Christmas Party Games

Christmas is always the best. The gifts, being surrounded by loved ones, and the food, but what I love the most about the holidays are the games. My family is super competitive. At least a few of us are, which usually brings out the worst in us but in the best way. There is just something about crushing your opponent with your skills and wit. I mean, it’s always a blast to have fun with family playing games. So here is a list of games you can play with your family after dinner on Christmas Eve.

Anecdote: The Chicken Wing & the Torn ACL

Okay, before I get to the list, I would like to shed light on how stupidly competitive I can get at times. So many people say that they’re competitive, but they don’t mean it. I have quite literally shed blood and broken bones to win. 

In middle school, my friend Sam and I fought over a chicken wing. It was something out of anime. We both reached into the Publix chicken wing box and grabbed the last wing. Unfortunately, it flew into the hair and landed on the floor behind us. I promise you, without hesitation, we both dove towards that wing-like Steve Rogers dove onto the dud grenade before he became Captain America. Five minutes later, I came out the victor. To this day, I have yet to have a wing that tastes as good as that floor wing.

In an even dumber sense, I once played a whole soccer match the day after tearing my ACL. We had many sick people who couldn’t play, so I either sucked it up or forfeited the game. For 90 minutes, I ran up and down a field eating dirt every single time my knee gave out under me. It happened every 10 seconds. It was the worst game of my life. We lost. It made my injury worse than it had been before the game too. 

Okay, party time.

Christmas Party Games  

The Oven Mitt Game 

By all rights, this might be the funniest game on the list. You need a few things. First, get a gift. It doesn’t have to be spectacular, but wrap the gift up in the most annoying way possible. Use a whole roll of scotch tape and as many layers of wrapping paper as you can. Second, find a pair of oven mitts and a pair of dice.

Rules

• Gather everyone in a circle and decide who goes first. (Youngest, oldest, last one to use the bathroom. It doesn’t matter.) Give that person the dice and let them roll for doubles. If they don’t get it, the dice move to the next person, moving in a clockwise direction. And so on until someone rolls doubles. This is where the real fun starts. 
• When someone rolls doubles, they put on the oven mitts and go at the insanely wrapped gift. Punching and clubbing their way to the center as best they can. The person next to them then starts rolling for doubles. The present changes hands once that person does hit doubles, and the game continues until someone has claimed the prize at the center of all the wrapping paper.

Hungry Hippos Game

If I’m honest, trying to put this game into words would be doing it a disservice, so I’ll leave you with a video instead. Enjoy! 

Gingerbread House Competition 

This one is pretty simple. Target has $10 gingerbread house kits, but if you want to make things a little more interesting and save some money, put people in pairs and let each person only use one hand to make the gingerbread house. Let the chaos ensue!! 

Christmas Themed Charades 

Nothing screams family game night than a good game of charades, but it’s always better when it’s holiday-themed. Watching someone try to act out “The Nutcracker” or “Home Alone” is comedic gold. So get a list of Christmas songs, movies, books, and plays, and throw it all into a bowl. 

At the End of the Night

Christmas is all about being with those you love and spending time with them that you might not get to otherwise. I know in my family when we all get together, we cram ourselves into the smallest room in whatever house we decide to congregate in and hang out. Have you ever seen twenty people sit around a table meant for six people? It’s an art that we have perfected. And you can forget about any personal space if someone is in the kitchen cooking. All of us vultures are crowding around trying to pick at the food “to taste test it.” 

So Merry Christmas. I hope you get to enjoy the company of those you love.  

And if you need a playlist for your Christmas party, we got you.