6 holiday party games for children’s Christmas parties

If your child is hosting a Christmas party this holiday season, I’ve got some wonderful kid-friendly holiday games to share.

For more Christmas party games please see my recent Family Life posts.

Pass The Present

Using Christmas paper scraps, wrap a small gift with several layers of alternating wrap until you have one large gift. Players sit in a circle and the present is passed around clockwise to music. When the music stops, the player with the present unwraps one layer. (Have a recycling box nearby to collect the wrap.) The music starts again and the play continues until the player with the last layer unwraps the present. Different colors of tissue paper or all occasion wrap also works well in between the layers of Christmas paper.

Pin the Star on the Tree

Draw and cut out a Christmas tree shape using construction paper. Affix it to a wall using reusable tack, tape or push pins. Cut a star out of gold paper. Put some tack on the underside. You might also want to decorate the tree by cutting out and affixing colorful ornament circles and putting them on all the tree points and one at the top. Write a number on each one. Start with one on the bottom and ten on the very top. Numbering the tree makes it much easier to award points to the one who gets closest. Blindfold one player, turn them around three times. Ask the player to pin the star on the top of the tree. As you go along keep track of the scores. The highest number wins.

Christmas Card Bingo

For this party game you will need to draw a bingo card for each player. Each card should show the same 20 pictures (or Christmas stickers) but in different positions. This holiday game involves checking the mail each day for Christmas cards. If one shows a star for example, cross a star off your card. The winner is the player who is the first to cross out a whole row.

Candle Blowing

No fear of getting burnt with this awesome game. All you need to get started is ten empty toilet paper tubes, ten cut out cardboard circles and flames, scissors, a little glue and a soft ball. To start, cut long slits around the base of the cardboard tube. About five should do it. Bend outwards. Now glue each tube to a 3 inch circle of cardboard and glue on a cardboard flame (color it orange or leave it plain) to inside top of the tube. Make nine more candles. Set up as you would a set of bowling pins – four in the back row, then three, then two and finally one in the very front. Take turns rolling a soft ball at the candles. Keep score of how many each player knocks over. The highest number wins.

Santa’s Sack

Place a large open paper bag on the floor. Divide a package of colored cotton balls (or pom poms) into even groups. Each player picks one color each and stands with their backs a short distance from the bag. The idea is to throw the balls into the Santa Sack. Younger children might do better facing the bag. Count up how many balls each player gets in. The highest number wins.

Musical Crackers

This is a fun holiday game played with Christmas crackers. On a table, place one less crackers than there are players. Start the music, players are to walk clockwise around the table. When the music stops, everyone grabs a cracker. The person who wasn’t able to get one is out of the game. One cracker is then removed and the music starts again. The game continues until one cracker remains. The player with the final cracker keeps it and gets to enjoy the treats inside. Homemade crackers made of toilet paper rolls and tissue, and filled with leftover Halloween candy are very inexpensive. So cost-effective, you may want to give all players their own cracker.

Please check out my recent Family Life posts for more fun holiday ideas.