25 Holiday Party Games for Adults, Coworkers, and Families
You’ve set a date for the big holiday party. Now, it’s time to figure out how to entertain your guests. Whether you’re hosting a party for adults, an office celebration, or a family get-together, plan some holiday party games for endless laughs, fun, and a little friendly competition.
In this guide, we’re sharing our favorite holiday party game ideas based on who’s on your guest list — adults, coworkers, and all ages. You’ll find some creative game options (and fun holiday party invitations) to liven up your festivities.
What Are the Best Games to Play at a Holiday Party?
Check out this list for 25 of the best games to play at a holiday party. We’ve divided them up into three categories: adults, workplace, and all ages. That will help you go straight to the games that will best match your celebration’s guest list.
7 Holiday Party Games for Adults
Design: Shari Margolin Design
Matching invitation: Cocktails and Candy Canes Invitation
We love all-ages holiday and Christmas party ideas, but sometimes you want something that’s a little less kid-friendly. If you’re looking for more grown-up party activities for a small or large group of adults, these are some of our top picks.
1. Festive Cocktail Competition
Do you make the best merry margarita? Challenge your party guests to a cocktail competition. See who can make the tastiest version of a classic drink, design and make your own concoctions, or host a blind taste test.
2. Holiday Scattergories
Scattergories is a great party game for adults, and you can easily make it match your holiday party theme by featuring words and categories that fit the season. Try a Christmas Scattergories printable, or make your own.
3. Most Likely To
Bring out some laughs with a holiday-themed version of the classic “most likely to” game. Make a list of situations — like “most likely to crash Santa’s sleigh” or “most likely to run off with all the gifts” — and see if you all agree on who matches each the best.
4. Party Video Games
If you have a TV or games console available, try some video games — like the Jackbox party packs. Every pack contains a variety of fun word-based or competitive party games designed for adults-only celebrations. While there isn’t a dedicated holiday pack, you can often use custom prompts or questions to make it match your event.
5. Paper Plate Game
Hand out paper plates, have everyone place them on their heads, and give them a marker and prompt. Ask everyone to draw on the paper plate, and see whose creation is the funniest! Use festive prompts like Christmas tree, reindeer, snowman, or gift for a seasonal twist.
6. Festive Karaoke
Grab a karaoke machine and host a karaoke night, complete with all the classic holiday songs and some of your own favorites mixed in. Make this a fun singalong, or turn it into a contest with prizes like “loudest singer,” “funniest cover song,” and “best tearjerker performance.”
7. Holiday-Themed Jeopardy
See which of your party guests knows the most about the holiday season with a themed game inspired by Jeopardy. Instead of high-figure sums, swap the prize pool for festive cookies, gift cards, and gift baskets.
6 Holiday Party Games for the Workplace
Design: Carrie ONeal
Matching invitation: Santa’s Pajamas Invitation
Planning this year’s office party? Introduce some of these fun-yet-appropriate party games and contests to liven up your celebration, and bring everyone together for some festive cheer.
1. Festive Trivia Game
Holiday or Christmas trivia games are so much fun to put together — especially if you get to do it while you’re on the clock. Set up a DIY trivia quiz that challenges team member’s knowledge on everything from Christmas traditions to chart-topping holiday songs and movies.
2. Ugly Sweater Contest
If there’s a perfect place for an ugly sweater contest, the office holiday party is it. Invite everyone to make the most of the holiday season and come to your office party in their most hilarious knitwear. Award a prize for taking part and a bigger gift for the best-dressed coworker.
3. Competitive Sports
Add some friendly competition to your holiday celebration. If you have a ping pong table make use of it, or bring in games you can set up and take down again — like darts, an indoor basketball hoop, or cornhole. If you’re lucky enough to be blessed with snow on the ground, a snowball fight can work for the right crowd.
Or combine multiple activities into an Office Olympics.
4. Best Photo Booth Photo Contest
We love a party photo booth, and a holiday party gives you the perfect excuse to bring out fun props like Santa hats, antlers, or even a Grinch mask. Challenge your colleagues to see who can come up with the best photo booth pictures, and hand out a gift card to the winning individuals or teams.
5. Themed Escape Room
If you’re heading off-site for this year’s company Christmas party, why not book a festive escape room? See if there’s one running in your city, and swap solving work problems for logic problems in an escape room that doubles as a holiday team-building activity.
6. White Elephant Gift Exchange
To add some extra sparkle to your holiday party, add a festive or Christmas gift exchange. A white elephant gift exchange is perfect as it’s light-hearted, so there’s no pressure or big budgets involved. Guests bring a wrapped gift, and take turns unwrapping one — but beware as others can “steal” the gift from them!
12 Holiday Party Games for All Ages
Design: Cynthia Jacquette Art and Design
Matching invitation: Charming Snowman Invitation
Looking for family-friendly holiday or Christmas party games? You’re in luck. There are so many fun-filled games that work for all ages — from traditional charades to holiday bingo. Here are some of our go-to favorites.
1. Scavenger Hunt
Split your group into teams or compete as individuals to be the first player to return with every item on their list. Create your own DIY list with Christmas-themed items like reindeer, Christmas trees, and candy canes, or look for a printable version.
You can also make it a photo scavenger hunt and ask teams to get photo-proof of their finds instead.
2. Holiday Bingo
Bingo is a fun game for every age, and you can easily put a festive twist on it with holiday or Christmas bingo cards. You can often find these in-store around the festive season, or use a tool like Canva to create your own bingo cards.
3. Pictionary
Add this classic word or phrase guessing game to your holiday party lineup, and swap your list of words for festive prompts instead. See who can get the highest score and win a little holiday treat, like a candy cane or box of gingerbread cookies.
4. Christmas Movie Quiz
This is a fun Christmas game. You can either DIY your own quiz, complete with video clips and images if you’re tech-savvy, or look for an online holiday movie quiz instead. Gather everyone around, make sure they can see the screen (or print out copies of your quiz), and enjoy some holiday cheer.
5. Festive Board Games
We adore board games, and there are lots to choose from. Some of our favorites are Jenga, Yahtzee, Farkle, Blank Slate, or a holiday version of Monopoly. This is an ideal holiday party idea for families.
6. Traditional Card Games
Have a pack of playing cards lying around? Invite a small group to join you for some classic games like Rummy, Crazy Eights, or Pass the Ace. You can also play specialty card games like Uno, Skipbo, and Five Crowns.
7. Name That Tune
Add a musical party game to your event with a festive version of Name That Tune. Swap today’s pop favorites for Christmas carols, like Jingle Bells or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
8. Holiday Charades
Charades is a popular family game, and it’s perfect when you have a mixed age group. Create a list of holiday or Christmas charades prompts and see which team is the best at guessing!
9. Holiday Coloring Competition
Looking for a game for your younger (or young at heart) party guests? Hand out some blank coloring pages and introduce a competition — the winner gets a sweet festive treat. If you have a lot of kids, you could even split it into different age groups. Don’t forget to award every entrant with a small gift!
10. Festive Baking Competition
Baked goods are one of the best things about the holidays, so add a little competitive spirit to mix. Challenge your party guests to bring along their best festive bake for judging — whether it’s a gingerbread house, marshmallow snowman, or holiday-themed cupcakes.
Want something you can do on the day? Swap baking for decorating with a festive cookie decorating party.
11. Festive Minute to Win It Games
Minute to Win It games are ideal for parties as you don’t need many materials and can often use what you have lying around the house. Introduce some festive Minute to Win It games, and see which of your party guests are the most talented.
12. Holiday Family Feud Game
Who doesn’t love the family feud game show? Recreate your own version at your next holiday party by splitting into two teams and pitting them against each other to guess the most popular answers to some holiday-themed questions.
Gather Your Party People and Have the Happiest of Holidays
Whoever you’re celebrating with this year, get into the holiday spirit with our list of the best holiday party games. Mix and match ideas from the collection above that match your party theme, guest list, and vibe.
To help you set the tone right from the start, choose our holiday party invites to spread the word to your guests. Whether you’re planning an office party, family holiday party, or a Christmas party with close friends, there’s an invite to match — and they can all be customized too.
