Everyone knows kids love Christmas, but you'd be hard-pressed to find an adult who isn't just as giddy on a Christmas morning. Often, the adults are in charge of carefully wrapping the presents, curating the perfect matching pajama sets and setting out the cookies and milk. Of course, there is immense joy in crafting experiences for others or planning a family Christmas movie marathon — but adults deserve some fun for themselves. So we've rounded up a collection of 30 Christmas games for adults that are an absolute blast.
Whether you're hosting a Christmas party at your workplace or you're putting the kids to bed early to enjoy an adult soiree, we have games perfect to entertain the group outside of your typical Christmas activities. Many of the games are free and require minimal supplies, aside from a willing group of participants. If you're with a particularly competitive group of people, you may want to have some prizes ready for the winners.
Most of these games will work no matter if your group is large or small, and they can be played any time of the day or night. Of course, if you're going to host an adult game night party, you'll want to make sure you have plenty of snacks, drinks and even some holiday tunes.
Check out our list of the 30 best Christmas games for adults for your next Christmas celebration:
Christmas Movie Trivia
SolStock/Getty Images
You get to be in charge of what movies to pick and what questions to ask. Feel free to incorporate both new movies and timeless classics.
Candy Cane Spoons
If you have a smaller group of six or fewer, this is a great game. It follows the same format as the card game spoons, but instead of using spoons use candy canes.
Jingle Bell Toss
This is a holiday riff on the college classic beer pong. Instead of using full-size plastic cups, you can use mini plastic cups to toss the jingle bells into if you prefer. Whether you incorporate beer or any beverage is up to you, but there are several variations to make the game work for your party.
Christmas Limbo
A classic kids party game, simply take a scarf, pole or streamer and have two guests hold it out. Have your guests take turns seeing how low they can go while not touching the limbo stick. You can make it more challenging by using a balloon to create a Santa belly.
White Elephant
Set a price limit and have each of your guests bring a wrapped gift. Everyone chooses a number and takes turns opening the gift, one at a time. The catch is that people can steal others' gifts, turning the game into quite a competitive event.
Ugly Sweater Contest
RyanJLane/Getty Images
Have everyone show up in the ugliest or quirkiest holiday sweaters and vote which is the best (or worst). You can allow people to purchase sweaters, or make it more creative and require everyone to DIY their own sweater.
Christmas Sing-a-Long
Take a well-known Christmas song, such as the "12 Days of Christmas," and assign each guest to sing a line. Who knows? Your group may be the next barbershop quartet.
Gift Wrap Relay Race
This works if you host your party a few days before Christmas. Gather your group and lay out all the presents. Everyone can break into teams to quickly and beautifully wrap the presents. The host will supply all the wrapping paper, bows and accessories for wrapping success.
Christmas Charades
This game is just like regular charades, where everyone acts out a scene or person. To make it Christmas-themed, have everyone write down their favorite Christmas movie character to act out.
Christmas Scavenger Hunt
Instead of searching for regular household wares, have your guests hunt for decorations. You'll need to do some prep work, such as printing the lists and writing clues.
Spoon Ornament Relay
This is a play on a spoon-and-egg relay race. Team members will have to race to their partner holding a spoon with a tiny ornament. If someone drops their ornament, back to the beginning they go.
Blindfold Christmas Tree Wrapping
Knape/Getty Images
Every guest will construct their best Christmas tree using construction paper. It sounds easy enough, but the real challenge is that everyone must be blindfolded. The only prep required is getting the blindfolds and paper supplies.
Two Truths and a Lie Christmas
The classic version of the game has everyone tell two true facts and one lie about themselves. Other partygoers have to guess which one is the lie. In the spirit of Christmas, have your truths and lies be Christmas-themed (for example, worst gift you ever received).
Chubby Snowball
This is a fun take on the party game Chubby Bunny. Give guests mini marshmallows and see how many everyone can fit in their mouth while saying the word "snowball." Whoever is successful with the most marshmallows wins.
Christmas Paper Plate Game
Give everyone a paper plate and some markers or crayons. Everyone has to draw their favorite Christmas scene, but the catch is they have to decorate the plate while holding it on top of their head. Whoever has the best design wins.
Guess the Ornaments
During the night, have guests write down on a paper their guess for how many ornaments are on the Christmas tree. Whoever guesses correctly or the closest wins a prize.
Elf Drinking Game
You can download an Elf drinking game, which has guests take a sip of their drink every time they see a certain thing in the movie. You and your guests will get to enjoy a movie and a drink, all while having fun.
Christmas Would You Rather?
Recep-bg/Getty Images
Guests can take turns posing "would you rather" questions, but with a Christmas theme.
Christmas Balderdash
Have everyone take turns writing their own version of a Hallmark greeting card saying inside individual cards. Everyone takes turns guessing which version is the real Hallmark version.
Christmas Alphabet
This is another adults-only drinking game, centered on the alphabet. Everyone sits in a circle and takes turns saying a Christmas-related song or theme that begins with the next letter of the alphabet. If you can't think of anything, you take a drink.
Christmas Movie Emoji
You can use a downloadable print with emojis representing popular Christmas movies. Everyone will get their own game cards, and the person who completes the challenge first wins the game.
Christmas "Never Have I Ever"
You can put a spin on the classic game by using Christmas-themed questions. If you've done one of the questions, you have to take a sip of your drink.
Christmas Truth or Dare
It may be a kids party classic, but truth or dare is fun for the adults, too. Make it Christmas-themed by having people get creative with their dares (such as dressing up as Santa).
Name the Christmas Song
Test your Christmas carol knowledge by either humming a tune or playing just a short clip of a song. The first person or team to guess correctly wins.
Guess the Scent
Fcafotodigital/Getty Images
The holidays are the perfect time to dig out all of the seasonal candles — so why not put people's sense of smell to the test? Simply blindfold your guests and lay out a variety of holiday scented candles. Whoever guesses the most candles correctly is the winner.
Sled Race
If you happen to have a white Christmas, then take the party outside, find an incline, and challenge each other to a good ol' fashioned sled race.
How Many Layers
Scrounge up as many sweaters and tee shirts and jackets as you can find. Players will compete to see who can put on the most layers in a set amount of time — we recommend around a minute.
Santa Claus Hat Game
Give everyone at the party a Santa hat and assign a designated leader. Go about your party as usual. At some point throughout the night, the leader will subtly remove their Santa hat, at which point other people must remove theirs. But don't make a fuss about it — the last one to remove their hat loses.
Christmas Who Am I?
Write a bunch of different Christmas characters on a stack of cards, then hand them out at random. Without peeking at your card, attach it to your forehead with an elastic band or some sort of adhesive so everyone but you can read what's on it. Now you must go around asking questions about your character to other partygoers — see who can guess their character first.
Hallmark Drinking Game
Rimma_Bondarenko/Getty Images
Throw on your favorite Hallmark Christmas movie and follow the rules , which include taking a drink every time there's mistletoe, finishing your drink when it starts snowing on Christmas, and taking a shot when the main characters fall in love.
