of a well-known carol about its own department, keeping the tune. Tables perform in turn, or hand the verse to the host to read out. Judges score for rhyme, truth and kindness, and a verse that mocks a colleague scores nothing. Players: 12 to 120. Time: 25 min. Props: paper and pens.
  • Draw the Carol Title A volunteer draws a carol title on a flip chart with no letters, no numbers and no talking, and the team has one minute to name the carol. Partridges, silent nights and three ships all count. Alternate teams and play to ten points. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 20 min. Props: carol slips, a flip chart or paper, markers and a timer.
  • Five-Note Carol Guess A colleague at a keyboard, or with a piano app on a phone, plays the first three notes of a carol. Tables that want to guess stand up. A wrong guess locks the table out, and one more note is added. The fewer the notes, the more the points. Players: 8 to 150. Time: 15 min. Props: a keyboard or a piano app and a speaker.
  • Holiday Playlist Bingo Build bingo cards whose squares are the songs on tonight's playlist, a different mix on each card. Guests mark a square when its song starts playing. The game runs in the background all evening, and the first full row wins. Players: 10 to 200. Time: 60 min. Props: printed bingo cards, pens and a playlist.
  • One Word at a Time Carol The table works through a well-known carol with each person saying or singing only one word, in turn round the circle, in tune and in time. A missed word or a wrong one sends the table back to the first line. Race another table to the end of the verse. Players: 5 to 12 per table. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Pass the Santa Hats Stand in a circle, everyone in a Santa hat except one player. While a carol plays, keep taking the hat from the head on your right and putting it on your own. When the music stops, anyone bareheaded is out and takes a hat along. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: Santa hats for all but one player, and music.
  • Second Verse Carol Quiz The host reads the first half of a line from a traditional carol and tables write down the rest. Use second and third verses for the later rounds, which far fewer people know. Swap papers to mark, and let the room sing each answer to check it. Players: 8 to 150. Time: 15 min. Props: a list of carol lines, paper and pens.
  • Twelve Days Memory Round The Twelve Days of Christmas probably began as a memory-and-forfeit game, so play it as a memory game and skip the forfeits. Go round the circle, each player saying or singing the next day's gift and every gift before it. A slip costs one of three lives, and anyone may pass. Players: 6 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: none.
  • Who Rang the Sleigh Bell One volunteer sits in the middle of a circle with eyes shut, or blindfolded if they are happy to be. A bell is passed silently round, and whoever the host points to rings it once. The player in the middle points to where the sound came from. Three right in a row wins a prize. Players: 6 to 15. Time: 10 min. Props: a small bell and a blindfold.

Table and quiz games 11

  • Christmas Category Round Roll a letter and give tables two minutes to fill a list of Christmas categories: something on the dinner table, a gift under twenty dollars, a word from a carol, something in a stocking. An answer that another table also wrote scores nothing. Players: 4 to 60. Time: 12 min. Props: paper, pens and a timer.
  • Christmas Dinner Memory Tray Before the meal, lay out a tray with fifteen small things from the kitchen and the tree: a nutcracker, a cinnamon stick, a gift tag, a cookie cutter. Guests study it for one minute, the tray goes under a tea towel, and everyone writes down what they remember. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: a tray of fifteen objects, a tea towel, paper and pens.
  • Cracker Joke Punchlines The host reads the set-up of a corny joke of the kind found in a Christmas cracker. Tables get one minute to write their own punchline. Read them all out with a straight face, the real one among them, and let the room vote. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 15 min. Props: a list of jokes, paper and pens.
  • Gift Tag Rhyme Contest The host holds up an unwrapped everyday object, such as a stapler or a whisk. Tables get two minutes to write a two-line rhyming gift tag that hints at it without naming it. Read them all out, and the room votes by applause for the tag it would most like to find under the tree. Players: 6 to 120. Time: 12 min. Props: five everyday objects, paper and pens.
  • Guess the Gift by Shake Wrap ten everyday objects in plain boxes: a stapler, a bag of rice, a bell, a deck of cards. Tables pass the boxes round, shake them and write down a guess for each. Unwrap them one by one for the reveal. Players: 6 to 80. Time: 15 min. Props: ten wrapped boxes, paper and pens.
  • Guess the Receipt Show ten seasonal items you bought for the party: a wreath, a box of cards, a roll of wrapping paper. Tables write down what they think the receipt total was. The closest total that does not go over wins the lot. Players: 6 to 100. Time: 10 min. Props: ten purchased items and the receipt.
  • Holiday Sweater Awards Hand every guest a ballot with kind categories: most lights, most handmade, most likely to shed glitter, quietest sweater in the room. Count the votes during dessert and hand out paper rosettes. Tell people a week ahead so they can dress for it. Players: 10 to 200. Time: 15 min. Props: ballots, pens and paper rosettes.
  • Holiday Trivia by Table Each table is a team. Run three rounds of eight questions on holiday food, songs and customs from around the world. Tables swap papers to mark them, phones stay face down, and ties are broken by the closest guess at a number. Players: 12 to 200. Time: 30 min. Props: a question list, answer sheets and pens.
  • Office Holiday Survey Game A week ahead, poll the office on ten questions: the break-room snack that vanishes first, the song everyone is tired of by December 10. At the party two teams try to name the top answers, and points follow the real vote counts. Players: 10 to 100. Time: 25 min. Props: your own poll results on a screen or a flip chart.
  • Snowman on Your Head Everyone holds a paper plate on top of their head and draws as the host calls the steps: three circles, a hat, a carrot nose, two stick arms, three buttons. Score a point for every part that landed where it belongs. Players: 4 to 200. Time: 8 min. Props: a paper plate and a marker each.
  • Would You Rather: December Edition The host reads a seasonal choice: wrap every gift in the office or write every card, a real tree that sheds or a plastic one that leans. Guests walk to one side of the room to vote, and one volunteer per side defends the choice. Players: 8 to 200. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

Contests and relays 16

  • Antler Ring Toss in Pairs One partner wears a reindeer antler headband and stands six feet from the line. The other throws ten soft rings, and the wearer may lean and duck to catch them but may not use hands. Swap roles and add the two scores. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: antler headbands and soft rope or pipe-cleaner rings.
  • Blindfold Tree Trimming by Voice Tape a large paper tree to the wall. A blindfolded player holds paper ornaments with tape on the back, and teammates steer by voice alone: left, higher, stop. Score a point for each ornament on the tree and three for a star on the top. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 12 min. Props: a paper tree, paper ornaments, tape and a blindfold.
  • Cookie Decorating by Secret Ballot Every player gets two plain cookies, icing, sprinkles and ten minutes. Finished cookies go on numbered plates with no names. Each guest drops one token beside a favorite, and the three fullest plates win. Check for allergies before you buy the icing. Players: 4 to 40. Time: 25 min. Props: plain cookies, icing, sprinkles, numbered plates and tokens.
  • Gift-Wrap the Office Chair Each team gets one chair, three rolls of wrapping paper, tape, ribbon and ten minutes. Wrap the whole chair as a gift, legs and all, so that it still stands level. Judges give awards for the sharpest corners, the biggest bow and the wrap most likely to survive being sat on. Players: 8 to 100. Time: 15 min. Props: a chair, wrapping paper, tape and ribbon for each team.
  • Human Christmas Tree Each team has three minutes to turn a willing volunteer into a Christmas tree with crepe streamers, ribbon, bows and paper ornaments. Arms stay free, faces stay uncovered, and the volunteer holds the star. The room judges by applause. Players: 8 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: crepe streamers, ribbon, bows and paper ornaments.
  • Indoor Snowball Fight Divide the room with a line of tape and give each side a heap of crumpled paper snowballs. For sixty seconds both teams throw snowballs over the line, underarm only. At the whistle, the side with fewer snowballs on its floor wins. Players: 10 to 100. Time: 5 min. Props: scrap paper and tape.
  • Longest Paper Chain in Five Minutes Each table gets a stack of paper strips and one roll of tape, and five minutes to build the longest unbroken paper chain. At the whistle, two players from each table carry their chain to the wall to be measured. A chain that breaks in transit is measured at its longest piece. Players: 8 to 150. Time: 8 min. Props: paper strips and a roll of tape per table.
  • Mittens On Candy Unwrap Players put on thick winter mittens and try to unwrap as many wrapped candies as they can in one minute. Count only candies that are fully out of the wrapper. Winners keep what they unwrapped. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 5 min. Props: thick mittens, wrapped candies and a timer.
  • Oven Mitt Parcel Race Put a parcel wrapped in many taped layers in the middle of the table. One player in oven mitts tears at it while the next player rolls a die. A six passes the mitts and the parcel along. Whoever pulls off the last layer keeps the prize. Players: 5 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: a well-wrapped prize, oven mitts and a die.
  • Paper Snowflake Contest Everyone gets a sheet of paper, scissors and three minutes. Fold, cut and unfold. Judges give three awards: most intricate, most symmetrical and most alarming. Tape the results to a window for the rest of the party. Players: 4 to 100. Time: 8 min. Props: paper and scissors.
  • Snowball Bucket Toss Set three buckets at three, five and seven steps from a line, worth 1, 3 and 5 points. Each player throws five snowballs made of rolled white socks. Add up the team totals, and let the two top scorers play a final from the far line. Players: 4 to 40. Time: 12 min. Props: three buckets and rolled white socks.
  • Tabletop Tree From Desk Supplies Each table gets the same bag: paper cups, sticky notes, paper clips, green paper, tape and one paper star. Tables have six minutes to build the tallest tree that stands on its own. It must hold the star for a count of ten while the judges measure. Players: 8 to 150. Time: 12 min. Props: a bag of desk supplies and a paper star per table, and a tape measure.
  • Three-Box Snowman Relay Each team has three boxes wrapped in white paper, large, medium and small, plus a hat, a scarf and a paper carrot nose at the far end of the room. Runners go one at a time and add one piece each. The first snowman standing with all six pieces wins, and a fallen box is restacked by the next runner. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: three white-wrapped boxes, a hat, a scarf and a paper nose per team.
  • Two People, Two Hands Wrapping Race Pairs stand side by side, and each partner keeps one hand behind their own back, which leaves the pair two hands. Together they wrap a box with paper, tape and a ribbon bow. Judges score speed first and neatness second. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: boxes, wrapping paper, tape and ribbon.
  • Winter Gear Relay The first runner on each team puts on a hat, a scarf, mittens and an oversized coat, walks fast to the far wall and back, and hands the whole outfit to the next teammate. The coat has to be zipped before anyone sets off. Players: 8 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: a hat, a scarf, mittens and a big coat for each team.
  • Wreath Card Toss Lay a wreath flat on the floor, eight feet from a line. Each player flicks ten old Christmas cards toward it and scores a point for every card that lands inside the ring. A card leaning on the wreath counts as half. Players: 2 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a wreath and a stack of old cards.

Icebreakers and mixers for colleagues 11

  • Christmas Pairs Name Tags Write half of a seasonal pair on each name tag: sleigh and bells, milk and cookies, holly and ivy, hat and mittens. Guests find their other half, and each pair agrees on the one December food they would both keep if every other one vanished, then tells the room. Players: 10 to 150, even numbers. Time: 12 min. Props: name tags and a marker.
  • Forbidden Word Pins Every guest gets three clothespins at the door and one rule: do not say the word "work". At a house party, ban "Christmas". Catch someone saying it and they hand you one of their pins. The guest holding the most pins when dessert arrives wins. Players: 10 to 200. Time: 60 min. Props: three clothespins for each guest.
  • Guess the Childhood Gift Everyone writes down the gift they wanted most at age eight, and whether they ever got it. The host reads the cards out and the room guesses the writer. Expect a run of bicycles, puppies and one very specific toy truck. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 15 min. Props: index cards and pens.
  • Holiday Signature Bingo Each guest gets a 5 by 5 grid of harmless December habits: has worked a holiday shift, bakes every year, has finished their shopping, owns a sweater with lights. Keep every square about habits, never about beliefs, family or home life. Collect one signature per square, and no name twice. The first full row wins. Players: 15 to 200. Time: 15 min. Props: a printed grid and a pen each.
  • Ornament Match-Up Cut paper ornaments in half, each with a different zigzag, and hand one half to every guest at the door. Guests hunt for the half that fits theirs. Matched pairs answer one question together and drop the ornament in the prize draw. Players: 10 to 200, even numbers. Time: 12 min. Props: paper ornaments cut in half and a draw box.
  • Paper Snowball Introductions Everyone writes their answers to two questions on a sheet, such as first job and favorite winter food, with no name. Crumple the sheets into snowballs and throw them across the room. Pick up the nearest one and find the person who wrote it. Players: 10 to 150. Time: 10 min. Props: paper and pens.
  • Party Moments Bingo Hand out cards whose squares are things that happen at every office party: a phone rings during the toast, someone mentions the weather, a sweater lights up, someone asks where the tape is. Mark them as they happen, quietly. The first full row wins. Players: 10 to 200. Time: 60 min. Props: printed bingo cards and pens.
  • Sit Down If, December Edition Everyone stands. The host reads statements, and you sit if one is true for you: sit down if you have finished your shopping, if you have wrapped a gift this week, if you own a holiday sweater. The last person standing wins a prize. Players: any number. Time: 6 min. Props: none.
  • Snowed-In Story Circle Build a story one sentence at a time round the circle. It starts "The whole office was snowed in, and" and has to end with everyone getting home safely. Nobody may use a real colleague's name. Players: 5 to 15. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Tree Ornament Fibs The host takes five ornaments off the tree and tells a one-line story of where each came from. Four stories are true and one is invented. Guests vote on the fib by pointing, and a guest who guesses right tells the next five from memory of their own tree. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: a decorated tree.
  • Two Truths and a Tinsel Lie Each player tells three holiday stories about themselves: a gift that went wrong, a journey home, a kitchen disaster. One of the three is invented. The table votes on the lie, then demands the full version of the strangest true one. Players: 4 to 12 per table. Time: 15 min. Props: none.

How this list was compiled: Written for a Christmas party of adults, at the office or at home, in our own words; player ranges, times and price caps are our estimates. No game involves alcohol, betting or play money. In the Office-safe set nobody is touched, blindfolded or dressed up by someone else, and no game asks a personal question. That screen is our own and is not legal advice. The screen started from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission page on harassment (https://www.eeoc.gov/harassment), read on 2026-09-18. Rules were checked on 2026-09-18 against English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ followed by the name): White_elephant_gift_exchange, Secret_Santa, The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song), Charades, Pass_the_parcel, Kim%27s_Game, Bingo_(American_version). Licence: own work

How it works

Office Christmas party games for large groups have two jobs: scale past a single circle, and stay comfortable in front of your manager. The page opens on Office-safe set: the 52 games that passed our workplace screen.

Read the full guide

Match the game to the head count

Under More filters, choose your head count in the Players menu. Works for 50 or more holds the 28 games every table plays at once: in a large group the games that work are the ones where nobody waits, such as Snowman on Your Head. Run a gift swap in circles of 12 to 15. A small team wants circle games; Small groups of 6 to 12 holds 24.

What Christmas party games for the office leave out

In the Office-safe set nobody is touched, blindfolded or dressed up by a teammate, no game asks about family, beliefs or home life, and performing goes to volunteers. Nine games stay outside it, among them Pass the Santa Hats. The screen is our own, not legal advice.

  • Take away the games you do not want with ×, then press Copy the list and paste the names into the invitation.
  • Between courses is the slot for holiday party games for work: keep rounds under fifteen minutes.

Questions and answers

Which of these are fun Christmas party games for adults at home?

The 53 under At home with friends and family. That set drops the eight office-only games and adds nine for a house party, such as Tree Ornament Fibs. For eight adults, play Christmas Dinner Memory Tray before the meal and Dice Gift Swap after it.

Are there free printable Christmas party games for adults here?

Yes. Print puts every game on screen on paper, with its instructions. Games that need a printed sheet, such as Holiday Playlist Bingo, link to the tool that makes it.

How do you run adult Christmas party games for large groups without chaos?

Make every table a team and pick games the whole room plays at once, such as Sit Down If, December Edition. Score every round on one board, then let Prize Table Pick by Points hand out the prizes.

Are there games with no Christmas in them?

Winter games with no Christmas in them holds 12, such as Snowman on Your Head and Longest Paper Chain in Five Minutes. They suit a workplace where not everyone keeps Christmas. The winter party games page has more.

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