Our goal is to help you celebrate the holidays by playing a few short, enjoyable games with your loved ones every day. Some of the activities are for teams while others are done solo. Everyone, young and old, could find them fascinating.
These are also fantastic ideas to put in your 12 Days of Christmas activities too. The kids helped me out by recalling a number of minute-to-win-it games they’ve played at school.
So Let’s Dive Into The 15 Best Family Games for Christmas:
1. Snowball Scoop Game
Does anybody else remember the blindfolded party game where you had to move cotton balls from one dish to another with a giant kitchen spoon? Is One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas.
This is it, then!
Supplies: All you’ll need is two big bowls, a bandana (or anything to serve as a blindfold) a couple packets of cotton balls and a large kitchen serving spoon.
How to Play: Put all the cotton balls into one dish and set it next to the empty bowl.
Blindfold each participant and place the spoon in their hand.
Start the timer, say “Go!” and watch how many cotton balls they can transfer from the full bowl to the empty bowl with ONLY the spoon (no other hands allowed!)
Each participant has the option of three attempts or continuous play for one minute. Not as simple as it appears!
2. Away in the Manger (Group Game) (Group Game)
This is a team game and kids adore it!
Supplies: Gather up an armful of varied articles of clothes, blankets, belts, plush animals and knick-knacks from around the home. Put all the goods into a laundry basket or a big Santa bag.
OR set the timer for a few minutes longer and have each team explore the home for their own belongings (fair warning: you’ll definitely have some unmade beds to repair after you play – haha!)
How to Play: Give each group a minute to design their own interpretation of the Nativity Scene or manger scene from Jesus’ birth using as many items as possible (including team members). Don’t forget to take some pics!! And yes, authentic Nativity costumes do exist if you’d prefer not dress up in a sheet. Is One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas
3. Minute to Win It Snowball Toss
This was one of our favorite Christmas minute to win it games! Is One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas
Supplies: A wreath, a huge bowl and several socks curled up like snowballs or indoor snowballs 🙂
2-minute Prep: You may clip a Christmas wreath to the ceiling or the top of a door frame as we did.
Roll up some white socks or use this entertaining Indoor Snowball Fight kit to simulate a winter snowball fight inside.
You may play it one of two ways: In this simplified variation, players have one minute to fire as many “snowballs” as they can through the center of the wreath.
To make things more difficult, flip the wreath over (as we did above) and place a huge bowl on the opposite side. Now see how many “snowballs” you can get through the wreath and into the bowl.
Each snowball that went through the wreath was worth one point, while those that landed in the bowl were worth three.
Hint: snowballs have the same bounce as Bumblebees.
4. Christmas Lights Photo Challenge
Bundle up, for this is an outdoor team activity. If you’re visiting a park or other designated place with plenty of Christmas lights, you may do it as an individual game, too. Is One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas
Supplies: Provide each group (or individual) with a smartphone and a list of Christmas light displays to see. Then, everyone should wait 20 minutes by their watch or phone.
How to Play: Each member of the team must sprint throughout the area and photograph as many of the objects on the list as possible before returning to the hub for a tally.
This game is a blast for kids and teenagers of all ages and it also provides a healthy dose of physical activity.
5. Minute to Win It: Candy Cane Relay
Collective activity: akin to the original “connect the monkeys” game. Is One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas
How to Play: Make everyone in your family or group form two parallel lines.
Everyone receives their own (extra-large) sugar cane to chew on. Then, have everyone on the team use just the candy canes now in their mouths to pass a fresh one from one player to the next.
Each side has a chance to move the candy cane along the line without it breaking. If it drops, the squad must start all again.
Be cautious — candy canes break easily.
Play, Party Plan offers another fun version on this game called Candy Cane Catch – all you need are a few chairs and some thread to put it up. Candy Cane Pile Up is a variation on this game that may be found on The Happy Home Fairy’s site, along with many other fast and enjoyable Christmas activities.
6. One Minute (to Win It) Cookie Eat Off Game
In this humorous twist on the traditional cookie exchange, each participant is given a cookie to put on their forehead and must use only their facial expressions to transport the cookie from their forehead to their mouth.
How to Play: The Cookie on the Face challenge, along with other games, are examined in an entertaining manner in Catching Fireflies.
Gingerbread house contests are another tasty and entertaining concept. Gather some graham crackers, frosting, and other decorations, set a timer, and see who can build the most impressive home.
Better still, get your hands on some of these ready-made gingerbread home kits (some of which come in miniature sizes) and have everyone (or at least each team) compete to build the best house as quickly as possible. Put them all out as a centerpiece for the celebration. Is One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas to play.
7 – A Christmas Word Search
You may print out this free Christmas Word Scramble and see who can unscramble the most words in one minute by setting it as your table game this holiday season.
Or if you’re searching for a ‘festive’ sing-along challenge, download our FREE printable “What’s the Lyrics?! Test the Christmas music knowledge of your loved ones with a festive round of “Minute to Win It.” Is One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas
Or, if you’re looking for something a little more intellectual, try this Christmas Geography Challenge instead! Have teams choose one or two questions to answer and then collaborate to create a map.
8. Minute to Win It Christmas Charades
You can also play this fun team game by printing off this free list of holiday-themed Charade phrases and seeing which group can predict the most in a minute and a half.
You might also print out these Christmas Charades and Christmas Pictionary card sets to have fun with your loved ones this holiday season. This is the BEST method to play as you have 2 sets of cards so the team that goes last will get a fresh set of words to utilize. Is One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas.
How to Play: Place all the cards into one Christmas bag or Santa hat.
Participants may either do each thing on the list or sketch it (like Pictionary).
Divide into two teams and play for a minute (or longer if you’re having fun)! The group that correctly identifies the most things in the allocated time is declared the winner.
9. The Nose Knows: Minute to Win It Sensory Challenge
This is really a modification of a kids science exercise that everyone likes! It’s based on a popular kids’ holiday book called The Sweet Smells of Christmas (if you remember those fantastic scratch ‘n sniff books from when you were a child, this game is the book come to life!
Lists of the best-smelling Christmas treats and decorations! You may see what we used in our Amazing Scents of Christmas science exercise for your game. Is One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas
How to Play: Put seasonal foods inside empty tissue boxes and play a game of “guess the smell” to see who can name the food. An orange, a cinnamon stick, a pine branch, some gingerbread men, etc., are only a few examples.
10. Nutcracker Stacker Game
There are many entertaining takes on this theme, all of which entail a large quantity of hardware nuts, a single sugar cane, and some ingenuity in the realm of engineering. The Christmas Nutcracker rules, along with other holiday-themed games and activities, may be found on A Beautiful Vibrant Life. Is One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas
11. Jingle Bell Box Game
OMG! This looks so comical and I can’t wait to watch the grandparents ‘jingle’ their rears to shake out the bells! Is One Of the Best Family Games for Christmas
You’ll need some jingle bells, but you can purchase them at any craft shop.
12. Holiday Speed BINGO
You may either play it like a normal BINGO game or time it for just one minute. Very similar to a faster version of BINGO. You’ll need a lightning-fast caller if you want to see whether anybody can get BINGO in only one minute. Start out with Crafting Chicks’ FREE Vintage Christmas BINGO printable cards!
13. Santa Style
How to play: Divide into groups of three or four, and give each person a bag containing items to use in creating a Santa costume. You may use anything from red, white, and black streamers and tissue paper to cotton wool balls and colorful embellishments like fur and glitter. Give each group 5 minutes to come up with the best Santa costume they can in that time. Teams then take turns doing a catwalk of their creations for the parents to vote on at the end of the time limit. Is One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas
14. Festive Alphabet
How to play: One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas, Take some paper and write down every letter of the alphabet vertically along the length of the page. Split the group up into smaller teams and have them come up with a term that has something to do with Christmas for each letter of the alphabet. The team that completes the alphabet first is the victor.
15. Snowman Bowling
snowman Bowling Is One Of The Best Family Games for Christmas,
How to play: Create your own Snowman bowling pins out of 8 huge plastic water bottles, paper mache, toilet rolls for the snowman’s nose and some normal crafts colours. Then on Christmas day, line them up in the conventional triangle-shaped bowling configuration. The participants then take turns standing a few meters away from the bottles and rolling a ball towards them.
The individual who knocks over the most bottles is the winner. To extend the game’s length, you may play in best-of-five sets, and if you want to make it more challenging, you can add flour to the bottom of each plastic bottle before you paper mache them.
