The best Christmas games to have up your sleeve
You should know we're big into organised fun. From board games to quizzes, we're here for it all. And never does it come more than handy than at Christmas, when you might find yourself at a loose end while waiting for lunch to cook, or after dinner.
Step forward: the best Christmas games. Whether they're themed around festivities or ~vaguely~ related to the big day, have these up your sleeve for some family-friendly fun.
Find the sprout
This is a ridiculous game that focusses on how good you are at lying (and is probably better after a few drinks). Ask one person to leave the room, while the rest of the team sit in a circle - or around a table is good, too. Give one person a sprout to hide in their hands, and then ask everyone around the table to put their hands into fists on top of the table.
The person must then come back into the room, and try to work out who is hiding the sprout in their hands through questioning alone. If the person guesses correctly, the player with the sprout must take a shot. If they guess wrong, they must take a shot. This gets very silly.
The layer game
This one's a race, and the aim is to look like Joey from that episode of Friends at the end. Bring together a pile of clothing items, and go head to head to see who can put on the most items in an allotted period of time (usually 30 - 45 seconds.) The results are, of course, hilarious.
Reindeer ring toss
Make some reindeer ears from cardboard (there's a tutorial here), or alternatively you can buy the game in full. Take it in turns to try and land rings on each other's antlers: each time the opposing team lands a shot, you must take a drink. The winning team is he one who land all of their hoops firs.
Sprout pong
Who says beer pong can't be festive? Using Baileys and sprouts, you can easily make the game December-appropriate. Fill 12 plastic cups with an inch of Baileys, eggnog or any other festive drink of your choice (hot chocolate is child-friendly). Place six cups at each end of the table, and take it in turns trying to throw sprouts into the other team's glasses. Not only do they have to drink the Baileys if the sprout goes in, but the winning team is the one to shoot all of the other team's cups first.
Candy cane spoons
The card game spoons, but a Christmas edition. And yes, before you ask, of course swapping candy canes in for the spoons makes it festive. The rules are simple: put one less candy cane in the middle than there are players (E.g. three candy canes if there are four of you playing, four candy canes if there are five of you playing.)
Deal each player five cards. The dealer starts the game off by taking the top card off the deck, and then discarding a card to their left. The person to their left then picks up this card, and discards one to their left. The game continues like this until someone gets four of any kinds (suit or number), and takes a candy cane from the middle. Every other player must now try and take a candy cane - the loser is the one without. Play as many rounds as you like.
Christmas charades
This one's a total classic, isn't it? Put a selection of Christmas films, songs, movies into a hat, and take it in turns to pull them out and try to act them out without saying anything. The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is a particularly good one, or Jude Law in The Holiday (Mr napkin head, anyone?)
Hum that tune
Split into teams and put a selection of famous Christmas songs into a hat. With a timer on (30 - 45 seconds), one member of each team must pick songs out of the (Santa) hat and try to hum them for their team to guess. Cue lots of giggling and distractions from the other team.
Another version of this team is putting a Christmas playlist on shuffle, with one person as DJ. Each team must try and identify the song as early on as possible - the first to guess it right, gets a point.
Christmas 'who am I?'
You know the rules by now: without the person seeing, write the name of someone festive on a sticky note and put it on their head. Using only yes/no questions, the person must try and guess who they are. And with everyone from Elf's little brother (what was his name again? Michael?) to Dasher on the cards, the number of rounds are endless!
Cosmopolitan UK's current issue is out now and you can SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.
You Might Also Like
