Youth Group Christmas Party Games

A leader-run church youth group Christmas night: one up-front game, one team game, one mixer, one nativity game.

Youth Group Christmas Party Games

  1. Unseen Ribbon Bow on a Box1. Hand each of three volunteers a small box and a length of ribbon. 2. They hold both behind their backs, facing the room. 3. On go, each ties the ribbon around the box and finishes with a bow, without looking. 4. After ninety seconds they hold the boxes up. The room cheers for the neatest bow, and a leader calls the winner. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 5 min. Props: three small boxes and three ribbons.Front
  2. Six-Minute Manger Scene Out of Chairs and Coats1. Teams get six minutes to build a nativity scene from whatever is in the room: chairs, coats, bags and each other. 2. Nothing is taken down from a wall and nothing is stood on. 3. Each team names every figure in its scene and gives the verse it comes from, such as the feeding trough of Luke 2:7 or the shepherds of Luke 2:8. 4. Leaders walk around and score one point for each figure that has a verse. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: whatever is in the room, and Bibles.Team
  3. Dinner Dish Ring: Who Sits on My Left?1. Write one card for each player. Every card names a Christmas dinner dish and says which dish sits on its left, so that the cards make one ring. 2. Deal the cards. 3. Without showing cards, players ask one another what they are and seat themselves in a circle in the right order. 4. Check by reading the cards aloud around the ring. Players: 12 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: a prepared ring of dish cards.Mixer
  4. Find What the Prophets Wrote1. Everyone holds a closed Bible. 2. A leader calls a reference: Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6 or Micah 5:2. 3. The first player to find it stands and reads it aloud. 4. Then race to Matthew 1:23 and Matthew 2:6, where the footnotes of the World English Bible point back to Isaiah 7:14 and Micah 5:2. Players: 8 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: a Bible for each player or pair of neighbors.Nativity
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How it works

These youth group Christmas party games suit a leader with 10 to 60 teenagers in a hall. The page opens on four games, one of each kind, and each nativity game names its verse.

Read the full guide

A night in four parts

Start with an up-front game while people arrive: three volunteers play and the room cheers. Run the team relay or build next, then the whole-room mixer, and finish with the nativity game.

Change one part, keep the rest

Press Lock on the games you want and Swap on one you do not. The menu under the button keeps the games that suit your head count.

Tips
  • Nativity quotations follow the World English Bible. Read each passage from the Bibles your group uses.
  • Relays are walked, and each one names where a leader stands.

Questions and answers

What games can a youth group play at a Christmas party?

A mix of four kinds works well: an up-front game such as Carol Conductor, a relay such as Paper Sheep Herding Relay, a whole-room mixer, and a nativity game such as Luke 2 Verse as a Five-Word Telegram.

Which games tell the Christmas story?

The nativity games do, each with its verse. Town Signs uses the places of Luke 2:4 and Matthew 2:1, and What Did the Angel Say? is a memory round on Luke 2:10-12.

How many leaders does the night need?

Two is comfortable: one to run the game and one at the turning line of a relay. Every relay here says where that second leader stands.

Do the games work for a small group of ten?

Yes. Every game here starts at 8, 10 or 12 players. With ten, play the relays as two teams of five and choose the three up-front volunteers by drawing names.

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All 30 games

Up-front games with three volunteers 8

  • Bell Rhythm, One Beat Longer 1. A leader shakes a short rhythm on a string of bells: three beats to start. 2. The first of three volunteers copies it on their own bells. The leader adds one beat, and the next volunteer copies the longer rhythm. 3. The room decides each copy with thumbs up or down. 4. A volunteer who misses sits down. The last one standing wins. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 6 min. Props: four strings of jingle bells.
  • Cardboard Tube Balance Quiz 1. Each of three volunteers stands a wrapping-paper tube upright on an open palm. 2. While they balance, a leader asks quick Christmas questions in turn, such as a color on a candy cane. 3. A volunteer must answer within three seconds and keep the tube up. 4. A dropped tube or a missed answer puts that volunteer out. The last one balancing wins. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 5 min. Props: three wrapping-paper tubes.
  • Carol Conductor 1. Call up three volunteers and pick a carol the whole room knows. 2. Each volunteer conducts the room for thirty seconds with arm signals only: louder, softer, faster, slower and stop. 3. The room follows exactly what it sees, even a sudden stop. 4. Leaders choose the conductor the room followed best. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 6 min. Props: none.
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Up-front games with three volunteers, continued

  • Gift Tag Roll Call 1. Give each of three volunteers a pad of blank gift tags and a pen. 2. On go, people in the room raise a hand. A volunteer points at someone and writes that person's first name on a tag, and may ask how it is spelled. 3. One tag for each person, and no name twice. 4. After one minute the owners check their tags. The most names spelled right wins. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 5 min. Props: gift tags and three pens.
  • Hold the Last Note 1. The room sings the last line of a carol everyone knows. 2. Three volunteers hold its final note for as long as they can, starting together on a leader's signal. 3. The room claps a slow beat to count, and a volunteer who stops or takes a breath steps back. 4. The longest note wins. Run it three times with a different carol each time. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Jingle-Free Tape Walk 1. Lay a strip of tape across the front of the room. 2. Each of three volunteers holds a string of jingle bells at arm's length and walks the tape heel to toe. 3. The room stays silent and listens. Any jingle sends the walker back to the start. 4. The first to the far end wins, and then the room may cheer. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 6 min. Props: tape and three strings of jingle bells.
  • Tinsel Sculptor 1. Give each of three volunteers a length of tinsel garland on a table the room can see. 2. Show the three of them one word, such as camel, star or sleigh. 3. They shape the tinsel flat on the table without speaking. 4. The room shouts guesses. The sculptor whose shape is named first scores, and the best of five words wins. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: three lengths of tinsel garland and word cards.
  • Unseen Ribbon Bow on a Box 1. Hand each of three volunteers a small box and a length of ribbon. 2. They hold both behind their backs, facing the room. 3. On go, each ties the ribbon around the box and finishes with a bow, without looking. 4. After ninety seconds they hold the boxes up. The room cheers for the neatest bow, and a leader calls the winner. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 5 min. Props: three small boxes and three ribbons.

Team relays and builds 6

  • Five-Station Gift Wrap Factory 1. Each team sets up five stations along a table: cut the paper, fold, tape, tie the ribbon and write the tag. 2. Players stay at their own station and do only that job. 3. Empty boxes go in at one end and come out wrapped at the other. 4. After five minutes a leader counts only the boxes with no gap in the paper and a tag that can be read. Players: 10 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: small empty boxes, wrapping paper, tape, ribbon and tags.
  • Move the Present Pyramid 1. Build a pyramid of ten empty boxes at the start line for each team: four, three, two and one. 2. One at a time, players carry a single box to the far line and rebuild the pyramid there in the same order of rows. 3. A pyramid that falls is rebuilt by the next player as that player's turn. 4. The first finished pyramid wins. Walk, do not run. A leader stands at the turning line. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: ten empty boxes for each team.
  • Newspaper Stable That Stands 1. Give each team a stack of newspaper and one roll of tape. 2. Teams build a stable that stands by itself and is big enough for one member to sit under. 3. No leaning it on walls or furniture. 4. After ten minutes a leader checks each stable with a team member sitting inside, and the tallest one still standing wins. Players: 10 to 40. Time: 12 min. Props: newspaper and a roll of tape for each team.
  • Paper Sheep Herding Relay 1. Crumple three sheets of white paper into sheep for each team, and roll a newspaper into a crook. 2. Using only the crook, a player herds all three sheep around a chair and back into the pen, a square of tape on the floor. 3. Hands and feet never touch a sheep. 4. Pass the crook to the next player. Walk, do not run. A leader stands at the turning line. Players: 10 to 40. Time: 8 min. Props: white paper, a rolled newspaper and tape for each team.
  • Six Strings, One Marker: Write JOY 1. Tie six long strings around one thick marker for each team and lay a big sheet of paper on the floor. 2. Six players each hold the end of a string, keeping it tight, so that the marker hangs upright over the paper. 3. Together, without touching the marker, they write JOY. 4. Swap in six new players for a second word. Leaders choose the word that is easiest to read. Players: 12 to 48. Time: 10 min. Props: a thick marker, six strings and big paper for each team.
  • Six-Minute Manger Scene Out of Chairs and Coats 1. Teams get six minutes to build a nativity scene from whatever is in the room: chairs, coats, bags and each other. 2. Nothing is taken down from a wall and nothing is stood on. 3. Each team names every figure in its scene and gives the verse it comes from, such as the feeding trough of Luke 2:7 or the shepherds of Luke 2:8. 4. Leaders walk around and score one point for each figure that has a verse. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: whatever is in the room, and Bibles.

Whole-room Christmas mixers 8

  • Dear Church Boiler: A Card Written by Eight 1. Sit in circles of about eight. Everyone gets a folded sheet and writes "Dear" and a made-up name, such as the mail carrier or the church boiler. 2. Pass the sheets to the left. Each player adds one line to the card in hand, then passes it on. 3. After six passes, the player holding a card signs it from the whole circle. 4. Each circle picks one card to read to the room. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: paper and pens.
  • Dinner Dish Ring: Who Sits on My Left? 1. Write one card for each player. Every card names a Christmas dinner dish and says which dish sits on its left, so that the cards make one ring. 2. Deal the cards. 3. Without showing cards, players ask one another what they are and seat themselves in a circle in the right order. 4. Check by reading the cards aloud around the ring. Players: 12 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: a prepared ring of dish cards.
  • Find the Other Three Lines of Your Carol 1. Write the first four lines of several well-known carols on slips, one line a slip. 2. Hand every player a slip. 3. Players walk around saying or singing their line until they find the other three lines of their carol. 4. Each group of four lines up in order and performs its verse. Players: 12 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: carol lines on slips.
  • Four of a Color Ornament Trade 1. Cut paper ornaments in six colors and deal every player four at random. 2. Players trade one for one, hunting for four of a single color. 3. Before each trade, both players answer the question on the board, such as the first thing you eat on Christmas morning. 4. A player with four of a kind sits down. Play until half the room is seated. Players: 12 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: paper ornaments in six colors.
  • Sticker Vote, Then Sing 1. Post the titles of eight carols on the wall and give every player one sticker. 2. Players walk around, talk it over and stick the sticker under the carol they most want to sing. 3. Count the stickers aloud. 4. The room sings the first verse of the winner, and the supporters of the runner-up choose how: slow, quiet or as a round. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: carol titles on paper and one sticker each.
  • Three Tags, One Christmas Show 1. Everyone fills in a gift tag: To the group, From their own name, and Inside, one thing they can do, such as whistle, juggle or draw horses. 2. Players wear their tags and walk around reading other people's. 3. On a signal, players form groups of three whose skills could share a stage. 4. Each trio announces the title of its Christmas show, and the room votes for the one it would most like to see. Players: 12 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: gift tags, pens and tape.
  • Twelve Days Crowd Count 1. Everyone walks around the room while a leader hums the Twelve Days carol. 2. The leader calls a number from two to twelve. 3. Players rush into groups of exactly that size and strike a pose for that day's gift, such as two turtle doves or five gold rings. 4. Players left over call the next number. Players: 12 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Words of One Carol, Tune of Another 1. Split the room into groups of five or six and hand each group two carol titles. 2. Groups get four minutes to fit the words of the first carol to the tune of the second. 3. Each group performs one verse. 4. The room names both carols. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 12 min. Props: pairs of carol titles on slips.

Nativity games with the verse 8

  • Find What the Prophets Wrote 1. Everyone holds a closed Bible. 2. A leader calls a reference: Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6 or Micah 5:2. 3. The first player to find it stands and reads it aloud. 4. Then race to Matthew 1:23 and Matthew 2:6, where the footnotes of the World English Bible point back to Isaiah 7:14 and Micah 5:2. Players: 8 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: a Bible for each player or pair of neighbors.
  • Follow the Star Card 1. Set chairs about the room as a maze, with one chair marked as the house. 2. One player from each team holds a paper star on a stick and leads the team in single file, in silence. 3. The team copies every turn and stop. When the star stops over the house, the team sets down three boxes for the gold, frankincense and myrrh of Matthew 2:11. 4. Read Matthew 2:9: the star “went before them until it came and stood over where the young child was”. Players: 8 to 40. Time: 8 min. Props: a paper star on a stick, three small boxes for each team, and chairs.
  • Luke 2 Verse as a Five-Word Telegram 1. Hand each team one verse from Luke 2:1-20. 2. The team rewrites it as a telegram of exactly five words. 3. Read the telegrams aloud one at a time. 4. The other teams find the verse. Luke 2:7 might become: Baby born. No room. Manger. Players: 8 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: verses on slips, paper, pens and Bibles.
  • Running Dictation: The Angel's Words 1. Tape a printed copy of Luke 2:10-12 to the far wall for each team. 2. One player at a time walks to the wall, reads as much as they can hold in their head, walks back and dictates it to the team's writer. 3. Players take turns until the writer has all three verses. 4. Compare each copy with the Bible, word by word. The copy with the fewest slips wins. A leader stands at the turning line. Players: 8 to 40. Time: 12 min. Props: printed verses, tape, paper and pens.
  • Silent Tableau of One Verse 1. Give each team a different verse from Luke 2:1-20 or Matthew 2:1-12. 2. Teams get three minutes to plan a frozen picture of that verse, with no words and no props. 3. Each team holds its picture for ten seconds. 4. The other teams search the two passages and call the verse number. The first right call scores. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 12 min. Props: verses on slips and Bibles.
  • Town Signs: Nazareth, Bethlehem, Jerusalem 1. Post four signs on the four walls: NAZARETH, BETHLEHEM, JERUSALEM and THE EAST. 2. A leader reads a verse with the place left out, such as Luke 2:4, Luke 2:15, Matthew 2:1 or Matthew 2:8. 3. Each team sends one walker to the sign it thinks fills the gap. 4. Read the verse in full. A walker at the right sign scores a point. Players: 8 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: four signs and a Bible.
  • Two-Minute News From Bethlehem 1. Teams read Luke 2:8-20. 2. Each team prepares a two-minute news report: one anchor, one reporter in the field and shepherds to interview. 3. Everything said in an interview has to come from the passage, such as “Let’s go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened”. 4. Leaders score one point for each detail that is in the text and take one away for anything that is not. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 15 min. Props: Bibles.
  • What Did the Angel Say? 1. Read Luke 2:10-12 aloud twice, slowly. Then close the Bible. 2. Teams write answers from memory: who the good news is for, where the child is born, what the sign is. 3. Read the verses a third time while teams mark their own answers. 4. The answers are “all the people”, “in David’s city”, and “a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough”. Players: 8 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: a Bible, paper and pens.

How this list was compiled: Written by the Game Night Generator editors on 2026-10-03 for a church youth group of 10 to 60 teenagers with leaders in the room. The games and their wording are our own, and player ranges and times are our estimates. No game is a race to eat, covers a face or pairs two players off, relays are walked, and nobody is asked about their own beliefs. Nativity details and quotations were checked on 2026-10-03 against Luke 2:1-20 and Matthew 2:1-12 in the World English Bible, a public domain translation, at https://ebible.org/eng-web/LUK02.htm and https://ebible.org/eng-web/MAT02.htm, with Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6, Micah 5:2 and Matthew 1:23 on the same site. The gifts named in Twelve Days Crowd Count were checked the same day at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song). This page is unofficial and belongs to no church. Licence: own work