• 28 games
  • Checked October 2026

DIY Christmas Party Games

Christmas DIY party games made from what is in the house, each with a build list and a scoring rule.

DIY Christmas Party Games

Party dateWho builds what

  1. An adult makes every cut, with scissors or a craft knife, before the guests arrive.
  2. Mark two throwing lines at every target: one for adults and one a step closer for children.
  3. Keep one tally sheet on the wall and add each game's points or wins to it, so the scores run all evening. Nothing is staked.
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  1. Paper-Plate Wreath Rings on a Broom Handle1. An adult cuts the middle out of six paper plates with scissors, which leaves six rings.2. Color five rings green and tie a red ribbon on the sixth.3. Stand a broom with the brush on the floor and tie the handle to the back of a heavy chair.4. Players toss all six rings from three steps away. A ring that drops over the handle scores 1, and the ribbon ring scores 2.Players: 2 to 20. You need: six paper plates, scissors, a green marker, a red ribbon, a broom, string and a chair.
  2. Star-Hole Board and Mitten Beanbags1. An adult cuts a star the size of a hand out of a large box lid with a craft knife.2. Prop the lid on a stack of books so that it slopes toward the thrower.3. Fill four old mittens or socks with dry rice and knot the cuffs.4. Players throw four beanbags from five steps away. A bag that stays on the board scores 1, and a bag through the star scores 3.Players: 2 to 16. You need: a large box lid, books, four old mittens or socks, dry rice; a craft knife for the adult.
  3. Down the Tube, Catch It in the Cup1. One player stands on the floor and holds an empty wrapping-paper tube upright at arm's length.2. The partner kneels below with a paper cup held a hand's width under the tube.3. The first player drops a foil ball in at the top without a warning. The catcher may move the cup only after the ball appears.4. Ten drops, then swap. The pair with the most catches wins.Players: 2 to 12. You need: an empty wrapping-paper tube, a paper cup and a foil ball for each pair.
  4. Reindeer on a String, Fanned to the Finish1. Thread a drinking straw onto a long string and tie the string between two chairs, level and tight. Set up a second lane beside it.2. Fold a small card in half, draw a reindeer on it and tape it over the straw like a saddle.3. Each racer gets a paper plate as a fan.4. On go, racers fan their reindeer from one chair to the other. Touching the reindeer sends it back to the start. Best of three runs.Players: 2 to 12. You need: string, four chairs, two drinking straws, two small cards, a marker, tape, two paper plates.

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Toss and target games to build 7

  • Cardboard Chimney for Sock Snowballs 1. Stand a tall box on end and tape the flaps shut. An adult cuts three openings in the front with a craft knife: a wide one near the floor, a medium one in the middle and a small one near the top. 2. Draw bricks on the box with a marker. 3. Roll six pairs of white socks into snowballs. 4. Players throw from four steps back, six snowballs a turn. The wide opening scores 1, the middle 2 and the top 3. Players: 2 to 20. You need: a tall cardboard box, tape, a marker, six pairs of white socks; a craft knife for the adult.
  • Land a Cap on the Cardboard Roof 1. Fold a large sheet of cardboard in half and stand it on the floor like a tent. This is the roof. 2. Draw shingles on both slopes with a marker, and a square chimney near the ridge on each side. 3. Collect ten bottle caps or large buttons. 4. Players toss all ten from three steps away. A cap that stays on the roof scores 1, and a cap that stops inside a chimney square scores 3. Caps that slide off score nothing. Players: 2 to 16. You need: a large sheet of cardboard, a marker, ten bottle caps or large buttons.
  • Paper-Plate Wreath Rings on a Broom Handle 1. An adult cuts the middle out of six paper plates with scissors, which leaves six rings. 2. Color five rings green and tie a red ribbon on the sixth. 3. Stand a broom with the brush on the floor and tie the handle to the back of a heavy chair. 4. Players toss all six rings from three steps away. A ring that drops over the handle scores 1, and the ribbon ring scores 2. Players: 2 to 20. You need: six paper plates, scissors, a green marker, a red ribbon, a broom, string and a chair.
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Toss and target games to build, continued

  • Ring the Bells on the Doorway String 1. Tie a string across a doorway at head height. 2. Hang three jingle bells from it on ribbons of different lengths, so that one is high, one is in the middle and one is low. 3. Crumple scrap paper into ten snowballs. 4. Players throw from four steps back. Every throw that rings a bell scores 1, and the highest bell scores 3. A helper on the far side calls the hits. Players: 3 to 16. You need: string, three jingle bells, ribbon, scrap paper.
  • Star-Hole Board and Mitten Beanbags 1. An adult cuts a star the size of a hand out of a large box lid with a craft knife. 2. Prop the lid on a stack of books so that it slopes toward the thrower. 3. Fill four old mittens or socks with dry rice and knot the cuffs. 4. Players throw four beanbags from five steps away. A bag that stays on the board scores 1, and a bag through the star scores 3. Players: 2 to 16. You need: a large box lid, books, four old mittens or socks, dry rice; a craft knife for the adult.
  • Stockings on the Line 1. Tie a string between two chairs and peg four stockings or long socks to it. 2. Hold each mouth open with a sheet of paper folded into a stiff band, taped into a ring and tucked inside the cuff. 3. Scrunch ten sheets of foil into balls. 4. Players stand three steps back and toss all ten. One point for each ball that drops into a stocking, and two for the stocking at the far end. Players: 2 to 16. You need: string, two chairs, four stockings or long socks, clothespins, four sheets of paper, tape and kitchen foil.
  • Tree on the Door, Sticky Snowballs 1. Mark a tree as tall as a child on a door with strips of green painter's tape. 2. Stick sticky notes inside it as ornaments and write 1, 2 or 3 on each. Put one at the top with a star drawn on it, worth 5. 3. Roll strips of painter's tape into loose balls with the sticky side out. 4. Players throw five snowballs from three steps away. A snowball scores the ornament it sticks to. Players: 2 to 16. You need: green painter's tape, sticky notes, a marker.

Table games to build 7

  • Cup-and-String Carol Line 1. Poke a hole in the bottom of two paper cups with a pencil. Thread a string as long as the room through both and knot it inside each cup. 2. One player takes a cup into the hallway and pulls the string tight. 3. That player hums a carol into the cup. The partner listens at the other cup and names it. 4. Three carols each way. Pairs score a point for each carol named, and the best pair of the evening wins. Players: 2 to 12. You need: two paper cups, a pencil and a long string for each pair.
  • Gift Tag Dominoes in Seven Pictures 1. Take twenty-eight blank gift tags or cards and draw a line across the middle of each. 2. Choose seven pictures: a star, a bell, a tree, a mitten, a candle, a snowflake and a blank. Draw every pairing of two pictures once, doubles included, which fills all twenty-eight tags. 3. Deal five tags each and turn one face up. 4. Players take turns laying a tag whose end matches an open end, or drawing one if they cannot. The first empty hand wins. Players: 2 to 4. You need: twenty-eight blank gift tags or cards and a marker.
  • Paper-Chain Countdown Puzzle 1. An adult cuts sixteen strips of paper for each team. Write one letter inside each strip, so that the sixteen letters spell LOOK UNDER THE TREE. 2. Loop and tape the strips into a chain in a jumbled order, with the letters hidden inside. 3. On go, each team tears its links open one at a time and lays the letters out. 4. The first team to unscramble the message and send a runner to the tree wins what is waiting there. Players: 4 to 16. You need: paper strips, a marker, tape, scissors, a small prize under the tree.
  • Reindeer on a String, Fanned to the Finish 1. Thread a drinking straw onto a long string and tie the string between two chairs, level and tight. Set up a second lane beside it. 2. Fold a small card in half, draw a reindeer on it and tape it over the straw like a saddle. 3. Each racer gets a paper plate as a fan. 4. On go, racers fan their reindeer from one chair to the other. Touching the reindeer sends it back to the start. Best of three runs. Players: 2 to 12. You need: string, four chairs, two drinking straws, two small cards, a marker, tape, two paper plates.
  • Shoebox Lid Ornament Maze 1. Tape drinking straws inside a shoebox lid as walls, with gaps to pass through and two dead ends. 2. Put a start sticker in one corner and a star sticker in the far corner. 3. Drop in a marble or a round bead: that is the ornament. 4. Each player tilts the lid to roll the ornament from the start to the star. Three tries each. Count the tries that reach the star without touching a dead end. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a shoebox lid, drinking straws, tape, two stickers, a marble or a round bead.
  • Slotted Card Tree, Tallest Standing 1. Gather old Christmas cards and tear each along the fold, so every team has twenty stiff pieces. 2. An adult cuts two short slots into the long edges of each piece with scissors. 3. Teams slide the pieces together, slot into slot, to build a tree that stands by itself. 4. After five minutes, hands come off. The tallest tree still standing after a count of ten wins. Keep the pieces in a bag for next year. Players: 2 to 16. You need: old Christmas cards, twenty pieces for each team; scissors for the adult.
  • Trim the Paper Tree With Two Dice 1. Draw a tree on a sheet of paper for each player, with eleven ornaments numbered 2 to 12. 2. Give each player eleven buttons, coins or dried beans. 3. Players take turns rolling two dice and covering the ornament that matches the total. If it is covered already, the turn passes. 4. The first tree with every ornament covered wins. To stop early, count the covered ornaments. Players: 2 to 8. You need: paper, a marker, two dice, eleven buttons or coins for each player.

Giant games for the floor 7

  • Advent Wall of Twenty-Four Bags 1. Number twenty-four paper bags or envelopes and tape them to a wall in rows. 2. Put one challenge slip in each: hum a carol until someone names it, stack six cups with one hand, draw a snowman with your eyes shut. 3. Players take turns to open the next number and try the challenge. 4. A player who manages it keeps the bag. When bag 24 is open, the most bags wins. Players: 3 to 24. You need: twenty-four paper bags or envelopes, a marker, tape, twenty-four challenge slips.
  • Giant Pairs on Paper Plates 1. Draw a Christmas thing on the back of a paper plate, and the same thing on a second plate: a bell, a star, a mitten, a candle, a sled, a wreath, a stocking, a snowflake. That makes sixteen plates. 2. Shuffle them and lay them face down on the floor, four by four. 3. Players take turns flipping two. A matching pair is kept, and the player goes again. 4. Most pairs wins. Players: 2 to 10. You need: sixteen paper plates and a marker.
  • The Giant Present Die 1. Wrap a square box in plain paper. Draw one job on each face: prance to the door like a reindeer, sing one line of a carol, name three things on the tree, walk five steps with a parcel on your head, swap seats with someone, choose who rolls next. 2. Players take turns rolling the die across the floor. 3. A player who does the job takes a gift tag. 4. The first player with three tags wins. Players: 3 to 16. You need: a square box, plain paper, tape, a marker, gift tags.
  • Giant Ring Stack on a Wrapping Tube 1. Tape a wrapping-paper tube upright inside a shoebox, and weigh the box down with a book. 2. An adult cuts the middles out of six paper plates with scissors. Number the rings 1 to 6. Build a second tower the same way. 3. Scatter each set of rings on the floor. 4. Two players put on mittens and race to stack their rings in order, 1 at the bottom. The first full tower wins the heat. Players: 2 to 16. You need: two wrapping-paper tubes, two shoeboxes, two books, twelve paper plates, scissors, a marker, two pairs of mittens.
  • Giant Tree Puzzle From a Flattened Box 1. Flatten a large box and draw a Christmas tree on each of its two biggest panels, as different from each other as you can make them. 2. An adult cuts each panel into twelve pieces with a craft knife. Mark the backs of one set with a dot. 3. Shuffle each set in its own pile on the floor. 4. Two teams race to put their tree together. The first whole tree wins. Then teams swap puzzles and race again. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a large cardboard box, markers; a craft knife for the adult.
  • Giant Tumbling Tower of Gift Boxes 1. Collect eighteen boxes of one size, such as tissue boxes, and tape them shut. Wrap them if there is paper to spare. 2. Stack them three to a layer, each layer turned crosswise to the one below. 3. Players take turns pulling one box from anywhere below the top layer, with one hand, and laying it on top. 4. The player who moved the last box before the fall wins. Players: 2 to 12. You need: eighteen boxes of the same size, tape.
  • Sleigh Run Marked in Tape 1. Mark a track across the floor with two lines of painter's tape, a shoebox and a half apart. Give it two bends and one narrow stretch. 2. Tie a string to a shoebox: that is the sleigh. Load it with five small wrapped boxes or soft toys. 3. A driver walks beside the track and pulls the sleigh along it by the string. 4. A parcel that falls out, or a sleigh that crosses the tape, costs one parcel. Score the parcels that reach the tree. Players: 2 to 16. You need: painter's tape, a shoebox, string, five small wrapped boxes or soft toys.

From the paper, boxes and tubes left after the unwrapping 7

  • Bow Toss Onto the Lid Target 1. Draw three rings inside a large box lid with a marker, like a target, and write 3 in the middle, 2 in the next ring and 1 in the outer ring. 2. Lay the lid flat on the floor. 3. Each player gets five stick-on gift bows that have lost their backing paper. 4. Players toss from three steps away. A bow scores the ring it sticks in, and a bow on a line takes the higher number. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a large box lid, a marker, five stick-on gift bows for each player.
  • Down the Tube, Catch It in the Cup 1. One player stands on the floor and holds an empty wrapping-paper tube upright at arm's length. 2. The partner kneels below with a paper cup held a hand's width under the tube. 3. The first player drops a foil ball in at the top without a warning. The catcher may move the cup only after the ball appears. 4. Ten drops, then swap. The pair with the most catches wins. Players: 2 to 12. You need: an empty wrapping-paper tube, a paper cup and a foil ball for each pair.
  • Giant Tube Chopsticks 1. Crumple used wrapping paper into twelve balls and scatter them on the floor. 2. Set an empty box three steps away. 3. Each player holds two empty wrapping-paper tubes like a pair of giant chopsticks, one in each hand. 4. Each player takes a turn with all twelve balls and carries them to the box, one at a time, with the tubes only. A dropped ball stays where it falls. Count the balls in the box at the end of the turn. The highest count wins. Players: 2 to 10. You need: used wrapping paper, an empty box, two empty wrapping-paper tubes.
  • Nesting Boxes Race 1. Gather the empty gift boxes and deal them into two piles of the same number, big and small mixed. 2. On go, each team must fit its whole pile inside its biggest box and close the lid. 3. Boxes may be opened and nested, but not flattened or torn. 4. The first closed lid wins. Swap piles and play again, because one pile is always easier. Players: 2 to 12. You need: the empty gift boxes.
  • Paper Ball Hoops Into the Nested Boxes 1. Put the smallest empty box inside a medium one, and that inside the biggest one, all open at the top. 2. Crumple used wrapping paper into ten balls. 3. Players shoot from four steps back, ten balls a turn. 4. A ball in the smallest box scores 3, one in the middle box scores 2 and one in the big box scores 1. The balls go in the recycling bag after the last turn. Players: 2 to 16. You need: three empty boxes of different sizes, used wrapping paper.
  • Which Box Held What? 1. After the unwrapping, line the empty boxes up on the floor and put a numbered slip on each. 2. Everyone writes down what came out of each box and who opened it. 3. The person who opened each box calls out the answer. 4. One point for the gift and one for the name. The winner chooses the next game. Players: 3 to 20. You need: the empty gift boxes, numbered slips, paper and pens.
  • Wrapping Tube Golf, Boxes for Holes 1. Lay five empty boxes on their sides around the room, with the open ends facing in. Number them 1 to 5 with a marker. 2. Each golfer gets an empty wrapping-paper tube as a club and a ball of crumpled paper. 3. Golfers play the boxes in order and count every tap. 4. The lowest total after box 5 wins. A ball stuck under the sofa may be moved one tube-length for one extra tap. Players: 2 to 8. You need: five empty boxes, a marker, an empty wrapping-paper tube and a paper ball for each golfer.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions, written for this site for a host who would rather build the games than buy them. Every game is made from things already in the house, and each entry gives the build, how to play and how to score. The wording, the scoring and the player counts are ours. An adult makes every cut. Nothing is staked and nothing involves alcohol. The list states no rule or history of a traditional game, so no outside source was needed. Licence: own work

How it works

These DIY Christmas party games are built from what most homes have in December: boxes, paper plates, socks, straws and tape. Each entry gives the build list, the build and the scoring, so a homemade game has a fair winner.

Read the full guide

Build before the party, or make the build the party

The targets under Toss and target games to build take longest, because a chimney or a star board needs an adult with a craft knife. Build those the day before. Most table builds use only tape, straws and paper, so guests can make them on arrival and play what they made.

Keep one group for Christmas afternoon

The last group is made from the mess. Once the presents are open, Paper Ball Hoops Into the Nested Boxes and Wrapping Tube Golf, Boxes for Holes use up the paper, the boxes and the tubes before they reach the recycling.

  • Painter's tape comes off doors and floors without a mark. Ordinary tape may not.
  • Save boxes and tubes for a week before the party.

Questions and answers

What Christmas party games can I make at home?

Targets such as Star-Hole Board and Mitten Beanbags, table games such as Shoebox Lid Ornament Maze, and floor games such as Giant Tumbling Tower of Gift Boxes. All are built from boxes, paper plates, socks, straws and tape.

Which DIY Christmas games need no cutting?

Twenty-one of the twenty-eight. Stockings on the Line, Land a Cap on the Cardboard Roof, Ring the Bells on the Doorway String and all seven games made from leftover wrapping need no scissors at all. Under More filters, choose No cutting to see them.

What can you do with leftover wrapping paper and boxes?

Play with them first. Crumpled paper becomes the balls for Paper Ball Hoops Into the Nested Boxes, empty tubes become golf clubs or Giant Tube Chopsticks, and the boxes themselves are a memory game in Which Box Held What?

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