Christmas Party Games to Print
Six games, answer keys, and your guests’ names on every sheet.
Your party
Commas or new lines, up to 30. Each guest gets their own sheets with their name on them, and every name goes on the score sheet and on the most-likely cards. Clear the box for sheets with a blank name line. Names stay on this device.
With 2 or more copies, each copy of Categories is a new round with its own letter.
How to run the games
- Type the guests. Each guest gets a sheet of every game with their name already on it, so nobody fights over pens and papers at the table. Six guests with all six games make a 36-page PDF: 30 player sheets, 2 pages of cards, the score sheet and 3 answer keys.
- Pick the set. Family is for mixed ages: the emoji titles are ones children know and the word scramble keeps the first letter in place. Grown-ups has harder titles and words, with no drinking game and nothing crude. Office keeps every question about work, food and Christmas, never about anyone’s partner, family, home, money or health.
- Print and play. Print at 100% (“Actual size”). Give everyone a pen, run one game at a time, and let the host keep the answer keys, which print on their own pages at the end so they never land in a guest’s pile.
Christmas emoji quiz
Twenty Christmas film and song titles told in emoji, such as 🔴👃🦌 for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Each row says whether it is a film or a song, which helps more than you would think. Only titles are used: no lyrics, no posters, no characters. The emoji are drawn by your own phone or computer, so they print in the style of your device; the ink saver design prints them in grey. A table of adults usually gets 12 to 16 right in ten minutes; the family set is easier.
Word scramble
Twelve Christmas words with their letters mixed up (SNOWMAN might come out as SAWMNNO). The scrambles come from the engine of our word search maker, which checks that no scramble spells the answer or another word on the sheet. A gap in the letters means the answer is two words. Want your own words? The word search maker has a word scramble mode for any list.
Who’s most likely to…
Sixteen cards, eight to a page, to cut out on the dashed lines. Each card carries your guests’ names: with up to eight guests every card names everyone, and with more, each card names four, in turn, so every guest is on at least one card. Read a card, count to three, and everyone points. Whoever gets the most fingers keeps the card. The office cards are about desks, snacks, video calls and Secret Santa, never private life.
This or that
Fifteen pairs (real tree or artificial tree, coffee or hot chocolate). Everyone circles one in each row. Then the host reads the rows out, the room shows hands, and you score a point for every answer that matches the majority. It is the quickest game here, about five minutes, and a good opener while people are still arriving.
Christmas categories
A letter and ten Christmas categories such as “something on a Christmas tree” or “a name for a reindeer”. Everyone writes an answer starting with the letter for each, against a three-minute timer. Then read them out: an answer only scores if nobody else wrote it, so “Star” for S loses to “Sleigh bell”. Hard letters (Q, U, V, X, Y, Z) are never drawn. Print two or more copies per guest to get a new round with a new letter each time, or press New letters.
Finish the saying
Fifteen old sayings with the ending missing: “It’s better to give …”, “Many hands …”. They are centuries-old proverbs, so grandparents tend to win this one, which makes it a good balance to the emoji quiz. The answer key prints the full saying with the ending in bold.
Questions
Are these printable Christmas games for adults, with answers?
Yes. Choose the Grown-ups set for adult titles and words, and every game with a right answer (emoji quiz, word scramble, finish the saying) gets an answer key on its own page at the end of the PDF. The keys are numbered exactly like the sheets. This or that, categories and most-likely-to have no single right answer, so the rules for scoring them are printed on the sheet.
Which games work for an office or work Christmas party?
Pick the Office set. All six games work for a team of 5 to 30: hand out the emoji quiz and word scramble as table games over lunch, and play most-likely-to and this or that standing up. Nothing in the office set asks about relationships, family, home life, money, health or drinking, so nobody is put on the spot. For the gift swap itself, see the white elephant generator.
Is there a PDF I can print for the family?
Press Download PDF. It is A4 or US Letter (the page picks the paper size your device uses; you can switch), with 6 mm or more of margin so home printers do not clip anything. The PNG button saves the page shown as a 300 dpi image, handy for sending one sheet to a family chat. There are six designs; Ink saver has no coloured areas at all.
How do I play the Christmas emoji quiz?
Give each guest their sheet and set a timer for ten minutes. Read the answers from the key, one point each; spelling does not matter. If two players tie, the first to name the singer or year of one title wins.
What other party games are there?
For more to play: the left right game is a pass-the-gift story with your names in it, the charades generator prints Christmas charades cards, and the crossword maker builds a crossword from your own words and clues.