Christmas Bingo (Free Printable + Custom Card Generator)

On this page

1. What’s on the printable
2. How to play Christmas bingo
3. How many cards to print
4. Ways to change it up
5. Prize ideas
6. More Christmas games to pair with bingo
7. Questions hosts ask

Bingo is the game you can hand to anyone. Grandma knows how it works, the six-year-old catches on in one round, and the coworker who hates party games will still mark a square when “Fruitcake” gets called.

What’s on the printable

Every card is a 5×5 grid drawn from a pool of 46 Christmas words: Santa, Reindeer, Candy Cane, Mistletoe, Ugly Sweater, Nutcracker, Snow Globe, Advent Calendar and the rest. The center square is always FREE.

Each card gets its own random mix, so no two players hold the same card. The Game Maker also prints a calling sheet with every word on it. Cut that sheet into slips and pull them from a hat, or read down the list and tick them off.

• Cards: one or two per page, your choice. One per page gives bigger squares.
• Header: an optional name at the top, like “The Garcia Family” or “Third Floor Holiday Party”.
• Calling sheet: all 46 words, for the host.
• Footer: a small partygamebook.com credit. That’s it. No email sign-up, no watermark across the card.

How to play Christmas bingo

1. Print one card per player and one calling sheet. Cut the calling sheet into slips if you want to draw them from a stocking.
2. Hand out markers. Anything small and flat works (see the supplies box below), or let people cross squares off with a pen.
3. The caller draws one word, reads it out clearly and sets the slip aside so it can be checked later.
4. Players mark that word if it’s on their card. Remind everyone that the center square counts from the start.
5. The first player with five marked squares in a row, across, down or corner to corner, calls out “Bingo.”
6. Check their marked words against the slips you’ve called. If it checks out, they win the round. If not, keep calling.
7. Clear the cards and play again. Most groups are happy with three to five rounds.

How long does a round take? With a 46-word pool and a standard five-in-a-row win, our editors’ math (a quick computer simulation of thousands of games) says a room of 10 to 20 players usually has a winner after about 14 to 17 calls. At a relaxed pace, that’s a round of roughly 3 to 5 minutes. A blackout game, where someone has to fill the whole card, takes almost the entire calling list.

How many cards to print

Print one card per player, then add five extras. Somebody’s cousin always shows up late, and a kid will spill cocoa on a card by round two.

If you plan to play more than one round with pens instead of markers, print a fresh card per player per round, or slide the cards into clear sheet protectors and use dry-erase markers. That second trick saves a lot of paper at a big office party.

For a crowd over 40, split into two rooms or tables with a caller at each, or run Play mode on a TV so everyone in the back can see which words have been called.

Ways to change it up

For small groups

With four or five players, a single line can take a while to land, so try winning patterns that come up faster: any four corners, or any line of four touching the free space. Or give everyone two cards to play at once.

For big groups and office parties

Big rooms produce quick winners and occasional ties. Decide ahead of time what happens with a tie. A tiebreaker question works (“closest guess to how many cookies are on that plate”), or both winners pick from the prize table. For a longer final round, play blackout.

For kids

Pre-readers can play with a grown-up or older sibling reading the words. Hold up the slip while you call it so kids can match the letters. For little ones, play “first to three squares” so everyone has a shot at winning. Food markers are tempting with this age; buttons or paper squares are less likely to vanish before the game ends.

For a classroom party

Print one card per student plus a few extras, and give each child a small cup of paper squares or cereal pieces as markers. With 25 kids, you’ll get a winner quickly, so plan several rounds and a small prize bag. For students who are still learning to read, write each word on the board as you call it. A class party slot is usually 20 to 30 minutes, which fits four or five rounds with time to clear cards between them.

For seniors and mixed ages

Print one card per page for larger squares, call slowly and repeat each word twice. A pen is easier than tiny markers for anyone with shaky hands. If you’re running an activity for a senior living group, our printable games for seniors include more large-print options.

For grown-ups only

Turn the calls into small challenges. When “Ugly Sweater” comes up, anyone wearing one marks an extra square. When “Carolers” comes up, the caller doesn’t read the word; they hum a Christmas song and players have to name it. It slows the game down in a good way.

Different winning patterns

Once people have the hang of it, announce a new pattern each round: an X through the center, a plus sign, a full frame around the edge, or the letter T. Draw the pattern on a whiteboard or hold up a sample card so there’s no arguing later.

Prize ideas

Bingo prizes should be small and quick to hand over, since you’ll give out several. A few ideas that work for most crowds:

• A candy cane, hot cocoa packet or a small bag of cookies
• A cheap ornament, which can go straight on the tree
• Scratch-off tickets for an adult crowd
• “First pick” from the gift exchange pile, which costs nothing
• For kids, a sheet of stickers, a small toy or a pencil topper

If you have one bigger prize, save it for the blackout round at the end.

More Christmas games to pair with bingo

Bingo fills 15 to 20 minutes nicely. If you want a quiet game for people to work on while they wait for dinner, our Christmas word search prints free with an answer key:

For a full party lineup, see our Christmas party games for families or, for a grown-up crowd, Christmas party games for adults. Trivia fans can read questions straight off our Christmas trivia questions and answers, and every other holiday game we have is on the Christmas games page.

Questions hosts ask

By the Party Game Book editors. Every game here is free to print for personal, classroom and non-commercial use. How we make and check our games.