Time to Party: Christmas Party Games for Children and Adults

1. Pin the Tail Game - there are many variations of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" that could be played during the Christmas holidays. Use a picture of reindeer and play "Pin the Nose on Rudolph". Another version is to dress Santa with boots, hat or belt buckle. For a different variation, use a picture of a package that needs a bow on top. You can also have a tree that needs ornaments. Have the children (or adults) try to place the ornaments on the tree. Whoever gets the most ornaments on the tree wins..

2. Name that Christmas Carol – This is just like the old TV show,“Name that Tune.” Sing or play a CD with the first line or two of a familiar Christmas carol. The contestant has to sing the next line correctly. Start off with easy carols and then move on to the harder, less familiar Christmas carols.

3. Charades is a party favorite and one game that almost everyone knows. All of the charades have to relate to Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and other holiday related items. Some charades can be names of a holiday cartoon, movie, book, song, event or thing. Divide the group into teams. Just as in regular charades, the team with the most correct answers wins.

4. Timed Guessing Games can be a real challenge for children and adults. Examples of these kinds of games are: naming all the gifts on each of the “12 Days of Christmas” or naming as many Christmas carols as you can in one minute. Pass out paper and pencils and see how many words you can make out of “Christmas” or “Hanukkah”. You can always scramble some holiday related words before your guests arrive. This is a good game for both children and adults.

Don't know how to make up word scrambles? Are charade ideas a challenge? There are plenty of web sites that offer free printable pages of these and other games.

Most of the Christmas games described above require advance preparation. I like to suggest that you gather what you need and place each game in a bag or box with a label. Now you are ready...let the games begin!