Christmas party games
Office, family, church
Every December someone gets handed the games for the Christmas party, usually about a week before it happens. These are the ones that work in a function room with a projector, a bluetooth speaker and whatever people have in their bags. They are sorted by how many people you have, because a game built for fifteen collapses at sixty and a game built for a hundred feels thin with twelve. Most need nothing bought. Filter by HR-safe if your crowd includes the boss, or church-safe if it includes the parish priest — that single filter prevents the most common disaster of the season, which is not a boring game but a game that is funny with friends and mortifying in front of colleagues. Every entry has the rules, an emcee script you can read out loud, and notes on what usually goes wrong.
84 games
- Bring Me16–150 people · 15 min · HighThe host calls out an item; the first team to bring it to the front wins the round.
- Pinoy Henyo10–150 people · 15 min · MediumA word is held to your forehead. You guess it by asking only oo / hindi / pwede questions against the clock.
- Trip to Jerusalem10–60 people · 12 min · HighWalk around the chairs while the music plays; grab a seat when it stops. One chair fewer each round.
- Hep Hep Hooray10–150 people · 10 min · HighHost shouts “hep hep” and players raise their hands, or “hooray” and they clap — but only if the host's own hands match.
- Human Bingo15–100 people · 10 min · CalmEveryone gets a grid of traits and hunts for people who match them. First to complete a line shouts bingo.
- Newspaper Dance10–40 people · 12 min · HighPairs dance on a sheet of newspaper that gets folded in half every round. Step off and you are out.
- Junk in the Trunk2–20 people · 5 min · HighA tissue box of ping pong balls is strapped to your back. Shake them all out in one minute.
- Longest Line20–150 people · 10 min · MediumTeams build the longest possible line out of whatever they have on them. Shoes, belts, IDs, anything.
- Office Trivia10–80 people · 15 min · CalmTeams answer questions about the company and the people in the room. Collected in advance, revealed on the projector.
- Gift Wrapping Race8–40 people · 10 min · HighTeams wrap an awkward object against the clock. Judged on speed and on how presentable it ends up.
- Stop Dance10–80 people · 10 min · HighEveryone dances while the music plays; when it stops, the host shouts a command and the last person to obey is out.
- Pass the Message8–60 people · 10 min · CalmA phrase is whispered down a line of players; the last one says it out loud and everyone hears how wrong it went.
- Rock Paper Scissors Tournament10–300 people · 10 min · HighPairs play rock-paper-scissors; each loser becomes the winner's cheerleader until two players face off with the whole room screaming.
- Rock Paper Scissors Evolution12–150 people · 8 min · HighEveryone starts as an egg; win rock-paper-scissors against someone at your stage to evolve into a chicken, a dinosaur, then a human.
- Two Truths and a Lie4–30 people · 20 min · CalmEach person shares three facts about themselves; the group guesses which one is made up.
- Charades6–40 people · 20 min · MediumOne player acts out a word or title without speaking while their team races to guess it.
- Taboo4–30 people · 20 min · MediumGet your team to guess a word without saying it or any of the five obvious clue words printed under it.
- Would You Rather4–200 people · 10 min · MediumThe host reads two choices and everyone walks to the side of the room that matches their answer.
- Common Ground6–100 people · 12 min · CalmSmall groups race to find as many things that all members share as they can — the more unusual, the better.
- Who Said It?6–40 people · 20 min · MediumEveryone secretly answers the same question; the host reads the answers aloud and the group guesses who wrote each one.
Common questions
How many games do I need for a two-hour Christmas party?
Five or six, plus a raffle. Budget about ten minutes each with transitions, and keep two spare in case one dies in three minutes. The program should start loud, go calm around the food, and finish loud.
What works for a big office party of 100 people?
Games that need no equipment and scale by team rather than by individual — Bring Me, Longest Line, Hep Hep Hooray. Avoid anything where people queue for a turn, because ninety people watching one person is dead air.
What if the venue has no space to move around?
Filter to seated games. Pinoy Henyo, Human Bingo and office trivia all work from a chair, and none of them need a stage.