Christmas Party Games for Kids and Teens

Three Christmas games at a time, for a class party, a family party or a teen night.

Christmas Party Games for Kids and Teens

  1. Christmas Forbidden WordsDescribe a Christmas word to your team without saying the three words listed under it. For snowman, that might be snow, carrot and cold. Say a forbidden word and the card goes to the other team. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 12 min. Props: forbidden word cards and a timer.
  2. Snowman Freeze DanceEveryone dances like a snowflake while the music plays and freezes like a snowman when it stops. Anyone still wobbling melts slowly to the floor, claps through the next round and then joins in again. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: music.
  3. Christmas Secret Word ImposterEveryone is shown the same Christmas word except one player, who sees nothing. Go around the circle giving one-word clues, then vote on who was bluffing. If the imposter can name the word, they still win. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: one phone or slips of paper.
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Christmas Party Games for Kids and Teens: how it works

These Christmas party games for kids cover the class party, the family get-together and the youth group night. There are 52, split into Kindergarten and ages 4 to 7, Ages 8 to 12 and Teens. Tap an age, press New games, and three come up with players, time and props.

Christmas party games for school, in one class period

Tap School and classroom parties for the 35 games that fit between desks and use props from the supply cupboard. For a 40-minute party, choose one moving game, one seated game and one to finish, such as Snowman Freeze Dance, Christmas Picture Bingo and Pass the Present to Carols. Print the list for the room parent. If your school keeps December parties seasonal, the Winter games with no Santa chip holds 17 winter party games for kids, all snow, mittens and penguins.

Kindergarten and teens want opposite things

Christmas party games for kindergarten need one rule and no long wait for a turn. Santa Says, Sleeping Reindeer and Who Has the Jingle Bell keep the whole class playing at once. Christmas party games for teens need teams, bluffing and a phone in hand. Try Christmas Photo Hunt in Teams, Christmas Secret Word Imposter or White Elephant Swap for Teens. The Teens chip holds 28 games, and 23 of them also suit ages 8 to 12.

Tips

  • Fun Christmas party games for kids end early. Stop each one while the children are still asking for another round.
  • Keep prizes small and equal, such as a sticker or a pencil each, so that losing a game costs nothing.
  • Ask about allergies before any game with candy canes or wrapped candies.

Questions and answers

How many games do I need for a class Christmas party?

For a 40-minute class party, plan three games and one spare, because food and a craft take about half the time. Put the noisiest game first and finish with a seated one, such as Left, Right Christmas Story Pass, so the room is calm at pickup.

Which Christmas games need no props at all?

Nine games under No props need only the players. Santa Says, Sleeping Reindeer and North Pole Four Corners suit the youngest. Finish the Carol Line, Twelve Days Memory Chain and Two Christmas Truths and a Lie suit older children and teens.

Can little kids and teens play the same games?

Yes, if the teens get a job. Pair each teen with a small child for Partner Gift Wrap, One Hand Each, or let a teen call the pictures in Christmas Picture Bingo. At a family party where cousins of every age play together, Christmas Charades in Two Teams and Mitten Cup Stack work with mixed teams.

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All 52 games

Kindergarten and ages 4 to 7 20

  • Candy Cane Hunt, Three Each Hide wrapped candy canes around the room, three per child. Everyone hunts at once, but each child stops at three and then helps a friend. A cap on the haul means the fastest hunter cannot clear the room. Players: 3 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: wrapped candy canes.
  • Christmas Picture Bingo Give each child a card of Christmas pictures and call them one at a time: a stocking, a star, a sleigh. A full line wins a sticker and the game goes on, so there are many winners before anyone fills a card. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 12 min. Props: picture bingo cards and counters.
  • Cotton Snowball Spoon Relay Each runner carries a cotton ball on a spoon to the far bowl and runs back to hand the spoon on. Cotton balls weigh almost nothing, so a fast walk tips them off. The first team to move ten snowballs wins. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: spoons, bowls and cotton balls.
  • Feather Snowflake Blow Each team of four lies on their tummies around a white feather, the snowflake. On go, they keep it in the air by blowing only, with hands behind their backs. Time each team, and the longest flight wins. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 5 min. Props: one white craft feather per team.
  • Musical Santa Hats Sit in a circle with one fewer Santa hat than players. While the music plays, hats move from head to head around the circle. When it stops, the bare head is out and takes one hat along. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: Santa hats and music.
  • North Pole Four Corners Name the corners of the room workshop, stable, sleigh and chimney. The counter shuts their eyes and counts to ten while everyone tiptoes to a corner, then calls one out. Everyone standing in that corner sits down, and the last player left counts next. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Paper Plate Ice Skating Race On carpet, each skater stands on two paper plates and slides to the far wall and back without lifting a foot. Run it in pairs, then let the winners race in a final. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: two paper plates per skater.
  • Pass the Present to Carols Wrap a small gift in one layer of Christmas paper per child, with a sticker under every layer. The present goes around the circle while a carol plays, and whoever holds it when the music stops peels off one layer. Players: 5 to 15. Time: 10 min. Props: a layered present and music.
  • Pass the Snowball Before It Melts Pass a white pom-pom or a rolled sock around the circle while the music plays. When the music stops, the holder has melted and moves to the middle to pick the next stopping point. Players: 5 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: a soft white ball and music.
  • Penguin Egg Shuffle Each racer balances a beanbag egg on top of their feet and shuffles to the line like a penguin, heels together. If the egg slides off, they stop and put it back before moving on. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: one beanbag per racer.
  • Pin the Nose on the Reindeer Draw a big reindeer face on poster board and cut a red paper nose for each child. Blindfolded and turned around gently, each child walks up and sticks their nose on. Initials on the noses show who came closest. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a reindeer poster, paper noses, tape and a blindfold.
  • Reindeer, Reindeer, Santa It is duck, duck, goose in a Santa hat. The picker walks around the circle tapping heads and saying reindeer, then names a Santa, who chases the picker once around the circle and back to the empty spot. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Roll-a-Snowman Dice Draw Roll one die and draw the part you earn: 1 for the bottom snowball, 2 the middle, 3 the head, 4 a hat, 5 stick arms, 6 the face. The three snowballs have to go on in order from the bottom up. The first finished snowman wins. Players: 2 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a die for each table, paper and pencils.
  • Santa Says Play Simon Says with Santa giving the orders: Santa says stomp the snow off your boots, Santa says pat your tummy. Anyone who moves without the magic words sits in the sleigh for one round, then comes back in. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Sleeping Reindeer The reindeer lie down to rest before the big night and must not move. Santa walks among them making jokes, with no touching, and any reindeer that giggles gets up to help Santa. It settles a room in three minutes. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: none.
  • Snowman Freeze Dance Everyone dances like a snowflake while the music plays and freezes like a snowman when it stops. Anyone still wobbling melts slowly to the floor, claps through the next round and then joins in again. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: music.
  • Sock Snowball Bucket Toss Roll white socks into snowballs and set out three buckets at one, two and three big steps from the line. Each child throws three snowballs, and a far bucket scores more. Add the class total and try to beat it in round two. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: rolled white socks and three buckets.
  • What Is Missing From Santa's Sack Lay eight Christmas objects on a tray, such as a bauble, a bow and a bell. Give the group thirty seconds to look, cover the tray and slip one object into the sack. The first child to name it takes the next one away. Players: 3 to 15. Time: 8 min. Props: a tray, a cloth, a sack and eight objects.
  • White Cup Snowman Bowling Stack six white cups into a pyramid and draw a snowman face on the top one. Each bowler rolls a soft ball from the line and gets two rolls to knock down all six. An older helper restacks the cups. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: six white cups, a marker and a soft ball.
  • Who Has the Jingle Bell One child hides their eyes while a jingle bell is passed around the circle and hidden in a pair of hands. Everyone shakes their closed fists at once, and the guesser gets three tries to point to the real bell. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: one jingle bell.

Ages 8 to 12 27

  • Blindfold Snow Shovel A blindfolded player sits with a bowl of cotton balls in front of them and an empty bowl on their lap. With one spoon and one minute, they shovel as much snow across as they can. Cotton balls weigh nothing, so nobody can tell how they are doing. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 5 min. Props: two bowls, a spoon, cotton balls and a blindfold.
  • Candy Cane Spoons Deal four cards each and lay candy canes in the middle, one fewer than the number of players. Everyone passes a card to the left at the same time until somebody holds four of a kind and takes a cane. Then everyone grabs, and whoever misses out sits out the next hand. Players: 4 to 10. Time: 12 min. Props: a deck of cards and wrapped candy canes.
  • Christmas Categories by Letter Roll a letter and read five categories: a Christmas food, a gift, a carol word, something on a tree, something in the snow. Two minutes to write one answer each. Only answers nobody else wrote score. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: paper, pencils and a timer.
  • Christmas Charades in Two Teams One actor from each team takes a Christmas card and acts it out with no sounds: hanging lights, a snow globe, a partridge in a pear tree. Teams get one minute per card and a point per guess. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 15 min. Props: Christmas charades cards and a timer.
  • Christmas Clue Hunt to the Tree Hide six clue cards around the house, each one pointing to the next: look where the stockings hang, check under the cookie plate. The last clue leads to a small shared prize under the tree. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: six clue cards and a prize.
  • Christmas Draw and Guess Relay The first drawer on each team reads a Christmas word from the host, runs back and draws it with no letters. When the team guesses it, the next drawer runs up for a new word. The first team through six words wins. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 15 min. Props: paper, markers and a Christmas word list.
  • Christmas Forbidden Words Describe a Christmas word to your team without saying the three words listed under it. For snowman, that might be snow, carrot and cold. Say a forbidden word and the card goes to the other team. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 12 min. Props: forbidden word cards and a timer.
  • Christmas Survey Showdown Two teams take turns guessing the most popular answers to a Christmas question, such as name something you leave out for Santa. Top answers score the most points, and three misses hand the round to the other team. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 15 min. Props: survey questions with ranked answers.
  • Christmas Trivia Bell Ringers Each team gets a jingle bell as its buzzer. Read a question and the first ring answers. Sample question: how many reindeer are named in the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas? The answer is eight. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 15 min. Props: a question list and a bell per team.
  • Christmas Would You Rather, Stand or Sit Read a Christmas would you rather question, such as live in a gingerbread house or ride in the sleigh. Stand for the first choice, sit for the second. Ask one stander and one sitter to explain themselves. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Fill the Sack Relay Each team has a pile of empty wrapped boxes and a pillowcase sack at the far end. Runners carry one box at a time, drop it in the sack and run back to tag the next player. The first full sack wins. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: wrapped empty boxes and two pillowcases.
  • Finish the Carol Line Sing or read the first half of a carol line and point to a team, who must sing the rest. Get it right for a point, or the line passes to the next team. Stick to the carols everyone in the room knows. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Five-Minute Snowflake Cut-Off Everyone gets one square of paper, a pair of scissors and five minutes to fold and cut a snowflake. Open them together and vote for the most detailed, the most lopsided and the biggest surprise. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: paper squares and scissors.
  • Guess the Carol in Five Seconds Play the first five seconds of a Christmas song and pause it. The first team to stand up names it for a point. A wrong answer lets the other team hear five seconds more. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a playlist and a speaker.
  • Hot Cocoa Freeze Tag Two taggers freeze anyone they touch. To thaw a frozen friend, two free players join hands around them and shout hot cocoa. Play three-minute rounds in the yard or the gym, then swap taggers. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 9 min. Props: none.
  • Left, Right Christmas Story Pass Everyone sits in a circle holding a small wrapped gift. Read a Christmas story packed with the words left and right, and every gift moves one seat that way on each word. You keep the gift you hold at the last word. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a small wrapped gift each and a left-right story.
  • Loudest Paper Sweater Contest Hand out a paper sweater outline, glue and a tray of scraps: pom-poms, tinsel, ribbon ends. Designers get ten minutes to make the loudest holiday sweater they can, then hold them up for a vote. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 15 min. Props: paper outlines, glue and craft scraps.
  • Mitten Cup Stack Wearing thick winter mittens, each player builds ten cups into a pyramid and slides them back into one stack. The fastest clean time wins. Mittens make this far harder than it sounds. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 5 min. Props: ten plastic cups and mittens per player.
  • Mitten Unwrap Race Each player puts on a pair of thick mittens and tries to unwrap one small wrapped candy. The first to get it open and hold it up wins, and everyone eats their own candy. Players: 2 to 30. Time: 5 min. Props: mittens and wrapped candies.
  • Paper Snowball Battle Split the room with a line of tape and give each side a pile of crumpled paper snowballs. For sixty seconds, teams throw snowballs over the line. When the whistle goes, the side with fewer snowballs on its floor wins. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: scrap paper and tape.
  • Partner Gift Wrap, One Hand Each Partners link arms, which leaves each of them one free hand. Together they wrap a box, tape it and stick a bow on top. Judge on speed first and neatness second. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a box, paper, tape and a bow per pair.
  • Plate-on-Head Christmas Scene Hold a paper plate on your head and draw on it without looking as the host gives orders: a tree, a star on top, three baubles, a present underneath. Score a point for every part that landed in the right place. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: paper plates and markers.
  • Snowball Fact Swap Everyone writes one fact about their winter break on a sheet of paper, with no name, and crumples it up. After a thirty-second snowball fight, each player opens the nearest snowball and has three guesses at who wrote it. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: paper and pencils.
  • Toilet Paper Snowman Wrap Each team wraps one teammate from shoulders to ankles in toilet paper, then adds a hat, a scarf and a paper carrot nose. Three minutes on the clock, and the snowman has to walk five steps without falling apart. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: toilet paper, hats, scarves and paper noses.
  • Twelve Days Memory Chain The first player says on the first day of Christmas my friend gave to me, and adds a silly gift. Each player repeats the whole list and adds one more. Slip up and you are out. The song itself probably began as a memory game like this one. Players: 4 to 15. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Words From Merry Christmas Write MERRY CHRISTMAS at the top of a page. Players get five minutes to make as many words as they can from those letters. Three-letter words score one point, and longer words score two. Players: 2 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: paper and pencils.
  • Wrapping Paper Outfit Runway Teams get leftover wrapping paper, ribbon, tape and ten minutes to dress one teammate as a Christmas character. Each model walks the runway while a teammate describes the outfit to the judges. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 20 min. Props: leftover wrapping paper, ribbon and tape.

Teens 5

  • Carol Lip Sync Showdown Pairs draw a Christmas song from a hat and get five minutes to plan a lip sync, props allowed. Each act performs one verse and one chorus, and the audience votes by cheering. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 20 min. Props: a playlist, a speaker and a box of props.
  • Christmas Photo Hunt in Teams Teams get a list of ten photos to stage in twenty minutes, such as the whole team under one Santa hat or a human Christmas tree. Only team members may appear in the photos. Show them on the big screen and vote. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 25 min. Props: a photo list and one phone per team.
  • Christmas Secret Word Imposter Everyone is shown the same Christmas word except one player, who sees nothing. Go around the circle giving one-word clues, then vote on who was bluffing. If the imposter can name the word, they still win. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: one phone or slips of paper.
  • Two Christmas Truths and a Lie Each player tells three short Christmas stories about themselves: two true and one invented. The group questions them for one minute and then votes on the lie. Fooling more than half the room scores a point. Players: 4 to 15. Time: 15 min. Props: none.
  • White Elephant Swap for Teens Everyone brings a wrapped gift under an agreed price cap and draws a number. On your turn, open a gift from the pile or steal one that is already open. Many groups freeze a gift after its second steal, so agree that before number one goes. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 30 min. Props: one wrapped gift per player and numbered slips.

How this list was compiled: Written by the Game Night Generator editors in September 2026 for Christmas and winter parties for children and teens, at home and at school. Every description is our own wording of a traditional game or of a format hosts commonly run, and every game was screened to be safe to read aloud to children, with no food waste. Age bands, player ranges and times are the editors' planning estimates, not measurements. Games in the winter group name no Christmas figure, so they suit a school that keeps its party seasonal. Rules and facts were checked on 2026-09-18 against these Wikipedia articles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pass_the_parcel, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin_the_tail_on_the_donkey, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_statues, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Says, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck,_duck,_goose, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_lions, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_potato, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim%27s_Game (the remove-one version for young children), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_corners_(game), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetle_(game) (the roll-and-draw format behind the snowman dice game; the snowman parts are our own), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charades, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_(game) (freeze tag), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoons_(card_game), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Truths_and_a_Lie, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant_gift_exchange (open or steal, and the common limit on steals), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song) (probably began as a memory and forfeit game), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Visit_from_St._Nicholas (first published in 1823) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus%27s_reindeer (eight reindeer named in the poem). House rules vary, so treat each line as one good way to run the game and not as the official one. Licence: own work