Office Christmas Party Games for Large Groups and Small Teams
Cracker Joke PunchlinesThe 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.
Party Moments BingoHand 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.
Two Truths and a Tinsel LieEach 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.
Office Christmas Party Games for Large Groups and Small Teams: how it works
Office Christmas party games for large groups have to do two things most lists skip: scale past a single circle, and stay comfortable in front of your manager. These 53 do both. Press New games to deal three, or tap Works for 50 or more for the 26 where every table plays at once.
Match the game to the head count
A gift swap is the slowest game at any party. We plan on about three minutes a person, so run one circle for every 12 to 15 people and start them together. For fun Christmas party games for large groups, tap Works for 50 or more: tables are the teams and nobody waits for a turn. Planning office Christmas party games for small groups? Tap Small groups of 6 to 12 for circle games such as Oven Mitt Parcel Race.
Christmas party games for the office, screened for work
Holiday party games for work face a stricter test than games at home: nobody gets singled out, touched or asked about their private life. Every game here passed that screen, and none involves alcohol. Not everyone celebrates Christmas, so Winter games with no Christmas in them holds 11 winter party games for adults built on snow, mittens and paper snowflakes.
Tips
These are free Christmas party games for adults, with nothing to download: Lock your picks, then Copy all pastes them into the invitation.
Planning Christmas party games for office teams on different floors? Holiday Signature Bingo gives people a reason to cross the room.
Give prizes nobody minds losing: a plant, a mug, the good parking spot for a week.
Questions and answers
What are the best Christmas party games for adults at work?
The ones a quiet colleague can enjoy from a chair. Open with a table game such as Guess the Gift by Shake, run one loud contest such as Indoor Snowball Fight, and close with a gift swap. Fun Christmas party games for adults need no embarrassment: here the performing jobs go to volunteers.
Are these free printable Christmas party games for adults?
The list is free, and Print puts the games you picked on paper. It does not make bingo cards or answer sheets. Games that need a printed sheet, such as Holiday Signature Bingo and Holiday Playlist Bingo, say so in their props line.
How do you run adult Christmas party games for large groups without chaos?
Make every table a team, give one person the microphone, and pick games the whole room plays at once, such as Snowman on Your Head or Sit Down If, December Edition. Keep each round under fifteen minutes and run them between courses.
Conspiracy SantaIn 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 SwapEveryone 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.
One-Theme White ElephantPut 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 NumbersEach 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.
Play Money Gift AuctionEvery guest gets the same stack of play money. The host auctions wrapped gifts one at a time with a single vague hint, such as "useful on a Monday". Tables may pool their money. Nothing is opened until the last lot is sold. Players: 10 to 80. Time: 30 min. Props: wrapped gifts and play money.
Secret Santa Guess WhoWeeks ahead, each person is randomly given one colleague 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.
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.
Trivia Steal White ElephantRun 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 CapEveryone 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 SwapEveryone 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 12
Carol Charades, Sing the AnswerAn 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 TableEach table sends up a 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 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 every disputed title has to be sung to prove it exists. Players: 4 to 15. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
Clap That CarolA 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 RewriteEach table has ten minutes to rewrite one verse of a well-known carol about its own department, keeping the tune. Tables perform in turn. 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.
Holiday Playlist BingoBuild 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.
Name That Carol in Five NotesA 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.
One Word at a Time CarolThe table sings a well-known carol with each person 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 HatsStand 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 QuizThe 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 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 ForfeitsThe Twelve Days of Christmas probably began as a memory-and-forfeit game, so play it as one. Go round the circle, each player singing the next day's gift and every gift before it. A slip earns a harmless forfeit, such as singing the next turn in a whisper. Players: 6 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: none.
Who Rang the Sleigh BellOne player sits blindfolded in the middle of a circle. 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 9
Christmas Category RoundRoll 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.
Cracker Joke PunchlinesThe 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.
Guess the Gift by ShakeWrap 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 ReceiptShow 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 AwardsHand 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 TableEach 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 GameA 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 HeadEveryone 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 EditionThe 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 12
Blindfold Tree Trimming by VoiceTape 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.
Decorate the Colleague TreeEach team has three minutes to turn a willing volunteer into a Christmas tree using crepe streamers, ribbon, bows and paper ornaments. The volunteer holds the star. The room judges by applause, and the trees stay decorated for the team photo. Players: 8 to 100. Time: 10 min. Props: crepe streamers, ribbon, bows and paper ornaments.
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.
Mittens On Candy UnwrapPlayers 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 RacePut 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 ContestEveryone 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 TossSet 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.
Snowman WrapTeams of three have two minutes to turn one teammate into a snowman with white crepe streamers, then add a hat, a scarf and a paper carrot nose. Arms stay free and faces stay uncovered. Judges pick the roundest snowman. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: white crepe streamers, a hat, a scarf and a paper nose per team.
Two People, Two Hands Wrapping RacePairs stand side by side with their inside arms linked, which leaves each of them one free hand. 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 RelayThe 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.
Wrapping Paper Fashion ShowEach team gets three rolls of wrapping paper, tape, ribbon and ten minutes to dress a model in a holiday outfit over their clothes. One teammate narrates the runway walk. Give awards for construction, commentary and the outfit most likely to survive the walk. Players: 8 to 100. Time: 20 min. Props: wrapping paper, tape and ribbon for each team.
Wreath Card TossLay 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.
Mixers for colleagues 10
Christmas Pairs Name TagsWrite 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, then learn two things about that person to tell the room. Players: 10 to 150, even numbers. Time: 12 min. Props: name tags and a marker.
Forbidden Word PinsEvery guest gets a clothespin at the door and one rule: do not say the word "work". Catch someone saying it and you take their pins. The guest wearing the most pins when dessert arrives wins. Players: 10 to 200. Time: 60 min. Props: a clothespin for each guest.
Guess the Childhood GiftEveryone 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 BingoEach guest gets a 5 by 5 grid of December facts: puts up a real tree, has worked a holiday shift, bakes every year, celebrates a different winter holiday. 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-UpCut 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 IntroductionsEveryone 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 BingoHand 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 EditionEveryone 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 CircleBuild 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.
Two Truths and a Tinsel LieEach 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 by the Game Night Generator editors in September 2026 for an office or workplace Christmas party, from a team of six to a hall of 200. Every description is our own wording of a traditional game or of a format hosts commonly run. Every game was screened to be alcohol-free and safe for a workplace: nothing about bodies, romance or a named colleague's habits. Player ranges and times are the editors' planning estimates, not measurements. The traditional rules named in the descriptions were checked on 2026-09-18 against these Wikipedia articles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant_gift_exchange (one wrapped gift each, order by drawn numbers, open a new gift or steal, a gift commonly frozen after two steals; rules vary), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Santa (random assignment, the guessing variant with a clue, and Conspiracy Santa, where the group picks one person's gift together), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song) (a cumulative song that probably began as a memory-and-forfeit game), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charades (silent acting against a timer), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pass_the_parcel (layers of wrapping and a prize in the middle) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingo_(American_version) (5 by 5 card; a full row wins). The circle size for gift swaps, the die faces in Dice Gift Swap and the price caps are our own house rules. The games marked as winter games mention no Christmas custom, for teams where not everyone celebrates it. House rules vary, so treat each line as one good way to run the game and not as the official one. Licence: own work