Christmas Party Games for Kids

On this page

1. Printable games for the table
2. Active games (clear some space first)
3. Quiet games and crafts
4. Classroom Christmas party games
5. Games for toddlers and preschoolers
6. How many games for a kids’ Christmas party?
7. Prize ideas for kids
8. Questions hosts ask

This bingo uses short, easy words (Elf, Sled, Star, Mittens) so early readers can find them on their own. Add your class or party name to the top, print a different card for every child, and call the words from the sheet or from a phone. For pre-readers, hold up each slip as you call it so they can match the letters.

The games below are grouped by energy level. Most kids’ parties go best with a pattern of loud game, quiet game, snack, loud game. Pick two or three from each section and you’re covered.

Printable games for the table

These are the games to have ready when kids are still arriving, when the snacks come out, or when the room needs to calm down.

1. Kids’ Christmas bingo (free printable)

The card above. Ages 4 and up, 15 to 25 minutes for three or four rounds. Use paper squares, buttons or cereal pieces as markers, and play “three in a row wins” for preschoolers so everyone has a real shot. For older kids who want something harder, our regular Christmas bingo has 46 words, including Poinsettia and Advent Calendar.

2. Christmas trivia for kids (free printable)

Twenty multiple-choice questions written for ages 7 to 12: Do female reindeer grow antlers? Where did poinsettias first grow wild? What do reindeer eat in winter (it isn’t carrots)? Every answer is checked, and the answer key prints on its own page. Play in teams of three or four so strong readers can help the rest.

3. Christmas fill-in-the-blank story (free printable)

One kid holds the word list and asks everyone else for “a food,” “a silly name” or “a verb.” Then a grown-up reads the finished story out loud, about an elf who packs Santa’s sleigh all wrong. Ages 6 and up, about 10 minutes. It’s funnier if you let kids shout answers instead of taking turns, so plan for noise.

Younger kids may not know what an adjective is yet. Give them a hint: “a word that describes something, like sticky or huge.”

4. Kids’ Christmas word search (free printable)

Fourteen short words hidden in a 12 by 12 grid. Every word runs across or down, never backward or diagonal, which keeps it fair for ages 5 to 8. It fills about 10 minutes and works well on the plane or at a restaurant, too.

5. Christmas word scramble (free printable)

Twenty-two Christmas words with the letters mixed up, and an answer key on a separate page. It’s best for ages 9 and up; words like TOBOGGAN and GINGERBREAD are hard for younger kids. Pair little ones with a big kid and let them solve it together. You’ll find it on our Christmas games page.

6. Christmas This or That

Build a snowman or have a snowball fight? Candy cane or gingerbread cookie? Read a card, and kids run to one side of the room or the other. The free printable deck of 50 cards is on the same page. It needs no reading from the players, so it works for ages 3 and up, and it’s a quick way to get shy kids moving.

7. What’s missing?

Put 10 small Christmas things on a tray: an ornament, a bell, a cookie cutter, a pine cone, a candy cane. Kids look for 30 seconds, then you cover the tray and take one thing away. First to name what’s gone wins. For kids under 5, start with six items.

Active games (clear some space first)

Move the breakables, push the coffee table to the wall, and keep a grown-up near any game where kids spin or run. Socks on a wood floor are slippery, so bare feet or sneakers are safer for races.

8. Christmas freeze dance

Play Christmas music and everyone dances. When the music stops, freeze. Anyone who moves sits out a round and becomes a judge. Ages 2 and up. For toddlers, skip the “out” part and just let them freeze and giggle.

9. Indoor snowball fight

Crumple scrap paper or old wrapping paper into snowballs, or buy a bag of soft fabric snowballs. Split the room with a line of tape and give each side two minutes to throw every snowball they can over the line. The side with fewer snowballs when time’s up wins. Remind kids to throw at the floor space, not at faces.

10. Candy cane hunt

Hide mini candy canes around one or two rooms, like an egg hunt. Give each kid a small bag or a stocking. For mixed ages, hide some low for the little ones and tell the big kids they can only take candy canes above their knees. For kids under 4, hide small wrapped toys or stickers instead; hard candy is a choking risk at that age.

11. Reindeer ring toss

Make antlers from a headband and two pool noodles, or a paper-plate headband with cardboard antlers. A grown-up wears them and stands still while kids toss rubber rings or paper-plate rings from a few feet back. Move the line closer for small kids. Anyone who rings an antler gets a point.

12. Pass the present

Wrap a small prize in many layers of paper, with a sticker or a chocolate coin tucked into each layer. Kids sit in a circle and pass it while music plays. When the music stops, whoever holds it unwraps one layer. The grown-up running the music can make sure every child gets at least one turn.

13. Snowman stack relay

Each team gets three white paper cups or plastic bowls. One kid at a time runs to the other side of the room, stacks the cups into a “snowman,” unstacks them and runs back. The first team to finish wins. Ages 5 and up, and you only need cups.

14. Santa says

It’s Simon Says with a Santa hat. “Santa says pat your belly. Santa says fly like a reindeer. Wrap a present.” Anyone who moves without “Santa says” sits out. Let a kid wear the hat and lead the next round.

15. Jingle bell hide and seek

One child hides a jingle bell somewhere in the room while everyone else covers their eyes. The group searches, and the hider rings a second bell louder as they get closer and softer as they get farther away. Ages 3 and up.

16. Pin the nose on the reindeer

Draw a big reindeer face on poster board, cut red paper circles for noses, and put tape on the back of each. Blindfold each player and turn them gently once, not a dizzy spin. For kids who don’t like blindfolds, let them close their eyes instead.

17. Christmas charades

Kids act out things like building a snowman, a penguin sliding on its belly or Santa stuck in the chimney. A grown-up can whisper the card to kids who can’t read yet. Our printable deck has 58 prompts, and our Christmas party games for families has it ready to print.

Quiet games and crafts

For the end of the party, or the half hour after pizza when everyone is full and a little cranky.

18. Blind Santa drawing

Each kid holds a paper plate on top of their head and draws Santa while you call out the parts: face, beard, hat, eyes, belly, boots. Nobody can see what they’re drawing. Hold them up at the end. Everyone’s is terrible, which is the fun of it.

19. Cookie decorating contest

Plain sugar cookies, a few tubes of frosting and sprinkles. Give everyone two cookies and five minutes, then hand out silly awards: most sprinkles, most colors, most likely to be eaten first. Check for food allergies before the party, especially in a classroom.

20. Snowflake cutting

Fold a square of paper into a triangle twice, then snip shapes out of the edges and unfold. Kids 6 and up can manage safety scissors on their own; younger kids can tear shapes instead. Tape the snowflakes to the window as you go.

21. Christmas story chain

One kid starts a story with a sentence, the next adds one, and so on around the circle. “A reindeer named Pickles lost his bell.” It gets strange fast. No winners and no supplies, so it’s handy for the car ride too.

Classroom Christmas party games

A class party has its own limits: 20 to 30 kids, one room, desks you can’t move far, and usually 30 to 60 minutes. Say you’re running a 45-minute party for a second-grade class. This lineup fits:

• First 10 minutes: word search at desks while the room parent sets up snacks.
• Next 15 minutes: Christmas bingo, three rounds, with a small prize per round.
• Snack time: read the fill-in-the-blank story out loud while they eat.
• Last 10 minutes: freeze dance or Santa says to burn off the sugar before pickup.

22. Class trivia teams

Split the class into table teams and play the kids’ trivia on the classroom screen with Play mode. Teams hold up their answer on a sheet of paper. It keeps everyone involved instead of one fast kid answering everything.

23. Four corners, holiday edition

Label the four corners of the room: Snowman, Reindeer, Elf, Penguin. Kids tiptoe to a corner while music plays. When it stops, the leader (eyes closed) calls a corner, and the kids in it sit down. Last one standing wins. It works in a classroom because nobody has to run.

Many schools call it a winter party rather than a Christmas party, and some families in any class won’t celebrate Christmas. The Game Maker lets you change the words on any card before you print, so you can swap Santa and Angel for Snowball and Scarf in a couple of minutes. Check with the teacher first.

Games for toddlers and preschoolers

Kids under 5 do best with games that have no losers, short turns and a grown-up close by.

24. Find the bell

Hide a jingle bell under one of three plastic cups, shuffle them slowly and let a toddler pick one. They’ll want to play it 20 times in a row, and that’s fine.

25. Sort the ornaments

Give kids a pile of shatterproof ornaments and a few bowls. Sort by color, then by size. It’s more of an activity than a game, and toddlers take it very seriously.

How many games for a kids’ Christmas party?

For a two-hour party at home, plan four or five games and expect to play three. Kids’ attention runs out faster than you think, and the best moments often come from repeating a game they loved. A good rule is one game per 20 to 30 minutes, with food and free play in between.

Mixed ages are the hardest part. A 4-year-old and a 10-year-old can both enjoy bingo, freeze dance and the snowball fight. Trivia and the fill-in-the-blank story work best when big kids team up with little ones. Our list of birthday party games for kids has more ideas that swap into a holiday party easily.

Prize ideas for kids

Small and plentiful beats big and rare. A prize basket where every winner picks one thing works better than a single grand prize, and you can quietly make sure every child wins something before the party ends.

• Stickers, holiday pencils and erasers
• Candy canes or chocolate coins (for kids 4 and up)
• Mini play dough tubs, bouncy balls or bubbles
• A “first pick” of the cookies, which costs nothing

For riddle clues that lead to a hidden gift, try our scavenger hunt clues for kids around the house. Every other printable we make for the season lives on our 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.