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Christmas
Party Games
I
don't claim to be an expert at planning Christmas parties, but it
always seems that I end up being in charge of the planning and
preparation of any social event at my office. Christmas parties
are no exception. What office Christmas party would be complete
without a few silly party games for your co-workers to play? Here
are some of them that we've used over the past few years.
Blind
Artists (2 games)
Materials
Construction Paper
Scratch Paper (8.5" x 11")
Markers
Christmas
Tree Challenge:
Have players
attempt to rip the sheet of construction paper into the shape of a
Christmas tree -- behind their back. Players are not allowed to
look at their creation until it is complete. Hang the works of art
for everyone to judge. Give prizes for the best-looking trees.
Frosty's
Portrait: Give
players a piece of paper and a marker. Instruct them to draw a
snowman -- with the piece of paper on the top of their
heads. Display the drawings and have players vote on the
best-looking drawings.
Santa
Dress-up
Materials
Red crepe paper or tissue paper
White cotton batting
Black construction paper
Masking tape (one per team)
Make
teams, 4 is ideal. Each team should designate someone to be Santa.
Give each team a set of materials. Instruct them to use those
materials to make a costume for their Santa. (They don't get a
pair of scissors -- this makes it more challenging.) Give them a
time limit, 5-7 minutes, but use your judgment. If they still
don't look like they're going to be done in 7 minutes, give them a
few more. You'd be surprised how elaborate people can get! Have
everyone judge the Santas for different categories so that
everyone's a winner. Award prizes.
Christmas
Pictionary
Materials
A white board or Rip Charts to draw on
Markers
Preparation
Think of words and phrases relating to Christmas. Write them on
index cards or slips of paper.
Create
2 teams. One member from each team go up at a time. You show them
the index card (easier than trying to whisper it to them), have
them go back to their stations (best to position them on opposite
ends of the room), and give them the "ready-set-go!"
They may draw anything to describe the word/phrase, but may not
write words or numbers. The team that guesses correctly first wins
that round. Rinse. Repeat.
Fun
with Play-Doh
Materials
Cans of Play-doh (1 per team)
Preparation
Think of words and phrases relating to Christmas. Write them
on index cards or slips of paper.
This
works similarly to the Christmas Pictionary game (above).
However, I would recommend smaller teams. We split up the group
into 4 teams instead of 2 massive groups. (This depends on how
many in your group, though.)
Reindeer
Poop
Materials
Various chocolate candy bars
Powdered Sugar (optional)
Paper plates
Signs with Reindeer Names (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, etc.)
for the number of different varieties of candies that you have.
Preparation
Crush and smash pieces of candy to form clumps (reindeer poop)
and put them on small paper plates. (If you have powdered sugar,
sprinkle some on the plate -- like snow.) Place a sign with a
reindeer's name on it beside each plate. Prepare forms with the
reindeer names on it with a space beside it for players to fill in
the blanks.
Players
are to study the plates of "reindeer poop" and identify
what type of candy is on each plate. Have them fill out the forms.
Read the answers and award a prize to the one(s) who guessed the
most correctly.
Christmas
Trivia
Materials
Prepared trivia questions
Projector/Laptop -or- Overhead projector (optional)
Depending
on how tough the questions are, you can either read the questions
-- or if doing multiple choice, you may wish to have some kind of
visual aid so that your players can read the questions and the
choices. This year, I created a PowerPoint presentation and used a
projector to display it.
Make
two teams and make them create a team name for themselves. Keep
score on a white board (if available).
Option
1
Make it a
game of speed. Players
from each team take turns being the "spokesperson" for
each round. You ask the question and players can confer with their
teammates before answering -- or they can simply run for the
buzzer to indicate that they know the answer. Whichever team gets
there first gets the first shot at answering the question. If he
is incorrect, the other team gets a chance to answer the
question. Point is awarded to the winner of the round.
Jan-Ken-
Po. If you're
limited on space, maybe running for a buzzer is a bad idea. You
can also administer the game in this fashion: Give teams paper
with A, B, C, and D (if multiple choice -- or blank sheets of
paper, if not). You ask the question and teams can discuss and
determine which answer is correct. Designated players from each
team hold up the correct answer. Point goes to team with correct
answer. If both teams get the answer correct, have them jan-ken-po
(rock-paper-scissors) to determine the winner. Point is awarded to
the winner of the round.
Mean
Grab Bag
Preparations
Set a price limit for grab bags. Have players bring a wrapped
gift within the price limits that you set up. Make sure they don't
discuss what they brought with others.
Put
all of the grab bags in a pile where players can access them
easily.
Write
numbers on sheets of paper and throw them into a hat. Have players
pick a number. Lowest number goes first.
Player
with #1 goes to the pile and picks out a gift. He should open the
gift and show everyone what it is.
Player
with #2 can either take a gift from the pile -- or take the gift
that Player #1 opened. He should open the gift and show everyone.
Player
with #3 can take a gift from the pile -- or take any of the opened
gifts. And so on...
If
your gift is snatched, you must take a wrapped gift from the pile.
You cannot take back a gift -- or take a gift from someone else.
Depending
on how creative and coveted the gifts are, this game can get
pretty funny with people always snatching away certain gifts.
Of
course, the person with the highest number is the luckiest --
because they get to see what everything is before they pick. Or if
they like the element of surprise, they can always take the last
wrapped gift.
I
usually do this game last. It's usually a good end to the party
activities.
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