Christmas party games

Christmas is a time to spend with your family and friends, so step away from your phones, tablets and laptops and enjoy some quality fun together!

Nothing says good old-fashioned fun like a party game. The kids may roll their eyes at first, but they’re guaranteed to be enjoyed by everyone.

Here, The Money Shop share five of their favourite homemade Christmas party games, all of which can be made at next to no cost at all.

Christmas Charades

Everyone loves a game of charades, and you can easily stick to a strictly Christmas theme.

If you’ve never played before (in which case, where have you been?!), then here’s what you’ll need to do: firstly, create a list of Christmas themed songs, carols and films, and put them into a hat.

Next, separate yourself into pairs, and nominate someone to go first. They must pick a term at random, and then act it out without speaking, whilst the other teams guess what it is.

The team who has the most points when all of the terms have been acted out wins!

Pin the Nose on Rudolph

Pin the tail on the donkey just got a festive makeover. Get the kids to draw their best reindeer, whilst you cut out a nose from red paper.

Next, take it in turns to try and pin the nose on Rudolph whilst blindfolded (no peeking!)

The person who gets the nose closest to the right place wins. To extend the game, play multiple rounds, awarding a point to each person who wins the round, with the first person to reach three points the winner.

Find Santa’s Friends

This is definitely one the kids will love! All you need are some festive-themed chocolates, which you can pick up cheaply from the supermarket.

Hide the chocolates in various places round the house, and give each child their own mini-stocking, before letting them loose to find them all!

Snowball Slam

This game is sure to bring out the competitive side in the whole family, designed by Crystal Underwood, writer of Growing a Jeweled Rose. Start by styling Styrofoam cups into snowmen using felt and glue. Next, you’ll need to locate a ‘snowball’ – a beanbag or small ball will be just fine.

Once you’ve stacked the cups into a pyramid, take it in turns to throw the snowball and see how many you can knock over.

You can also amend this game into Christmas bowling, abandoning the beanbag in favour of a ball, and arranging the snowmen like skittles.

Christmas Scattergories

This is another classic game that’s been given a festive spin. You can either make your own list, or print off a readymade themed list here.

Once you’ve all got a copy, pick a letter at random and try to answer as many things on the list as possible in the time given. For instance, if the letter chosen is J, you may want to answer the Christmas-themed song with ‘Jingle Bell Rock’.

When the timer has run out, go through your answers, with every unique answer scoring a point. After three rounds (using a different letter each time), add up your points and the highest scorer wins.

These games will help to keep your whole family occupied this Christmas, without anyone reaching for their phone or tablet once.

What are your best Christmas party games? Share them in the comments!