The Best Games to Play With Your Guests on Christmas!

 The Best Games to Play With Your Guests on Christmas!

Christmas can be an exciting time of year, full of anticipation and holiday cheer, but the gathering of family and friends can also be an exhausting and stressful experience. Luckily, there are plenty of games that you can play with your guests that will help make your Christmas celebration both fun and festive! Here are the best games to play with your guests on Christmas!

Snake

A classic. In Snake, players take turns adding pieces of increasing length to a growing snake-like shape. The first player whose snake bites its own tail loses. Snake is an easy game for kids—and good practice for junior programmers who are just learning how loops work. Plus, it’s fun to yell Snake! when you see one in real life.

Jenga

This is a great game because it involves strategy, physical skill, and luck. Even though there are rules, players can be creative with moves, which leads to laughing and cheering. A simple version of Jenga can be played with two people or a larger version can involve all your guests. To play Jenga with two people: 

Each player takes turns pulling out one block at a time (being careful not to pull out an unstable stack). The first person whose tower falls loses! To play Jenga with more than two people: Two teams compete against each other, alternating turns until someone's tower falls. If you want to make things even more interesting, limit teams to one hand each! Also, some party supply stores sell mini versions of Jenga that work perfectly for large groups. 

And if you don't have any blocks around, feel free to improvise—for example, chopsticks could substitute for wooden blocks in a pinch! For something new and exciting, try... Kerplunk!: In Kerplunk!, like in Jenga, everyone tries to remove their colored sticks without toppling their stack. However unlike Jenga where you only pull out one stick at a time, here every turn you get 3-5 sticks per turn depending on how many people are playing and how big they are making their stacks. 

It’s pretty fun when you get five sticks at once and then start getting worried about knocking down your stack. You never know what’s going to happen next! Another cool thing about Kerplunk! is that as soon as someone knocks over their stack, everyone else gets to take another turn.

Charades

Everyone knows how to play charades; all you need is a willing audience and a good imagination. Charades is also one of those games that’s as easy to learn how to play as it is fun to play. So, what are you waiting for? Grab some drinks and your friends, turn off all your devices, and get ready for a game of charades. Here are some ideas: 

Have each person in your group give one word clues until someone guesses it correctly. Or, have each person choose an actor and then act out that actor’s movies/roles until someone guesses correctly (or fails miserably). Choose a type of animal/object or holiday movie/theme etc. and act it out. If you want to make things more interesting, make sure everyone acts together in a large group so no one can see who is acting at any given time. 

This will encourage more creativity and teamwork! The only rule here is that you can’t use props—it has to be entirely body movement (and sound effects if needed). You could even do charades with just two people by having one person act out something while another person tries to guess it. As long as you keep it simple, there are endless variations of charades! Try these three versions and let us know which ones were your favorites

Assorted board games

Of course, there’s always classics like Monopoly and Clue, but those games can feel a little stale after a while. So if you want something different, try one of these instead: Cards Against Humanity , Settlers of Catan , Apples to Apples , Scrabble , Phase 10 , Chess, or Poker. 

You might also consider using a game like Trivial Pursuit to get your guests in on an intellectual competition they might not have expected. Keep in mind that when you play with people who don’t know each other as well as you do, it helps to pick games that involve talking—that way everyone will get more comfortable with each other and form better bonds over time. 

If you have any musical instruments around, bring them out so people can sing along. And lastly, remember that party games are only fun if everyone is participating—if someone isn’t interested in playing at all, encourage them to just hang out and enjoy some food or conversation. It’s much easier for someone to be left out of a board game than it is for them to sit at a table by themselves for too long.

Cards

A deck of cards is easy and always available, making it an awesome choice for a party. Start with a simple card game like five-card draw poker or blackjack, then mix things up by asking guests to invent new rules while they play. There are tons of variations out there too, so if you're getting bored (which shouldn't happen), change things up. 

Some other fun games include Go Fish and old maid; try your hand at gin rummy as well. If you want something more interactive, why not have everyone put together their own team? For example, one person could be in charge of dealing hands and another could be in charge of keeping score. 

This works best when played against each other rather than all playing together. You can also create some friendly competition by having everyone bring their own team—just make sure you get some friends who aren't competitive cheaters! If no one has a pack of cards on them, use any flat surface that people can gather around—like a table top or even just the floor.

Trivia questions (Write them down in advance!)

A simple game of Trivia will always bring fun and excitement to a party. Invite each guest to write down two answers before they arrive, making sure they’re both plausible answers that only they know. Once everyone has arrived, simply hand out slips of paper with your questions and watch as people struggle over who gets picked last! 

That person chooses which question goes first and then everybody writes their answer down. Whoever gets it right wins a prize. It’s very similar to Truth or Dare except nobody has to do anything embarrassing—they just have fun while learning new information about one another.

Coin flip

If you’re looking for something quick and easy, give a simple coin flip a try. One person calls heads or tails while another flips a coin into the air. The flipper calls whether they think it will land on heads or tails while the caller guesses which side it will land on. If their guess is correct, they get to make another call. 

After three rounds, whoever has two correct guesses wins (and hopefully will be willing to share some of their winnings with you). No matter what, though, you'll have fun trying out your skills at predicting if someone else's toss is going to land right-side up or upside down. There are tons of other games you can play with just a coin too—find out more here.

Have a Secret Santa gift exchange

The term Secret Santa is used a lot around Christmastime, and it refers to a fun party game where everyone is given another guest or two as their partner. The partners give each other gifts, usually of similar value but wrapped differently so they don’t know who gave them what (it gets more complicated than that—like having a specific price range for gifts—but that’s not necessary). 

Everyone gives back their gift, along with an anonymous note thanking them for it. The best part is reading other people’s notes about why they chose their present, or how much fun they had unwrapping it. It really makes you feel connected to your friends, even if you don’t see them all year long.