Christmas parties are a great way to introduce new friends to old, eat some great food, and celebrate the holiday season! Make sure your guests don’t forget your party with these fun and festive games!

The Santa Hat Game:

The best part of this game is that it has no formal start time – it can start as your guests progressively arrive at the party!

Stop by your local Pound shop, and pick up some Santa hats/reindeer antlers from the Christmas aisle.

As your guests arrive, ask them to put on a hat but only take it off when they see you take yours off. Let your guests chat and get comfortable, and remove your hat when you think no one is looking. You’ll quickly see who has been paying attention, and who has been drinking too much of the Christmas punch.

The last person to remove their hat is the loser! They get to initiate the next round of the game.

The Human Christmas Tree Game;

This game is a great team-builder, or an excellent way for guests to release their competitive energy! In preparation, set up a table with a variety of craft supplies: glue, paper, scissors, foil, and other seasonal decorations.

Once the party has got going, split your guests into an appropriate number of teams (4-5 people per team). One member of each team must volunteer to be the Christmas Tree.

Set a timer for 15 minutes, and have your guests decorate their ‘human trees’! The best tree will, of course, be decided by the party host!

Oven Glove Unwrap;

This is a great group game, especially if you have a more than a few gifts that need unwrapping!

You’ll need some well-wrapped gifts, a Santa hat, a pair of oven gloves (the fluffier the better), and one dice (two if there are more than 8 people).

Place the well-wrapped present in the centre of the room, and have your guests gather in a large circle around it.

The first contestant rolls the dice. If anything but a six is rolled the dice should quickly be passed to the left. Once a player rolls a six, they need to put on the hat and gloves and start opening the present, one layer at a time! The next player to roll a six should take the ‘un-wrapper’s place.

Whoever unwraps the last piece of paper off the present, gets to keep it!

The Balancing Ornament Game:

You’ll need a paper towel/wrapping-paper tube, a ruler (or any stick for that matter), and a bunch of ornaments with hooks.

Once your guests are paired up, they’ll each have one minute to balance as many ornaments as possible on either side of the ruler without it falling of the paper towel tube. The winning pair is decided by the most ornaments that are balanced!

Marshmallow Relay Toss;

Every good party involves throwing food, right? Perhaps not, but here’s a great game that will allow your guests to do just that.

You’re going to need 2 Christmas wreathes, and 2 bags of marshmallows.

Have your guests split into 2 groups and form 2 lines. Lean the wreathes on chairs positioned 10-15 feet from the front of the lines. Starting from the front of the line, players need to throw marshmallows until they score through the centre of the wreath! Once they have scored, they can step out of the line. The first line to complete the challenge wins! 

Tip: You may want to delegate an official ‘marshmallow retriever’ for each team.