Fun Christmas Party Games and Ideas

 

Get ready for giggles, surprises, and some very silly snowmen! Turn your Christmas celebration into a room full of laughter as children unwrap mysterious presents, hunt for a glowing star, and race to turn their friends into snowmen. Whether you’re planning a Sunday school party, classroom celebration, or family gathering, these Christmas games will get children playing, creating, and making happy memories together.

 

Unwrap a Present Christmas Party Game

This game takes quite a bit of preparation and should be done if you have a limited number of guests.

Preparation:

1. Before the party, buy enough small gifts for each child plus a few extras. Wrap the smallest gift first.

2. Place the next gift on top of the first gift and wrap them together. Keep wrapping like this until you have all the gifts wrapped up into one big present.

How to Play:

1. To play the game, have the children stand in a large circle.

2. Start playing some Christmas Music.

3. When the music stops, the child who is holding the present gets to unwrap the first layer of wrapping paper and keep the gift. This child should sit down and let the other children play. Keep playing the game until all the children have a gift.

Variation:

You can play a variation of this game with only one winner. Use one gift, but wrap it up with many layers of wrapping paper. Play the same as above, but everyone stays in the game. The game ends when someone unwraps the last layer and gets the gift.

 

 

Christmas Party Musical Chairs Party Game

Preparation:

1. Set up enough chairs so that you have one for each player.

2. Mark one chair as the special chair (Put a special blanket, bow, or Santa hat on it.)

3. Wrap gifts - one for each child attending.

4. Pick some fast-paced Christmas music.

How to Play:

1. Play this game like Musical Chairs except that the child who sits on the special chair gets to pick a gift.

2. The child who picked a gift is out of the game. Remove one chair and continue playing until all the children get a gift. (To make this game less competitive tell the children that everyone will get a gift and don't let them pick a gift just hand them one or don't hand out gifts.

 

 

Christmas Crepe Paper Tag Party Game

You will need lots of room for this game!

Preparation:

1. Collect red and green crepe paper streamers.

How to Play:

2. Divide the children up into two teams. Tie green crepe paper around the waists of one team and red crepe paper around the waists of another team.

3. The object of the game is to be the first team to tear all the crepe paper belts off the other team.

Alternative:

This game can also be played with balloons. Tie the balloons on a string to the children's ankles. Make sure all the strings are about the same length about 18" long. The first team to break all the other teams balloons wins.

 

 

"Shepherd, Shepherd, Where's Your Sheep?" Party Game

Preparation:

Find a small stuffed sheep.

How to Play:

1. Gather everyone into a circle.

2. Hold up a small stuffed sheep - small enough so that it can be hidden behind the children's backs.

3. Pick someone to be the shepherd and send him into the middle of the circle and make him close his eyes while the sheep gets passed around.

4. Point to someone silently to be the "hider" and when the sheep gets to them, they should hide it behind their back. Everyone else, meanwhile, puts their empty hands behind their backs and looks as guilty as they possibly can.

5. When everyone is ready lead a chant of "Shepherd, Shepherd, Where's Your sheep?"

5. The person in the center opens his eyes and tries to guess who the real "hider" is. If the "shepherd" guesses correctly he swaps with the "hider".

Alternative:

You can also play the game by having someone walk around the outside of the circle with the sheep in his hands. He pretends to give the sheep to different people confusing the shepherd. The shepherd in the middle doesn't close his eyes but watches to see if he can tell who gets the sheep. When the person walking around the outside is finished he starts the chant and the shepherd has to guess. If the shepherd guesses correctly, the person with the sheep behind his back takes his place.

 

 

Christmas Tic-Tac-Toe Toss Party Game

Preparation:

1. Draw a large Tic-Tac-Toe on a piece of poster board.

2. Decorate it with Christmas pictures and other things.

How to Play:

1. Divide the children into two teams. Give one team green bags and the other red bean bags.

2. Place the Tic-Tac-Toe on the floor.

3. Have the teams take turns throwing the bean bags. If a bean bag lands on a square which is already taken by the other team, the child can remove the other team's bean bag and leave his on the square. If it lands on a square with the same color bean bag, the extra bean bag is removed and a new player throws.

 

 

Four-in-a-Row Christmas Party Game

Preparation:

1. Make playing cards with four squares across and two squares up and down.

2. Print out a bunch of Christmas clipart. Cut them out and glue the pictures on the cards. You can use some of the same pictures on each card. Just make sure you don't have the same four pictures across one row on any of the cards.

3. Keep one picture of each clipart for the Bingo caller.

4. Use wrapped Christmas candy as tokens. Place a copy of each picture used in a bag and mix them up.

How to Play:

1. Give each player a Bingo card and some wrapped candy.

2. Pull out a picture from the bag and call it out. Keep playing until one child gets a bingo by covering four pictures in a row.

 

 

Drop the Stars in a Jar Game

Preparation:

Paint five wooden stars with gold paint and glitter.

Place a jar on the floor (Use a jar with a wider opening for little children.)

How to Play:

1. Give the first player the five stars and let him see how many stars he can drop into the jar by holding a star straight out with his arm parallel to the floor and then dropping it. Whoever gets the most clothespins in the jar wins.

 

 

Balloon Man Party Game

Preparation:

Blow up lots of balloons.

How to Play:

1. Break the children up into teams of two or three. Give each team a bag of balloons.

2. Show the children how to rub the balloons on their clothes and hair to build up static electricity.

3. On the word "go" the children see how many balloons they can get to stick on a designated teammate.

4. Time the children for one minute. The child who has the most ballons stuck themself wins the game.

 

 

Give each team large white plastic garbage bags, package material to stuff the bags, black, orange and red construction paper, or real hats and scarfs, and whatever you might think they will need to build a snowman. Divide your children into teams and on the word "Go" see who can build the best snowman. Tell them they have ten minutes.

 

Snowman Toilet Paper Wrap Christmas Party Game

" Divide your children into teams. Give each team a roll of toilet paper, some black and orange construction paper, scissors, tape, and red crepe paper. On the word "Go," the teams should pick a teammate to be the snowman while the other child winds TP around him or her and then uses the extra material to make him look like a snowman. The best snowman wins. -Make snow sculptures and then use food coloring in spray bottles to paint them.

 

 

"Cut the Pie" Winter Outside Party Game

Make a huge circle in the snow then cut the circle in half by walking straight through the circle. Cut the circle in half again and again until you have what looks like a pie cut into pieces. Have the children stand around the edge of the pie and one child in the center. Make sure the children know they can't cut through the pie. They have to stay on the paths. On the word go the child in the center tries to tag a child. The child that is tagged is now "it" and tries to tag someone else.

 

Colorful Snow Sculptures Christmas Contest

Have a snow sculpture contest!

Break your students up into teams and have them make snow sculptures. Provide spray chalk or snow painting powder so they can make them colorful.

 

Sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus

Make a birthday cake and put a lot of candles on it. Sing "Happy Birthday" and have everyone help blow out the candles. To use the cake as an outreach make the bottom layer chocolate to represent our sins. Make the second layer red to represent Jesus shedding his blood for our sins. Make the third layer green to represent the new life we have in Jesus. And use white icing to represent our sins being washed away and white as snow.

 

 

"Follow the Star" Christmas Sunday School Game

Play like "Follow the Leader" except have the leader hold up a large star on a stick. The leader should lead the children around and under tables and chair while jumping, sliding his or her feet, clapping, crawling, walking backwards, marching, swinging arms, twirling in circles, skipping, etc. The children should do exactly what the leader is doing. Stop

 

 

"Find the Star" - Christmas Sunday School Game

Play this game to remind your children that the Star of Bethlehem guided the Wise Men to Jesus the night he was born.

Preparation:

1. Purchase glow-in-the-dark stars.

2. Pick out one of the large stars and remove the rest. Tape the stars all around the room. Leave the light on until you are ready to play.

How to Play:

1. In class explain to the children that the wise men knew that the star would lead them to Jesus because it was very different from all the other stars. It had appeared in the sky and hadn't been there before and it moved across the sky leading them to Jesus.

2. Tell your children that there is one star that is different than all the rest. See if they can find it.

 

Other Fun Activies

1.Guess the Christmas Song - Play Christmas music and see who can guess the song first.

2. Decorate Christmas Cookies

3. Christmas Craft - Make Gifts for Parents and friends and then wrap them.