Christmas Charades: 150 Ideas for Kids, Families and Adults

On this page

1. How to play Christmas charades
2. 150 Christmas charades ideas
3. Picking ideas for your crowd
4. Ways to change it up
5. Scoring and prizes
6. Questions hosts ask

Each card carries a small label (Act it out, At home, Outdoors, Character, Tradition, Funny moment, Song or story) so the actor knows what kind of clue they’re holding before they start flapping their arms. Pull the song and story cards for a table of preschoolers, or keep only those for a group of grown-ups who think charades is too easy.

In the Game Maker you can add your family’s name to the title, delete any card and type your own. Inside jokes make the best cards: “Uncle Dave carving the turkey” will get guessed in four seconds and laughed at for ten minutes.

How to play Christmas charades

1. Cut the cards apart and drop them in a bowl, a stocking or a Santa hat.
2. Split into two teams. Mixed ages on each team works best, so a five-year-old and a grandparent can act together.
3. The first actor draws a card, reads it silently and has 60 seconds to act it out. No talking, no sounds, no pointing at real objects in the room.
4. Their team shouts guesses. A correct guess before time runs out scores one point.
5. Teams take turns. Play to 10 points, or until the bowl is empty.

On a phone or TV, Play mode shows one card at a time with a countdown, so nobody has to watch a kitchen timer.

Charades hand signals

Teach these before the first round and everything goes faster.

Signal	Meaning
Hands pressed together, then opened like a book	It’s a book or story
Hand cupped to your mouth like singing	It’s a song
Hold up fingers	Number of words
Fingers on your forearm	Number of syllables
Tug your earlobe	Sounds like
Finger on your nose, point at a guesser	That’s right, you got it
Hands moving apart or together	Make the word longer or shorter

150 Christmas charades ideas

Every idea below is on the printable cards. Each group is ordered roughly from easiest to hardest.

Easy for little kids (25)

1. Santa saying ho ho ho
2. Building a snowman
3. Making a snow angel
4. Opening a present
5. Hanging a stocking
6. A reindeer flying
7. Eating a candy cane
8. Throwing a snowball
9. Ringing a bell
10. A penguin waddling
11. Putting the star on the tree
12. Shaking a gift
13. Drinking hot cocoa
14. Brushing snow off your boots
15. A snowman melting
16. Licking a lollipop
17. Putting on mittens
18. Sledding down a hill
19. A toy soldier marching
20. Going to sleep on Christmas Eve
21. Licking frosting off a spoon
22. Catching snowflakes on your tongue
23. A polar bear swimming
24. Rocking a baby doll
25. Blowing out a candle

Christmas at home (25)

1. Untangling Christmas lights
2. Wrapping a present
3. Running out of tape
4. Baking cookies
5. Decorating a gingerbread house
6. Writing a letter to Santa
7. Leaving cookies and milk out
8. Hanging lights on the roof
9. Watering the Christmas tree
10. Vacuuming up pine needles
11. Mailing Christmas cards
12. Making paper snowflakes
13. Stringing popcorn garland
14. Hanging an ornament
15. Peeking at presents
16. Carving the holiday ham
17. Setting the table for a big dinner
18. Falling asleep on the couch after dinner
19. Doing the dishes after the feast
20. Wearing new pajamas
21. Taking a family photo
22. Trying on a sweater that’s too big
23. Lighting a fire in the fireplace
24. Hiding presents in a closet
25. Assembling a toy at midnight

Winter outdoors (20)

1. Ice skating
2. Shoveling the driveway
3. Scraping ice off a windshield
4. Having a snowball fight
5. Skiing down a mountain
6. Snowboarding
7. Riding in a sleigh
8. Chopping down a Christmas tree
9. Tying a tree to the car roof
10. Building a snow fort
11. Slipping on ice
12. Ice fishing
13. Walking in deep snow
14. Riding a snowmobile
15. Caroling door to door
16. Looking at neighborhood lights
17. Warming your hands by a fire
18. Making footprints in fresh snow
19. Wearing snowshoes
20. Roasting chestnuts

Holiday characters (20)

1. An elf making toys
2. Santa stuck in the chimney
3. A reindeer pulling a sleigh
4. A nutcracker cracking a nut
5. A ballet dancer
6. A gingerbread man running away
7. A shepherd watching sheep
8. An angel singing
9. A mail carrier with too many packages
10. A mall Santa taking photos
11. A baker pulling cookies from the oven
12. A snowplow driver
13. A toy maker painting a train
14. A store clerk at the busiest checkout
15. A conductor leading carolers
16. A wise man riding a camel
17. A sleepy child waiting for Santa
18. A cat knocking ornaments off the tree
19. A dog stealing the roast
20. An ice sculptor

Traditions near and far (15)

1. Lighting an Advent candle
2. Opening an Advent calendar door
3. Hiding a pickle ornament
4. Pulling a Christmas cracker
5. Wearing a paper crown
6. Hitting a piñata
7. Leaving shoes out for St. Nicholas
8. Hanging mistletoe
9. Setting up a nativity scene
10. Going to a midnight service
11. Singing around the piano
12. Watching the Christmas parade
13. Making tamales with family
14. Lighting a yule log
15. Reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

Funny grown-up moments (25)

1. Pretending to love a gift
2. Returning a gift without a receipt
3. Finding the end of the tape roll
4. Wrapping a bicycle
5. Standing in a long checkout line
6. Fighting over the last parking spot at the mall
7. Forgetting someone’s present
8. Regifting a fruitcake
9. Burning the cookies
10. Losing the TV remote under wrapping paper
11. Sitting at the kids’ table as an adult
12. Tripping over the extension cord
13. Hiding from carolers
14. Assembling furniture with missing pieces
15. Eating too much pie
16. A cat climbing the Christmas tree
17. Waiting for a package that never comes
18. Stepping on a toy in the dark
19. The power going out on Christmas Eve
20. Sneaking the last cookie
21. Wearing an ugly sweater to work
22. Putting batteries in every toy
23. Trying to take a group selfie
24. Cleaning up after the party
25. Taking down the lights in January

Songs, stories and hard ones (20)

1. Jingle Bells
2. Silent Night
3. Deck the Halls
4. Joy to the World
5. O Christmas Tree
6. We Wish You a Merry Christmas
7. The Twelve Days of Christmas
8. Up on the Housetop
9. Let It Snow
10. Winter Wonderland
11. A Christmas Carol
12. The Nutcracker
13. The Gift of the Magi
14. Silver Bells
15. Feliz Navidad
16. The Little Drummer Boy
17. White Christmas
18. Peace on Earth
19. Home for the holidays
20. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Picking ideas for your crowd

Crowd	Use these groups	Timer
Ages 4 to 7	Easy for little kids, a few from Winter outdoors	90 seconds, or no timer
Ages 8 to 12	At home, Winter outdoors, Holiday characters	60 seconds
Teens	Funny grown-up moments, Holiday characters, Songs and stories	45 to 60 seconds
Mixed family	Everything except the hardest song titles	60 seconds
Adults only	Funny grown-up moments, Traditions, Songs and stories	45 seconds
Classroom	Easy for little kids, At home, Winter outdoors	60 seconds, whole class guesses

The “Song or story” titles are the toughest because the actor has to act out the words, not a scene. “Silent Night” means miming “silent,” then “night,” with a syllable or word signal in between. That’s the round where grown-ups get competitive.

Ways to change it up

Speed round

One actor, one minute, as many cards as the team can guess. Pass on a hard card and draw again. Count the pile at the end. It’s a good finale after a slower first round.

Team relay

Every player on a team acts one card, back to back, against a single three-minute clock. Nobody gets to sit out, and the shy ones get one quick turn instead of a spotlight.

Pair charades

Two actors share one card. It’s perfect for “Riding in a sleigh” or “A reindeer pulling a sleigh,” and little kids love having a grown-up partner on stage.

Charades with a drawing round

Alternate: one turn acted, one turn drawn on a whiteboard or paper with no letters or numbers. The drawing version is a nice seated break after dinner. Our Christmas party games for adults list has more ideas for a drawing game night.

Reverse charades

The whole team acts and one person guesses. It’s loud and silly, and it works well for large groups where a single actor would get lost in the crowd.

Scoring and prizes

One point per correct guess is all you need. For a longer game, give two points for the “Song or story” cards, since they’re harder. Little kids don’t need a score at all; give everyone a candy cane after their turn.

Prize ideas that cost almost nothing: first pick from the cookie tray, the comfy chair for the movie, or getting out of dish duty. For more card games to print the same night, try free printable Christmas games or a round of Christmas 60-second games, and find every holiday printable in our Christmas games section.

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.