Fun Family Christmas Games for Toddlers, Kids, & Adults

Little ones may have a harder time grasping complex games, but they’ll likely love activities like these:

• Pin the nose on Rudolph — The classic party game gets a holiday makeover.
• Holiday bowling — This bowling set has foam pins and a foam ball for safety and comes decorated with snowmen, elves, and Santas.
• Antler ring toss — Have players don the inflatable antlers while they try to toss rings over each other’s horns. With more than 4,000 five-star reviews on Amazon, it’s sure to be a hit.

because children who are a little older will likely enjoy Christmas card games and board games, we recommend these:

• “Santa Cookie Elf Candy Snowman“ — A silly card game with matching, hand slapping, acting, and more.
• The Santa Claus Game — A board game that lets the kids be Santa this time.
• 12 Games of Christmas — A box of 12 fun, holiday-themed games that can be played alone, in teams, and more.

Once the kids have gone to bed, or at a adult holiday party, these games will surely entertain:

• Seasonal Cards Against Humanity — Add the “Season’s Greetings” expansion pack to the regular card game for some extra festive fun.
• Christmas movie drinking game — Check out People magazine’s holiday movie drinking game guide. Turn on a film of choice and drink whenever one of the classic tropes occurs on screen. Have fun, but remember to drink responsibly.
• DIY Bingo — Use this free bingo card generator to make a custom bingo game. Include squares for common Christmas mishaps: Something goes wrong with the meal, a relative asks invasive questions, a drink spills, etc. This can be a solo game, but you can also get a few of the other adults in on it. It’ll make any holiday issues a little less stressful.

For when you’re in a larger group, these games are perfect. Kids can play, too.

• Plastic wrap present ball game — Place small treats and toys in a long panel of plastic wrap and roll it into a ball. Then have party guests roll dice to see who gets to try to unwrap the items while wearing oven mitts. There’s a full game tutorial on lilluna.com.
• Charades — Play the traditional way by having the party guests make their own slips of paper and act them out accordingly. Or pick up a Christmas-themed charades card deck on Amazon.
• Yule Never Guess — This Christmas trivia card game is easy to play in teams.

Etsy sells digital downloads that put a seasonal twist on classic games and older children and adults may enjoy these:

• Christmas Jeopardy
• Name that holiday tune
• Christmas Taboo
• Holiday Family Feud

It’s hard to go wrong with a classic Christmas game such as these:

• Secret Santa — Put names in a hat, and have everybody choose one person to get a gift for. Additionally, feel free to set a price cap or even a gift theme.
• White Elephant — Everybody brings one wrapped item. Then go around the group, choosing either a new gift to open or a previously opened one to steal. White elephant gifts can be silly gag gifts, but they can also be more serious gifts. It just depends on the type of party.
• Find the pickle ornament — This tradition supposedly has German roots. According to Today.com, the goal is to hide a pickle ornament on the tree. Then, the first person to find it on Christmas day gets to open the first present. This is a good game for little ones to participate in, too.

Planning to give the kiddos a little extra holiday screen time? At least there are plenty of fun online Christmas games for them to play. SafeKidGames has holiday-themed video games for a range of age groups from kindergarten through seventh grade.

Scavenger hunts are fun for all ages. Perhaps write a few clues to lead kids to their stockings or gifts from Santa. Or maybe hide a bunch of candy canes around the home and do a sort of Easter egg hunt for them. Or do a more traditional hunt and have kids find objects throughout the house.

If you need inspiration, Amazon sells a set of toddler-friendly holiday scavenger hunt cards and Etsy sells downloadable scavenger hunt clues.

Entertain kids with some arts and crafts on Christmas day.

• Dot markers Christmas activity book — This is perfect for toddlers working on their fine motor skills. But be sure to pick up a set of dot markers to go with it.
• Coloring tablecloth — This giant poster doubles as a tablecloth with a winter scene printed on it, and kids can color it while the adults prep dinner.
• Various holiday crafts — This list has 20 mess-free Christmas crafts, and they’re sure to delight children of all ages.

For a little friendly family competition, try some of these Christmas contests:

• Gingerbread house decorating — Here’s a gingerbread recipe for people who want to go all-out. Conversely, pick up a premade kit online. Then have the family go to town with icing and candy decor.
• Cookie decorating — Frosting a cookie is a little easier than a whole gingerbread house, but it’s still super fun. Because Amazon sells cookie decorating kits, it’ll be super simple.
• Felt tree decorating — Amazon sells a felt tree with Velcro ornaments that little ones can play with. This is a good activity for toddlers so they don’t mess with the actual tree.