Try some of the following Christmas party games for teens if you have a large family or are organizing a Christmas party for large groups of teenagers. Many of the suggested games are also fun for adults so the entire family can play if you have a mixed-age group. It’s a great way to socialize with another family because most teenagers don’t want to sit talking all evening at a mixed-age social event.
Before planning the party, first, think about the mindset of the large group of teens. They are done with childhood and yet they aren’t adults, so it’s a difficult age. Not only that, this age group can rebel against anything that reminds them they aren’t adults. A mix of games is also a good way to ensure that there is something everyone will enjoy. Some games focus on puzzles and problem solving whereas others are more physical.
A holiday season teen party can get boring unless you find a way to keep the kids active and busy. Be prepared by having the fun Christmas games ready to play when the teens arrive. Award the teens prizes to keep them involved in party games. Go to a dollar store and buy some cheap prizes. Wrap each prize in Christmas paper so that they are hidden. When someone wins a game, they get a prize. If someone gets a prize that they don’t like then swapping and bartering is to be encouraged. Party games also help to break the ice for teens who do not know each other.
Find the Ghosts
Play this game at night with larger groups of teens. Select two teens to be “it,” and give each one a flashlight. Choose a base, which could be the back porch, and have all the guests stand on it. On “go,” all players run and hide in the backyard while the “it” players count to 60. After they get to 60, the “it” players use their flashlights to try to find and tag players. Players try to make it back to base without being tagged. The first two players who are tagged are the new “it” players.
Airplane challenge
Issue each person with a cheap kids foam airplane kit. Give them some simple materials such as paperclips, paper and sticky tape and challenge them to create the best airplane that they can. Get each of them to launch the plan from behind a line and award a prize to the plane that files the furthest.
Messy Gum Game
This is a messy game and best played outdoors.. Get a plate for each teen and put a piece of bubble gum in the middle of the plate. Put whipped cream all over the gum, covering it up. Each player has to put his hands behind his back. On “go,” players must eat all the whipped cream off their plates and chew the bubble gum. The first player to eat all the cream and blow a large bubble wins the game.
Soda Guessing game
Buy 8 different sodas in cans and cover the cans with festive wrapping paper and stick a different number onto each can. Give each guest a straw Each player tastes each soda and writes down what they think it might be. the person with the most correct guesses wins. If you want to make the game slightly harder or be a bit sneaky, you can add in a drink that you would be unlikely to find in a can eg water, and put it into an old can that has been washed out. This game works well with smaller groups of teens.
I Have Never
Each player sits on a pillow or a chair in a circle, except for one person who sits in the middle. The person in the middle starts the game by saying “I have never…” and names something she has never done. For example, “I have never been to Hawaii.” Any player who has been to Hawaii must get up and find another pillow, and he cannot sit on the pillow next to him. The player in the middle tries to sit on a pillow as guests are switching. The player without a pillow is the next “it” person and must sit in the middle and continue the game, saying, “I have never__.”
Pick a Snowman’s nose
An unusual game but so much fun! Fill a deep tray with sand and buy some mini carrots. Make sure there are more mini carrots than there are players. Paint the tips of some of the mini carrots gold. The number you paint depends on how many players you have and how many prizes you want to give away. i suggest painting about 1 in 5 or 1 in 6 carrot tips gold. Place the carrots tip down into the tray. Let each person pick a carrot and the ones who get a gold tip, win a small gift.
Balloon Dares
Write dares on small strips of paper. Consider dares such as performing a specific dance move, singing a silly or current song, or doing an impression of someone. Insert the strips of paper into balloons and inflate them. Place the balloons on the floor and instruct all the teens to find one. One at a time, they each have to pop their balloons and then perform the dare on the strip of paper. Or fill the balloons with helium and attach a curling ribbon. They pull on a “string” and their balloon comes down. A bunch of colorful balloons on the ceiling with long ribbons hanging down helps create a party atmosphere.
Nail Polish Spin the Bottle
For a party where the guests are all teenage girls, this Christmas fun game will bring out creativity in everyone. Get a variety of shades of nail polish. Place the bottles in a circle on the floor. Then, place an empty water bottle in the middle of the circle. One at a time, the girls spin the bottle in the middle of the circle. She has to paint one toenail or fingernail whichever shade the bottle is pointing at after she spins it. Continue until the teens paint all their nails in different colors.
Higher or Lower
Using a deck of cards, higher or lower is lots of fun. You can buy large (US Letter Size or A4) decks of cards. One person is the dealer. They deal a row of four cards followed by a second row of three cards.
Turning over the first card in the first row, the player has to predict if the next card will be higher or lower. You need to state in advance whether an Ace will count as high or low. If the player is correct then they carry on to the next card.
When they get to the end of the first row, the last card in the first row moves to be the first card in the second row. At this point, the player has the choice to keep the card or change it for the next card from the deck. If the player makes it along the second row, they win and they get a prize.
Forbidden Letter
This Christmas season game is best for older children because it can be difficult. Choose a letter of the alphabet that is forbidden. It’s best to choose a consonant because vowels can be extremely hard. Then, one teen is designated as the questioner. He has to ask the other teens questions. He can’t use the forbidden letter in his questions and they can’t use it in their answers. Each teen has five lives. Change the questioner after the first person asks each guest a question. The last player standing wins.
Name That Pop Star
Many teens love pop music and each generation brings new pop stars. Before the party, write the names of the pop stars on slips of paper. Fold the slips and place them in a basket. Have the teens take turns selecting the name of a pop star from the basket. After the teen chooses a piece of paper, she has to sing or hum a part of a song the star has recorded. The other guests must try to figure out who the star is. The teen who chooses correctly gets to go next. This is a great game for music fans!
The Shoe Maker Scramble
In this game, two teams are formed and then the teens are told to remove one of their shoes and give it to the leader. The leader takes the shoes and puts all of the shoes in a big pile in the middle of the room.
Teens are to line up in two teams, and one at a time they will race to the pile of shoes, find their own shoe, put it on, and race back to the next person in line. Obviously, the goal is to be the first team to find all their shoes.
We make this standard party game a little more fun, by having the leader sneak in several Santa socks. If a teen can’t find their shoe, they have to put on a Santa stocking instead. The Santa’s stocking should be large enough to be slid over a foot and worn, it doesn’t have to fit perfectly. To add to the Christmas holiday spirit, play some upbeat Christmas music..
Name that Christmas song
Divide teens into two or three teams. The leader must prepare ahead by making a Christmas carols CD where one song at a time is played and the first team calling out the Christmas song name wins. To make this easier, you can find ready made Christmas song quizzes on YouTube. Before long in this Christmas game, everyone starts singing all the Christmas songs and it becomes a Christmas Singalong!
Christmas Idol Karaoke
This Christmas game is similar to name that tune, but in this one, teams compete against each other to buy the Christmas Choir Idols! You’ll need a judging panel, and the funnier your judges are the better. Try to find judges who will get into the fun of being pretend “Idol” judges, perhaps one of them the Diva, and one of them is the harsh mean critic who gives “nasty” reviews. Points are awarded for each Christmas song sung and at the end of the game, the team with the most points wins. Encourage the teens to come up with funny choreography and to ham it up.
Wrap the Human Package
This Christmas parties game is a variation of the popular party game, wrap the Mummy, where a teen would be wrapped in toilet paper to look like a mummy, and the team with the best-looking mummy gets done the fastest using up all their toilet paper would win.
In the wrap the human Christmas package, teams would be given rolls of Christmas wrapping paper, tape, ribbons, bows, and scissors and they have to choose one team member to be the Christmas package. They then get a certain amount of time to design the best-wrapped human Christmas package. A judge needs to offer wrapping critiques and choose the winning team.
Pass the Christmas Fruit Bowl
In this game, two lines of teens have to pass the contents of the Christmas fruit bowl from one end of the line to the other, racing the other team to be the first team to empty their fruit bowl. Only the first teen can use their hands to pick up the first piece of fruit from the Christmas fruit bowl and place it under the neck of the next player. From that point on, they must pass the fruit neck to neck all down the line. If a piece of fruit is dropped, they may pick it up and put it back under the neck of the person who dropped it and the Christmas game continues.
Christmas Charades
Christmas day charades may not be the most original party game, but teens actually enjoy charades. It’s active and loud, two good key components for teen Christmas games. In Christmas charades, charade cards are made ahead of time with a variety of Christmas songs, terms, phrases, and items. e.g. Silent Night, Rudolph, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus or Christmas turkey. One teen from each team draws a card and acts out the phrase for their own team. The timer is set to 2 minutes. Extra points are awarded as the game continues.
Living Christmas Tree
Gather the supplies needed for this game. Each team will need red and green crepe paper, aluminum foil, and tape. Each team designates a player to be the team Christmas tree. Using only the supplies given, each team has 15 minutes to decorate the “tree.” It is really fun to use teachers, or parents as the tree. The best-decorated tree wins. Be sure to have your camera ready for this one.
Traditional Games with a Christmas Theme
Traditional party games can be adjusted to fit the Christmas theme. Instead of Simon Says, play a round of Santa Says or Rudolph Says. Using butcher paper, trace outlines of either a deer or Christmas tree to play Pin the Nose on Rudolph or Pin the Star on the Tree. Use a small package and a Christmas CD to play a holiday version of Hot Potato. Another way to play the Hot Potato game is to wrap a small prize in many layers of wrapping paper and ribbon. When the music stops, the person holding the package gets to remove a layer until the one who unwraps the prize wins,
Secret Santa or Snowman
Be prepared for players of all ages to get the giggles and have a great time over this game. Just make a small snowman or Santa by printing clip art onto card stock or cutting an image from a Christmas card. Apply some double-stick tape or a loop of masking tape to the back of the image. To begin the game, greet a guest by patting her on the back and attaching the card. When they discover Santa, they remove it and try to discretely attach it to another person. When it is your turn, try to attach the Santa to someone who has not had it before.
White elephant gift exchange
Have each guest come with a wrapped gift. This should be a small dollar amount, perhaps $5, which is not too much. On the invitation, write this out and give suggestions. Some ideas are chapsticks, gum, and candy, gift cards from fast-food restaurants and movie theaters. Once they arrive place the gift in an area that is large enough for the kids to sit around, like a table or even the middle of the floor.
Write numbers on small pieces of paper and have each guest will then pick a number and open gifts in the order of their numbers. The first guest picks a wrapped gift and unwraps it and shows it to everyone. The next person in line chooses the gift opened already or a new one. If they choose the opened gift then the one that “lost their gift” gets to pick a new one. This is done in order until everyone has a turn.
Snowball Dance
Perfect for the winter season and holiday parties. Two people get up and dance and when the music stops, they each find another person to dance with. Soon, everyone should be up on the floor dancing.
Limbo Dance
Get some music going and have the kids enter the limbo contest. Even the ones that aren’t participating will have fun watching. Give a prize to the winner.
The kids do need adult supervision but try to stay on the sidelines as much as possible so you aren’t “cramping” their style. Use balance during the party by allowing time to play and time to talk and eat. Planning one of the Christmas time activities shortly after everyone arrives will help break the ice and get the party going.
Frosty Wrap
This game is a type of race that has your guests creating their own “snowmen.” Divide your party-goers into smaller groups of two to four people. Give each group three or four roles of toilet paper. Instruct them to choose someone to be “Frosty the Snowman.” When you give the signal to go, the teams must attempt to wrap up their snowmen in a “snowsuit” of toilet paper. Allow one to two minutes for this activity. When the time is up, have the group vote on which snowman is the most well-constructed.
Indoor Snowball Fight
This is a fast-paced game that will excite your party guests. Divide your group into two teams and give each team a pack of white tissue paper. Tell the teams to make as many “snowballs” as possible by balling up pieces of tissue paper. Allow one minute for the snowball-making. Place a piece of tape in the middle of the playing area between the two teams. Instruct the teams to begin throwing snowballs onto the other team’s side when you give the signal to begin. Allow one to two minutes for the snowball war. Blow a whistle or give some other signal when the time is up. Have the teams count the number of snowballs on their side. The team with the fewest snowballs wins.
Murder Game
Have the teens sit in a circle and use some means to convey to them who the two murderers of the group will be (use playing cards, slips of paper with an M for the murderer or a C for citizen on them, etc.). Have all the players put their heads down and close their eyes. The two murderers are then prompted to raise their heads and confer on who they want to kill on that turn.
They put their heads back down. Prompt all the guests to raise their heads, and tell them who has been murdered. The players now must guess who one of the murderers is and vote on whether they should put him to death. Tell them whether their guess was right, and then complete another round. If the players guess both of the murderers, they win. But if one of the murderers is one of the last two players left, the murderers win.
The rules are explained in more detail here >>
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Teenagers are a funny bunch to deal with. You can never be sure if your game ideas and fun Christmas activities will be a hit with them or cause them to roll their eyes. Choose games that appeal to teenagers’ playfulness, or are associated with the fad of the day, music, or fashion. Having a few games in mind for your teenage Christmas party will ensure everyone enjoys the party and keeps everyone involved. Put the materials together for several games before the party and let the teens choose which ones they want to play.
Christmas is a time of year people seem to celebrate and have parties almost every night. Avoid having your party become lost in the season’s hustle and bustle by choosing some great games with some planning and a few prizes. Whether you are the class parent or a youth group leader, these easy and fun Christmas party games for teens will make your party successful and memorable.
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