• 28 games
  • Checked October 2026

Reindeer Games for a Christmas Party

Antler games, sleigh team games, hoof and nose games and a reindeer training school, from age 4.

Reindeer Games for a Christmas Party

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  1. Towel Sleigh From Rooftop to Rooftop1. A carrying relay in pairs. Lay three rugs across the room as rooftops, and stand a bucket on each as its chimney.2. Two reindeer hold a bath towel by its four corners and carry three small boxes on it.3. At each rooftop they tip one box into the chimney without letting go of the towel.4. A box that misses is picked up and tried again. The pair then carries the empty sleigh back to the next two reindeer.Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 12. You need: a bath towel, three small boxes, three rugs and three buckets.
  2. Find a Left Antler and a Right Antler1. A matching hunt. Cut pairs of antlers from brown card, a left and a right, and draw the same number of stripes on both halves of a pair.2. Hide them all around the room.3. Each child hunts for one antler, then for the other half with the same stripes.4. A child with a full pair brings it to the host and helps a friend finish. No child takes more than one pair.Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 12. You need: pairs of card antlers marked with stripes.
  3. Top of the Porch, Top of the Wall1. An obstacle course in the words of the 1823 poem, where the driver sends the team "to the top of the porch" and "to the top of the wall." Set out a doormat as the porch and a row of shoeboxes as the wall.2. A reindeer runs to the porch and stamps on it twice.3. Next comes a jump over the wall, then a lap around a chair.4. The others shout "dash away" for the run home. Time each reindeer twice and cheer the better run.Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a doormat, a row of shoeboxes, a chair and a timer.

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Antler games 7

  • Antler Tag With Clothespins 1. Tag, with a clothespin taken in place of a touch. Clip three clothespins to the back hem of each child's shirt: the points of the antlers. 2. Inside a marked square, at a fast walk, reindeer try to unclip a point from someone else and clip it to their own hem. 3. Only pins may be touched, never clothes or hair. 4. A reindeer with no points left does five jumps beside the host, gets one new pin and goes back in. After three minutes, count the points. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 16. You need: three spring clothespins for each child.
  • Antlers Up, Antlers Down 1. A do-as-I-say game. Children stand with their hands on their heads as antlers. 2. The leader calls "antlers up," "antlers down" or "one antler," and everyone raises both hands, drops both or raises one. 3. The leader does a move too, and sometimes does the wrong one on purpose. Reindeer follow the words, not the leader. 4. Nobody is out. The first reindeer to be fooled three times becomes the next leader. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 3 to 20. You need: nothing.
  • Find a Left Antler and a Right Antler 1. A matching hunt. Cut pairs of antlers from brown card, a left and a right, and draw the same number of stripes on both halves of a pair. 2. Hide them all around the room. 3. Each child hunts for one antler, then for the other half with the same stripes. 4. A child with a full pair brings it to the host and helps a friend finish. No child takes more than one pair. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 12. You need: pairs of card antlers marked with stripes.
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Antler games, continued

  • Find Your Herd by Antler Sign 1. A silent way to make teams. Give each child a card with dots on it: two, three or four. 2. Nobody shows a card or speaks. Each child holds that many fingers up beside their head as antler points. 3. Reindeer walk around and gather with the others showing the same sign. 4. When the herds are standing together, everyone turns over their card to check. The herds are the teams for the next game. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 6 to 20. You need: a card for each child with two, three or four dots.
  • Handprint Antlers Before the Song Ends 1. A making race against one song. Give each child a strip of brown paper long enough to go around the head, and a second sheet. 2. Start a Christmas song. Each child traces both hands on the sheet, or has a friend trace them. 3. A grown-up cuts the hands out, tapes them to the strip with the fingers up, and tapes the strip into a headband. 4. Everyone wearing antlers when the song ends is in the herd. Keep them on for the rest of the party. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 16. You need: brown paper, pencils, scissors for the grown-ups, tape and music.
  • Match the Antlers to the Hands 1. A whose-is-it game for after the antlers are made. Everyone takes off their handprint antlers and lays them in a row. 2. One child at a time is the keeper, and picks up one pair. 3. The keeper asks any three children to hold up their hands, and fits the paper hands against them. 4. If a pair of hands fits, the keeper crowns the owner. If not, the antlers go back and the next keeper tries. Play until every reindeer is wearing antlers again. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 4 to 12. You need: the handprint antlers the children made.
  • Wreath Down the Line, Antler to Antler 1. A passing relay with no hands. Each team stands in a line, and every child raises both arms straight up as antlers. 2. Hang a tinsel wreath over the first child's wrists. 3. That child tips it onto the next pair of arms, and so on down the line. Fingers stay straight and never grip. 4. A wreath that falls goes back to the child who dropped it. The first wreath to reach the end of its line wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 16. You need: a tinsel wreath for each team.

Sleigh team games 7

  • Blanket Sleigh on a Hard Floor, Two in Harness 1. A pulling relay. Knot the two front corners of a blanket around the middle of a jump rope, and load the blanket with a sack of soft toys. 2. Two reindeer take the ends of the rope and pull the sleigh around a chair and back. A third child, the driver, walks behind. 3. If a toy falls off, the driver calls "whoa" and reloads before the team moves. 4. Change jobs until everyone has pulled and driven. Play in shoes, at a walk, on a clear floor. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 3 to 12. You need: a blanket, a jump rope, a sack of soft toys and a chair.
  • Dancer and Comet, Change Places 1. A changing-places game, like fruit salad. Children sit in a circle of chairs, each with a reindeer name from the poem. With more than eight children, names are shared. One child stands in the middle with no chair. 2. The child in the middle calls two names. Those reindeer swap chairs while the caller tries to sit in one. 3. Whoever is left standing calls next. 4. On "dash away all," everyone changes chairs at once. Walking only. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 16. You need: a chair for each child but one, and name tags.
  • Dash Away All: Line Up in Poem Order 1. A line-up race. Hand out eight cards, each with one name: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. 2. On "go," the reindeer line up in the order the poem calls them, which is the order above. 3. The host reads the names aloud to check the line. 4. Shuffle the cards and try to beat the time. With fewer than eight children, lay the spare cards on the floor in their places. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 4 to 8. You need: eight name cards and a timer.
  • Eight on One Rope, Called by Name 1. Follow the leader, on a rope. Eight children hold a long rope in four pairs, one child on each side, and each wears the name of a reindeer from the 1823 poem. The driver holds the end. 2. The team walks a figure of eight around two chairs without letting the rope go slack. 3. When the driver calls a name, that reindeer prances with knees high until the next name is called. 4. At "dash away all," the whole team jogs to the finish line. With fewer than eight, leave places empty. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 5 to 9. You need: a long rope, eight name tags and two chairs.
  • One Clap Go, Two Claps Whoa 1. A signal game. The reindeer stand in pairs, one pair behind another, as a team in harness. The driver stands at the back. 2. One clap means go, two claps mean whoa, and three claps mean turn around. 3. The team trots around the room and obeys the claps without a word being said. 4. A reindeer who moves after a whoa goes to the back of the team. Change drivers after six signals. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 5 to 16. You need: nothing.
  • Towel Sleigh From Rooftop to Rooftop 1. A carrying relay in pairs. Lay three rugs across the room as rooftops, and stand a bucket on each as its chimney. 2. Two reindeer hold a bath towel by its four corners and carry three small boxes on it. 3. At each rooftop they tip one box into the chimney without letting go of the towel. 4. A box that misses is picked up and tried again. The pair then carries the empty sleigh back to the next two reindeer. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 12. You need: a bath towel, three small boxes, three rugs and three buckets.
  • Who Is Missing From the Team? 1. A memory game. Up to eight reindeer stand in a line wearing name tags from the poem. One child, the driver, studies the team. 2. The driver turns away and covers both eyes. The host points to a reindeer, who tiptoes out of sight, and the others close the gap. 3. The driver turns back and says the missing name. 4. A right answer puts the missing reindeer in the driver's place. To make it harder, the team changes places too. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 5 to 9. You need: eight name tags.

Hoof and nose games 7

  • Four Hooves, One Reindeer 1. A walk in pairs, as in a pantomime horse. Two children make one reindeer: the one in front holds up hands as antlers, and the one behind holds the first by the shoulders. 2. Lay a winding course on the floor with a rope. 3. Each reindeer walks the course with its four feet in step: left together, right together. 4. A pair that falls out of step stops, says "left" and starts again. Swap ends for the walk back. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 4 to 16. You need: a rope to mark the course.
  • Hooves on the Roof: Count the Landing 1. A listening game. The 1823 poem tells of "the prancing and pawing of each little hoof" on the roof. The host hides behind a sofa with two paper cups. 2. Children close their eyes. The host knocks the cups on the floor, and each reindeer that lands makes two knocks. 3. Children hold up one finger for each reindeer they think landed. 4. Start with one to three reindeer, then go up to eight. A child who is right three times in a row makes the next landing. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 16. You need: two paper cups.
  • Paw Once for Yes, Twice for No 1. Twenty questions, answered by a hoof. One child is a reindeer and thinks of something to do with Christmas: a stocking, a sleigh bell, a snowman. 2. The others ask questions that can be answered yes or no. 3. The reindeer may not speak, and paws the floor with one foot: once for yes, twice for no. 4. Whoever guesses the thing is the next reindeer. After ten questions the reindeer acts out a clue. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 3 to 12. You need: nothing.
  • Safe on One Hoof 1. Tag, with a safe pose. One child is the snowstorm and chases the reindeer inside a marked space. 2. A reindeer is safe while standing on one leg with a hand on their own nose. 3. The pose lasts for a count of five, said aloud, and then the reindeer must move. 4. A reindeer who is tagged becomes a second snowstorm. Play until three reindeer are left, and start again with a new snowstorm. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 5 to 20. You need: nothing.
  • Stomp It Down the Line 1. Telephone, with stomps in place of words. Children stand in a line, all facing the same way. 2. The last child taps the one in front, who turns around and watches a short pattern of stomps, such as two slow and three quick. 3. That child taps the next and stomps it on, and so on up the line. 4. The first in line stomps what arrived, and the sender shows what was sent. Send the next message from the other end. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 5 to 12. You need: nothing.
  • Which Jar Smells of Pine? 1. A smelling game for sharp reindeer noses. Put something with a strong smell on a cotton pad in each of four lidded cups: a pine twig, orange peel, cinnamon and peppermint. 2. Show the children the four things first and let them smell each one. 3. Mix up the cups. A child lifts one lid, sniffs with eyes closed and says which it is. 4. Nothing is tasted. Four right earns the title of lead nose. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 12. You need: four lidded cups, cotton pads, a pine twig, orange peel, cinnamon and peppermint.
  • Whose Nose Is This? 1. A guessing game with pictures. Before the party, draw or cut out six animal faces, and make a cover sheet with a small hole in it. 2. Hold up one picture behind the cover, so that only the nose shows. 3. Children guess the animal: a dog, a pig, a rabbit, a cat, a cow or a reindeer. 4. Slide the cover off to check. Whoever guessed right holds up the next one. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 16. You need: six animal pictures and a cover sheet with a hole in it.

Reindeer training school 7

  • Brake Before the Roof Edge 1. A stopping game. Tape a line across the room as the edge of a roof, and a start line ten steps back. Play in shoes or bare feet, never in socks. 2. One at a time, a reindeer runs at the edge and stops with both feet as close to the tape as they dare. 3. Toes on the tape or over it mean the reindeer fell off, and the stop does not count. 4. Mark each stop with a strip of tape with the name on it. The name closest to the edge wins the round. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 16. You need: painter's tape and a pen.
  • Fly in a V Behind the Leader 1. Follow the leader, in a flying formation. One reindeer leads and the others line up behind in a V, arms out. 2. The leader banks left and right, climbs on tiptoe and dives into a crouch. 3. The team copies and keeps the V. 4. When the host rings a bell, the leader drops to the back of the V and the next reindeer leads. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 3 to 15. You need: a bell.
  • The Flying Long Jump, Measured in Mittens 1. A standing long jump, as take-off practice. Mark a start line with tape. 2. Each reindeer stands with toes on the line, swings both arms and jumps forward from two feet. 3. Measure the jump by laying mittens end to end from the line to the heels, and write the number on the reindeer's card. 4. Everyone has three jumps and tries to beat their own best, not anyone else's. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 1 to 16. You need: tape, a pile of mittens and a card for each child.
  • Land Inside the Rooftop Square 1. A jump-and-stick game. Tape three squares on the floor in a row, each smaller than the last, a short jump apart. 2. A reindeer jumps from square to square and must land with both feet inside the lines. 3. A landing counts only if the reindeer stays still for a count of two. 4. Three clean landings earn a sticker. Then try it hopping on one foot. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 1 to 16. You need: painter's tape and stickers.
  • Remember the Route: Red Roof, Blue Roof, Green Roof 1. A memory run. Tape six sheets of colored paper to the floor around the room as roofs. 2. The host calls a route of three colors. 3. A reindeer trots to each roof in that order, touches it with one foot and comes home. 4. A right route earns a longer one next time: four roofs, then five. Reindeer who are waiting watch for mistakes and keep quiet until the runner is home. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 1 to 12. You need: six sheets of colored paper and tape.
  • Top of the Porch, Top of the Wall 1. An obstacle course in the words of the 1823 poem, where the driver sends the team "to the top of the porch" and "to the top of the wall." Set out a doormat as the porch and a row of shoeboxes as the wall. 2. A reindeer runs to the porch and stamps on it twice. 3. Next comes a jump over the wall, then a lap around a chair. 4. The others shout "dash away" for the run home. Time each reindeer twice and cheer the better run. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a doormat, a row of shoeboxes, a chair and a timer.
  • Walk the Roof Ridge With a Present 1. A balance walk. Lay a rope in a straight line on the floor as the ridge of a roof. 2. A reindeer walks it heel to toe, carrying a small wrapped box on one flat hand. 3. A foot off the rope or a dropped box means back to the start. 4. At the far end the reindeer sets the present down beside a chair, the chimney, and walks back along the ridge with empty hands. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 1 to 12. You need: a rope, a small wrapped box and a chair.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions for a children's Christmas party, from age 4. The wording, the ages and the player counts are ours. The first step of each entry names the kind of game it is. No game uses a blindfold, a balloon or food, nothing is held in the mouth, and no reindeer from a later story, song or film is named. The eight names, their first spellings (Dunder and Blixem) and the quoted lines were read on 10 October 2026 at Wikisource: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Visit_from_St._Nicholas Licence: own work

How it works

In these reindeer games for a Christmas party the children are the reindeer: they grow paper antlers, pull a blanket sleigh in harness and pass a training school. Four games use the eight names from the 1823 poem.

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A reindeer party from start to finish

1. As guests arrive: Handprint Antlers Before the Song Ends. 2. To make teams: Find Your Herd by Antler Sign. 3. While energy is high: Eight on One Rope, Called by Name, then Safe on One Hoof. 4. Training school: three stations, such as The Flying Long Jump, Measured in Mittens. 5. To calm down: Paw Once for Yes, Twice for No.

What to get ready

Brown paper for the antlers, eight name tags, a long rope, a blanket and painter's tape for the rooftop marks are the things to find beforehand.

  • Run the training school as stations, with a grown-up at each and a sticker for every station tried.

Questions and answers

What are the names of the eight reindeer in the poem?

The 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas names Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet and Cupid, and two first printed as Dunder and Blixem. Later printings spell those two Donder or Donner, and Blitzen.

Which reindeer games need no props?

5 of the 28 need nothing at all: Antlers Up, Antlers Down; One Clap Go, Two Claps Whoa; Stomp It Down the Line; Paw Once for Yes, Twice for No; and Safe on One Hoof.

Can you play reindeer games in a classroom?

Yes. The 5 seated games are played at the desks or on the carpet, among them Hooves on the Roof: Count the Landing and Whose Nose Is This? The training school needs a cleared strip of floor as long as the room.

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