Left Right Across Christmas Game: 3 Stories to Read Aloud

Add your names, read aloud, pass three ways.

7 words needed. What you type stays in this browser.

Example, filled in with our words

Santa Takes a Wrong Turn

Santa had one town LEFT on his list, and it was Pinecone Falls. "Nearly done," he told the reindeer. "Turn LEFT at the water tower and we will be RIGHT on time."

The reindeer turned RIGHT.

"Other LEFT," said Santa, and the sleigh swung ACROSS the sky in a wide loop until the water tower was back where it belonged.

The first stop was the home of Uncle Walt, who had LEFT a plate of gingerbread and a note: "Chimney is stuck. Please use the door on the RIGHT." Santa tried the door on the RIGHT. It was a closet. He tried the door on the LEFT, and there was the tree. He LEFT a snow globe under it and tiptoed out.

Next came Cousin Bea, who lived ACROSS the river. Cousin Bea was still awake, so Santa hid to the RIGHT of the snowman and waited. The light stayed on. Santa shuffled to the LEFT of the snowman. The light stayed on. At last Cousin Bea yawned, the window went dark, and Santa got RIGHT to work.

"Two houses LEFT," said Santa, checking the list. "Aunt Marnie and Little Gus share a fence, so this will be quick."

It was not quick. The gift for Aunt Marnie had slid to the RIGHT side of the sack, and the gift for Little Gus had slid to the LEFT. Santa dug RIGHT to the bottom, found them both, and carried one in each hand ACROSS the snowy yard.

That LEFT only the big house at the end of the lane, where Grandma Dot was throwing a party the next day. Santa set the very last present RIGHT in the middle of the rug, where nobody could miss it.

Back on the roof, he looked LEFT toward the hills, then RIGHT toward the lights of Pinecone Falls. Not one gift was LEFT in the sack. "We got every house RIGHT," he told the reindeer. "Home, please. And this time, when I say LEFT, I mean it."

The reindeer turned RIGHT, and RIGHT again, and somehow they made it home anyway. Merry Christmas to every one of you. Now open the gift in your hands.

Santa Takes a Wrong Turn

Left Right Across Christmas Game: 3 Stories to Read Aloud: how it works

In a left right across Christmas game, everyone holds a wrapped gift while one person reads aloud. Pass on every LEFT and RIGHT, and on ACROSS hand your gift to the person facing you. These three original stories take your names, your town and one gift. Press Start: give me 7 words, then Print or Read-aloud view.

Who counts as across

In an even circle, ACROSS goes to the seat directly opposite. At a long table it goes to the person facing you, LEFT and RIGHT loop round the table ends, and two people at the ends are partners. With an odd number, sit in a circle and pass to the right-hand one of the two people facing you. At an odd long table, the person at the end holds their gift on ACROSS; skip Santa Takes a Wrong Turn there, which hands that person their own gift back. A Christmas left right across game needs four or more players.

Read the full guide

Pick a story by where gifts end

The 2-minute Last-Minute Cookie Run (LEFT 8, RIGHT 7, ACROSS 2) leaves every gift one seat left of its giver. The 4-minute Santa Takes a Wrong Turn (13, 13 and 3) leaves it straight across. The 5-minute Missing Star (15, 13 and 4) leaves it two seats left. We ran each story through circles and tables of 4 to 60 players: nobody got their own gift back.

Tips
  • Couples side by side? Read Santa Takes a Wrong Turn. It ends straight across, so nobody opens the gift their partner wrapped.
  • Before the first line, have everyone point at their ACROSS partner. In a wide circle, people stand and walk their gift over, so wait until everyone sits.
  • Phones do not capitalize names in the word box, so add the capitals yourself. Type candle, not a candle: the story adds a or an.

Questions and answers

How do you play the left right and across Christmas game?

Everyone sits in a circle, or along both sides of a table, holding a wrapped gift. The reader pauses at each word in capitals while everyone passes that way. When the story ends, open what you hold.

Is there a left right across Christmas game free printable?

Yes. Choose a story under Story, add your names and press Print. The sheet holds only the story, in 13-point type, with your words in bold. The short story fits one sheet and the long one two.

Why play a right left across Christmas game?

A two-way story only slides gifts along the row, so each ends with a near neighbor. ACROSS throws them to the far side of the room and mixes a big group. Three cue words suit adults and older kids.

All 3 stories

Show all 3 stories
  • The Last-Minute Cookie Run Short, about 2 minutes. LEFT 8, RIGHT 7, ACROSS 2. Every gift ends one seat to the left of the person who brought it. Asks for 5 words: 3 × name, 1 × town, 1 × gift.
  • Santa Takes a Wrong Turn Standard, about 4 minutes. LEFT 13, RIGHT 13, ACROSS 3. Every gift ends with the person sitting straight across from whoever brought it. Asks for 7 words: 5 × name, 1 × town, 1 × gift.
  • The Missing Star Long, about 5 minutes. LEFT 15, RIGHT 13, ACROSS 4. Every gift ends two seats to the left of the person who brought it. Asks for 8 words: 6 × name, 1 × town, 1 × gift.

The kinds of words the game asks for

  • Name a first name; a made-up one is fine. More examples: Sir Reginald, Professor Plum, Doctor Noodle.

How these stories were written: All three stories were written for this site in September 2026. None is copied or adapted from the left right across texts that circulate on blogs and in printable shops. The cue counts were counted by script from the final text on 2026-09-19 and are recounted whenever a story is edited. Only the whole words LEFT, RIGHT and ACROSS in capitals are cues, and no story contains those words in lower case or a sound-alike such as write, bright or cross. Where the gifts end was worked out by passing one gift per seat through each story's cues, in order, for every group size from 4 to 61 players in the seatings that size allows: an even circle, a long table with nobody at the ends, a long table with one person at each end, and an odd circle of 5 or more using the right-hand partner rule. Nobody finished with the gift they brought in any of those runs. A long table with an odd number of players, where the extra person sits at one end and holds their gift on ACROSS, passes with The Last-Minute Cookie Run and The Missing Star only; in Santa Takes a Wrong Turn that seating hands one player their own gift back. The endings given in the list are for an even circle and for a long table with nobody at the ends. Reading times are estimates: the word count at 130 words a minute, plus two seconds for each pass. The left right game is a folk party game with no rule book, so the seating rules on this page are house rules. One wrapped gift each, of similar value, is the usual gift exchange convention (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant_gift_exchange, checked 2026-09-19). Every story was screened for a family room: no alcohol, nothing sexual, no bullying, no real people, and no film, song or toy-brand characters. Licence: own work