How to Pick Christmas Games for a Work Party
Most office parties don’t need more than a few games. A simple formula that works: one mingling game while people arrive, one main team game, and one gift exchange or contest. That adds up to about 45 minutes of games. For a two-hour party, plan two or three games and pair an active one with a low-key one, so the lineup has something active, something social and something quiet.
Match the game to the headcount and the time slot:
| Situation | Games that fit | Time |
|---|---|---|
| People arriving at different times | How Many Ornaments, Desk Personalities, Baby Photo Guess Who | Runs in the background |
| Large group (30+) | Office Reindeer Games, Paper Snowball Fight, Charades Tournament, trivia in teams, bingo | 20 to 40 min |
| Small team (under 15) | Holiday Two Truths and a Lie, Blindfold Tree Drawing, Hot Bow | 10 to 20 min |
| Team meeting or video call | Holiday ABCs, Name That Christmas Tune, Emoji Movie Quiz, Christmas Jeopardy | 5 to 10 min |
| The whole month of December | Festive Workspace Contest, Ugly Sweater Contest, Cookie Contest | A few weeks |
| No prep or low budget | Charades, Pictionary, Two Truths and a Lie, Secret Santa Guessing Game | 10 to 20 min |
| Quieter or mixed crowd | Ornament Decorating, Cookie Decorating, Hot Cocoa Bar | Open-ended |
Planning a Christmas party with family or friends instead of coworkers? Our Christmas party games for groups cover that crowd.
One quick test before you add a game to the list: if the rules take more than a minute to explain, it’s too complicated for a party.
Games to Play at an Office Christmas Party While People Arrive
These games run in the background. Nobody has to wait for the whole office to show up, and late arrivals can still join.
1. How Many Ornaments
Put cards and pens next to the office tree. Guests guess how many ornaments are on it and drop their card in a bowl. Count the ornaments before the party, then announce the closest guess once everyone is there. The winner gets a small prize.
2. Christmas Guess-the-Number Jar
Same idea with a jar of candy canes, marshmallows or mini ornaments. The closest guess wins a festive prize. It makes a good filler between bigger games.
3. Desk Personalities
Ask everyone to bring one item from their desk: a mug, a stress ball, a favorite pen. Number each item and stick a hidden label with the owner’s name underneath. Guests walk around and write down who they think owns what. Most correct guesses wins.
4. Baby Photo Guess Who
A week before the party, collect childhood holiday photos from coworkers. Number them, hang them on a wall and let people write their guesses as they walk by. It’s one of the best games for helping new hires learn names.
5. What’s in the Stocking?
Fill a stocking with 10 small holiday items, like a jingle bell, a candy cane, a bow and a mini pine cone. Tie it closed and pass it around. Players feel the items through the fabric and write down as many as they can name.
6. Christmas Office Bingo
Print bingo cards with festive office scenarios instead of numbers: someone humming a carol, someone wearing a Santa hat indoors, a failed attempt at spreading holiday cheer, someone in a festive sweater, someone holding their favorite winter drink, someone who traveled this year, someone who learned a new skill. Guests mingle, mark squares as they spot them and collect coworkers’ names for each one. The first to finish a row shouts “Bingo!” and gets to ring the jingle bells so the whole office hears it. Prizes can be mini gingerbread house kits or small wrapped gifts. Keep the squares light and skip anything personal.
7. “Who Am I?” Christmas Edition
Give each person a card with a holiday character or item, like “overworked elf,” to wear on their forehead where everyone but them can see it. Players walk around asking yes-or-no questions until they figure out who they are. A natural icebreaker for people from different departments.
8. The Price Is Right: Christmas Edition
Set up a few stations with holiday items. Guests guess the price of each item as they mingle.
Christmas Trivia and Music Games for Work Parties
Trivia works for almost any group size, in person or hybrid, and needs little more than a list of questions and a prize for the winning team.
9. Office Christmas Quiz
Split into teams and ask questions about holiday traditions, movies, carols, history and pop culture. Each correct answer earns a point, and the team with the most points wins. Teams can answer with buzzers, by shouting out or by taking turns. Two tweaks make it an office game: add a round about your company’s history and the past year, and mix teams across departments. Project the questions on a screen and keep a public scoreboard to build some friendly competition. For a bonus round, teams shout out a teammate’s win from the year for extra points.
Sample questions to start with:
What are the burglars in Home Alone known as?
RevealThe Wet Bandits.
In Elf, where does Buddy go to find his biological father?
RevealThe Empire State Building.
In The Santa Clause, what makes Scott become Santa Claus?
RevealHe puts on Santa’s suit.
In Friends, who invents Santa’s Tex-Mex friend, the Holiday Armadillo?
RevealRoss.
Which Glee character tampers with the faculty Secret Santa?
RevealSue Sylvester.
10. Christmas Movie Trivia
A round just about holiday films: famous quotes, plotlines and characters. Play short movie and sound clips for extra points. The winners earn the title of “Christmas Movie Masters.”
11. Christmas Jeopardy
Build a Jeopardy-style board with holiday categories. Teams take turns picking a category and a value, then answer for points. It works just as well on a video call.
12. Christmas Movie Emoji Quiz
Write Christmas movie and song titles as emoji strings and put them on slides. A house, a boy and an airplane spell “Home Alone.” Titles that work well: Elf, The Grinch, Four Christmases, The Polar Express, A Bad Moms Christmas, “Silent Night,” “Home for Christmas,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” “Driving Home for Christmas” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” Teams answer by table, in the chat or in a poll. Let teams submit their own emoji titles for a bonus round, and add a few office in-jokes if you have them.
13. Name That Holiday Tune
Split into two teams. The host plays the first three to five seconds of a holiday song from a phone, then pauses. The first team to name the title, and the artist for a bonus point, scores. No singing required. No speaker? Hum or “doo” the melody instead. For a harder round, play jazz, metal, elevator-music or recorder versions of the classics. Our Name That Tune game runs a song-guessing round on everyone’s phones if you’d rather not play DJ.
14. Christmas Music Bingo
Build a playlist that mixes classic and modern Christmas songs, jingles and carols, so everyone has a chance to win. Instead of numbers, the bingo cards list song titles, and players mark them as the songs play. Prizes can be company swag, an e-gift card or just bragging rights.
15. Christmas Family Feud
Survey your coworkers beforehand on Christmas topics, like the top five Christmas songs or the most popular holiday treats. On the day, split into two teams that compete in holiday trivia, guessing the most popular answers from the survey. It’s the Family Feud format built on your own office’s answers.
16. Christmas Riddle Race
Hand teams a set of riddles about carols, holiday games and festive characters. The first team to solve them all before time runs out wins. No craft supplies or big space needed.
17. Mistletoe Memory Game
Put Christmas items on a tray and give players one minute to memorize them. Cover the tray, and everyone writes down as many items as they remember. Slip in a few things that mean something to your company or to the year you had.
18. Holiday Taste Test
Set out small cups of seasonal treats, like eggnog, peppermint bark and gingerbread. Players taste each one and guess what it is. Post the ingredient list nearby so anyone with a food allergy can skip what they need to.
Type a topic like Christmas movies or your company and the AI Quiz writes the questions. Players join by link or QR code and answer on their own phones, RoomPlay keeps the score.
Company Christmas Party Games for Large Groups
With 30, 75 or 100 people, the goal is to keep everyone playing at once instead of watching a few people on stage. Teams of six to eight work well.
19. Office Reindeer Games (Station Rotation)
Set up four or five stations around the room using games from this section, plus a holiday trivia table. Teams spend five minutes at each station, then rotate when a bell rings. One scorekeeper tracks points on a whiteboard. Because every team is busy at the same time, it works for 40 people or 100. For bigger events, run three to seven stations with the same timing, clear signs and simple scorecards, mix quiet, medium and active stations, and rotate every 10 to 15 minutes. Give the winning team a cheap trophy, like a plastic reindeer spray-painted gold, and bring it back every year.
20. Christmas Minute to Win It
Quick 60-second challenges that make perfect stations:
- Christmas tree cup stack: stack plastic cups into a tree shape.
- Marshmallow transfer: move marshmallows from one bowl to another with chopsticks, or using only a straw.
- Ornament balance: balance ornaments on popsicle sticks.
- Jingle Bell Shake: tie an empty tissue box full of jingle bells around your waist and shake them out.
- Peppermint Blow Race: blow peppermints across a table into a taped square with a straw.
- Ornament Slide: slide lightweight ornaments across a table so they land inside a wreath.
- Spoon and ornament race: carry a shatterproof ornament on a spoon across the course. A seated tabletop version works too.
21. Christmas Office Olympics
Run a series of events and award points for each: a Present Wrapping Dash, a Snowball Toss, Wreath Hoopla and a Jingle Bell Hula Hoop. Points add up across events, and the team with the highest total takes the gold medal.
22. Paper Snowball Fight
Save scrap printer paper for a few weeks and crumple it into snowballs. Run painter’s tape down the middle of the room to make two sides. Teams get two minutes to throw as many snowballs as possible onto the other side without crossing the line. The side with the fewest snowballs when time runs out wins.
23. Snowball Toss
Players toss “snowballs” (white bean bags, soft balls, ping-pong balls, marshmallows or balled-up paper) into buckets or cups placed at different distances. Farther targets score more points. Run it as a relay with teammates cheering, and keep a table-height version for anyone who prefers to stay seated.
24. Candy Cane Relay
Give every player a chopstick and put a bowl of unwrapped mini candy canes at one end of the room. With the chopstick in their mouth and hands behind their back, players hook candy canes and carry them to their team’s stocking. The team with the most candy canes after three minutes wins. Another version: teams pass a candy cane from person to person using only their mouths, and the fastest team wins.
25. Candy Cane Balance Race
A festive take on the egg-and-spoon race: teams run a relay balancing a candy cane on one finger. If it falls, the runner goes back to the start. The first team to finish wins.
26. Reindeer Relay Race
Each team gets one set of reindeer antlers. The first runner puts them on, races to the far end of the room and back, then hands them to the next teammate. The first team to finish earns the title of fastest reindeers.
27. Reindeer Ring Toss
A volunteer from each team wears inflatable reindeer antlers, and teammates toss rings onto them. Every ring that lands is a point. It also makes for great photos.
28. Gift Wrap Relay
Hand each team the same-size box, wrapping paper, tape and ribbon. The fastest wrap wins, but take five seconds off the time of the neatest job so speed isn’t everything. For more laughs, give teams oddly shaped items to wrap, or add an award for the most iconically terrible wrapping.
29. Toilet Paper Snowman
Pair people up and give each pair a roll of toilet paper. One partner wraps the other from head to toe. The first finished snowman wins. Keep a hat and scarf on hand for the photo.
30. Team Stocking Stuffing Relay
Teams sprint back and forth carrying candy canes, tiny ornaments, tinsel and mini Santa hats from one end of the room to their stocking at the other end. The fullest stocking wins.
31. Marshmallow Tower Challenge
Teams get marshmallows and candy canes and a strict time limit to build the tallest freestanding tower. Expect structures that look like they survived a snowstorm.
32. Human Christmas Tree
Each team decorates one volunteer as a Christmas tree with tinsel, bows, garlands and battery-powered fairy lights. Then each “tree” walks a runway while the room votes.
33. Santa Hat Hot Potato
Everyone stands in a circle and passes a Santa hat while holiday music plays. When the music stops, whoever holds the hat does a quick task: a jingle bells dance, a Santa impression, or naming three holiday movies in under five seconds.
34. Office Scavenger Hunt
Hide tiny ornaments, candy canes, tree-shaped sticky notes and clues around hallways, conference rooms and filing areas (behind the printer is a classic). Add extra challenges, like finding someone singing a carol. Give teams 20 to 30 minutes and ask for photo proof. Make the last clue lead to the gift table, and reward the winners with a surprise from Santa’s sack or a VIP pass to the hot cocoa bar.
35. Candy Cane Hunt
Hide candy canes in unexpected places: on monitors, in drawers, under chairs. Each one is worth points, some earn bonus points, and a few win a funny mini prize.
36. Santa’s Workshop Escape Room
Turn a meeting room into Santa’s workshop. Teams solve puzzles, riddles and clues to find Santa’s lost bag of presents within the time limit. Hide one puzzle inside a stocking and use gingerbread-shaped clue cards. Another storyline that works: escape before the New Year’s ball drops.
37. Christmas Charades Tournament
Write holiday movies, songs and traditions on slips of paper. Teams face off in two-minute rounds, and the winners advance through a bracket until one team is left. The bigger the crowd, the bigger the reactions.
38. Santa Limbo
Put on festive music, and players (dressed as elves if they like) limbo under a broomstick without touching it. Lower the stick after each round. The lowest successful limbo wins.
Staff Party Games for Christmas With Small Teams
For a team of 5 to 15 people, pick familiar games with small rule sets that you can explain in one sentence.
39. Holiday Two Truths and a Lie
Each person tells three “worst gift I ever got” stories: two true and one made up. The group votes on the lie. You’ll learn more about your coworkers in 15 minutes than in a year of meetings. A broader version uses any holiday memories, with bonus points for the most believable lie. It’s a good warm-up before louder games.
40. Blindfold Christmas Tree Drawing
Give everyone a sturdy paper plate and a marker. Players hold the plate on top of their heads and draw while the host calls out steps: draw a tree, add ornaments, put a star on top, add presents underneath. Then everyone takes the plate down to see the result.
41. Blind Paper Tree
Hand out sheets of green paper. Players hold them behind their backs and tear out a Christmas tree shape without looking. The group votes on the best tree.
42. Hot Bow
Hot potato with a big gift bow. Pass the bow while music plays. Whoever holds it when the music stops is out.
43. Christmas Charades
Players draw a prompt and act it out without speaking while their team guesses. Use a timer and keep each turn under a minute. Holiday prompts that work well:
- Building a snowman
- Making Christmas cookies
- Decorating the tree
- Making snow angels
- Caroling door to door
- Shopping for gifts
- Taking pictures with Santa
- Wrapping presents
- Shoveling snow
- Kissing under the mistletoe
- Santa stuck in a chimney
44. Christmas Pictionary
Two teams take turns drawing Christmas words on a whiteboard or flipchart, like a gingerbread house or carolers, while teammates guess. The team with the most correct guesses wins a box of holiday treats. Let people choose whether they’d rather draw or act, and mix Pictionary and charades rounds.
Draw the word on the canvas while the team guesses. Works on one phone passed around or for the whole group, free in the browser.
45. Christmas This or That
Read out two holiday options. People vote by standing up, raising hands or reacting in the chat, then defend their pick. It takes about five minutes.
- Hot cocoa or tea?
- Turkey or ham?
- Mulled wine or eggnog?
- Christmas sweaters or Christmas pajamas?
- Elf or The Grinch?
- Sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies?
- Gift wrap or gift bag?
- Ice skating or sledding?
- Real tree or fake tree?
More pairs are in our this or that questions.
46. Holiday Would You Rather
Ask questions like “Would you rather wrap every gift or cook the whole holiday meal?” and let people argue it out. Our would you rather questions include a list for work.
47. Christmas Icebreaker Questions
Go around the room with quick holiday questions. Everyone gets a chance to be heard, and the questions also work posted in the team chat.
- Do you prefer Christmas presents or Christmas dinner?
- What is the coolest gift you have ever given someone?
- Have you ever entered an ugly sweater contest? Did you win?
- What is your favorite Christmas ornament or decoration?
- What is the best Christmas cookie?
- What is your favorite Christmas movie?
- What is your favorite Christmas memory?
- Mariah Carey or Michael Bublé?
- Do you buy presents or give gift cards or cash?
For more ideas, see our icebreaker games.
48. Never Have I Ever: Christmas Edition
The classic format with holiday prompts. It suits a happy hour or holiday party, as long as you pick work-appropriate prompts that fit your team.
- Never have I ever forgotten to get someone important a Christmas gift.
- Never have I ever messed up a key part of Christmas dinner.
- Never have I ever regifted a present.
- Never have I ever taken a picture with a mall Santa.
- Never have I ever dressed up my pet for the holidays.
- Never have I ever cut down a real Christmas tree.
- Never have I ever tampered with Secret Santa.
- Never have I ever left my Christmas decorations up for way too long.
- Never have I ever put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving.
49. Christmas Jigsaw Puzzle Race
Give each team an identical Christmas jigsaw and start the timer. The first team to finish wins. Mix in a few pieces from another puzzle as red herrings to make it harder.
50. Christmas Cracker Jokes Battle
Everyone brings their cheesiest Christmas cracker jokes. Groups take turns telling them, and the room votes for the best (or worst) one.
51. Holiday Mystery
A light 30 to 45 minute mystery with simple roles, clue cards and one facilitator. Keep the plot silly, like a missing gingerbread recipe.
52. Holiday Game Lounge
A low-pressure table with playing cards, block stacking, puzzles and conversation prompts. No schedule, no scoreboard, no host: people come and go as they like.
Fun Office Xmas Party Games: Contests, Crafts and Theme Ideas
Contests can run on party day or all through December, and they give the quieter crowd something to do with their hands.
53. Ugly Sweater Contest
Mention the contest in the invite so people have time to plan. On the day, contestants walk a runway while carols play and share a short backstory about their sweater. Hand out several awards so more people win: Ugliest Overall, Best DIY, Best Use of Lights, Most Festive Spirit, Most Likely to Blind Santa, Best Use of Unnecessary Glitter. Add a free accessory station with tinsel, clip-on ornaments and ribbon for anyone who forgot.
54. Most Festive Workspace
Give people two weeks to decorate their desk or office door around a theme. On party day, a few judges walk around and pick the winners. Remote workers can enter with a decorated video background.
Office Christmas party theme ideas that work for desks and the whole office: Winter Wonderland, Santa’s Workshop, Candy Cane Lane and Chaotic Christmas.
55. Deck the Halls Design Competition
Assign each group a section of the office to decorate with lights, ornaments and decorations within a set time. Then the whole office tours each zone and votes for the most impressive.
56. Gingerbread House Decorating
Teams get a pre-assembled gingerbread house, icing, candy and edible decorations, plus a time limit. Judges pick winners for creativity or theme, and the winners are crowned gingerbread house champions.
57. Christmas Cookie Decorating Contest
Everyone gets 10 minutes to decorate a plain cookie with frosting and sprinkles. Judges pick winners in categories like Most Creative, Most Christmassy and This Person Shouldn’t Be Allowed Near Frosting Again. Everyone gets to eat their creation.
58. Cookie or Dessert Contest
Bakers bring a dozen cookies or one dessert, and every guest gets a ballot. Ask bakers to put a card listing common allergens next to their dish. The winner takes the Star Baker title and bragging rights for the year.
59. Ornament Decorating
Stock tables with plain ornaments, ribbons, beads, paint, glitter and plenty of glue. Teams decorate in round one, then present their ornaments and backstories to the judges in round two. The winners become the Office Christmas Creativity Champions.
60. Snowman Building Competition
Small groups get hats, scarves, carrots and decorations and a time limit to build a snowman with a personality and theme. Everyone votes for the most inventive one.
61. Snowflake Craft Workshop
Colored paper, scissors and glitter. Everyone cuts snowflakes, and the finished ones get hung around the office.
62. Holiday Photo Booth Challenge
Fill a booth with props: oversized candy canes, elf hats, silly glasses, fake snow. Teams pose and compete for awards like Most Festive, Funniest Group Shot, Best Use of a Random Prop, or the best recreation of a company milestone.
63. Christmas Karaoke
Set up a karaoke machine with Christmas songs and invite everyone to sing. Crowd-pleasers: “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” “Last Christmas,” “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” “Step into Christmas” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” Award points for enthusiasm or costumes, or let the audience vote.
64. Christmas Lip Sync Battle
Contestants lip-sync to Christmas songs with props, costumes and choreography. Santa hats and hairbrush microphones help. The audience votes for the most entertaining act.
65. Christmas Talent Show
Coworkers sign up to sing, dance, play an instrument, do stand-up or a magic trick. A judging panel or the audience picks the winner.
66. Fun Employee Awards
Hand out light awards like Best Snack Drawer, Most Likely to Reply All and Coffee Pot Hero. You can also tie awards to real wins from the year: calmest deadline save, best onboarding help, best cross-team assist. Keep them kind so everyone feels seen and no one is embarrassed.
67. Gratitude Card Relay
Each person writes one specific thank-you note to a coworker, naming the help and the impact, then passes a blank card on to the next person.
68. Volunteer Challenge
Trivia points unlock a donation, a care-kit packing session or volunteer sign-ups. Keep it optional and choose causes the team already supports.
69. Hot Cocoa Bar
Set up a DIY hot cocoa bar with marshmallows, candy canes and whipped cream. It isn’t a game, but it keeps people mingling between rounds.
Christmas Gift Exchange Games for Work
Set a spending limit, usually $15 to $25, and make participation optional.
70. Secret Santa
Everyone who wants to play draws a name and buys a gift for that person. Have each player fill out a quick likes-and-dislikes card so the gifts land well. Turn the reveal into a mini ceremony: the giver shares a clue or a short story before handing over the gift.
71. Secret Santa Guessing Game
After the exchange, everyone guesses who their Secret Santa was. Correct guesses win small prizes.
72. White Elephant
Everyone brings a wrapped gift within the budget. On each turn, a player either unwraps a new gift or steals one that’s already open. Limit how many times a gift can be stolen so the game ends. Office supplies, desk decor, quirky mugs and novelty gadgets are safe picks. Keep it PG and HR-friendly.
73. Heads or Tails Gift Exchange
A twist on white elephant: each player flips a coin. Heads means picking a new, unwrapped gift off the table. Tails means stealing a gift from someone else.
74. Favorite Things Gift Exchange
Each guest brings three wrapped, low-cost items they can’t live without. Guests take turns choosing, and everyone goes home with new favorites.
75. Ornament Exchange
Each person brings one wrapped ornament for a pile, and everyone picks one on the way out. Simple, cheap and works for any group size.
76. Plastic Wrap Ball Game
Wrap small gifts (gift cards, cash, candy) into one big ball of plastic wrap. Guests sit in a circle. One person unwraps while the guest on their left rolls a pair of dice trying to get doubles. Doubles take the ball, and the dice move on. Whatever falls into your lap is yours. Make the unwrapper wear oven mitts for a great photo.
77. Let’s Make a Deal
Hide prizes in empty boxes: gift cards, knick-knacks, other goodies. Guests decide whether to keep what they have or risk it for something bigger, or nothing. Throw in one meaningful prize, like an extra day of PTO.
Collecting for the boss or a departing coworker instead? Skip the swap and have everyone chip in toward one group gift.
Christmas Games to Play on Zoom With Coworkers
Virtual and hybrid teams can play most of the games above. These fit best into the first or last 10 minutes of a December meeting or a holiday video call:
- Holiday ABCs: teams write the alphabet down a page and fill in a holiday word for each letter. The first team to finish all 26 letters wins. On a call, use breakout rooms and a shared doc.
- Name That Christmas Tune: play the first three seconds of a song from your phone. The first person to name it gets a point.
- Emoji Movie Quiz: share a slide of Christmas movie titles in emoji and collect answers in the chat.
- Holiday Scavenger Hunt at home: send a list of holiday items. Players find each one around their home and photograph it. The first to photograph the most items wins.
- Christmas Music Bingo: free virtual bingo card generators handle up to 30 players.
- Five-question trivia round: a quick holiday quiz fills 5 to 10 minutes of a December team meeting.
- Christmas trivia, bingo, Two Truths and a Lie and Christmas Jeopardy also work well remotely.
- Virtual escape room: small groups solve holiday clues in breakout rooms.
- Kit games: for gingerbread house or cookie decorating, ship identical kits to remote staff with a two-week buffer and confirm delivery before the event.
Two rules keep remote players from just watching: use one shared scoreboard and take answers by chat or poll, so nobody has to compete with room audio. And keep cameras optional. More formats are in our guide to quiz games for Zoom.
Survey-style rounds like “Name something people put on a Christmas tree.” Each player joins from their own phone or laptop.
How to Plan Holiday Office Party Games
Share the work among a few people and start about three weeks out.
Three weeks before:
- Pick three or four games that fit your group size and time slot.
- Set a prize budget and a gift exchange spending limit.
- Ask about food allergies before planning any taste or baking games.
- Book a venue that fits the games: open space, conference rooms, hallways.
Two weeks before:
- Post a sign-up sheet for station leads, judges and supplies.
- Send invites that mention the ugly sweater contest and the gift exchange.
- Collect baby photos and desk items for the arrival games.
Party day:
- Set up stations and tape lines before guests arrive.
- Give one person the scoreboard and the timer, and have one host announce each game and explain the rules.
- Keep a quiet backup game ready in case energy dips.
Keep every game optional. Give people who would rather not play a role instead: judge, scorekeeper, photographer, DJ, clue writer or table host. Don’t call out anyone who sits a round out.
Build balanced teams. Mix departments and personality types, and pair quieter people with enthusiastic teammates.
Skip games that make people cringe. Leave out drinking games and anything that only works with alcohol, truth or dare, dares and forfeits, roast-style and embarrassing awards, prank gifts, costumes people have to buy, games with lots of physical contact and physical games with no seated option. Keep prompts and bingo squares away from income, family plans, religion, politics and relationship status. Check the room for tripping hazards and keep props office-friendly.
Keep prizes small. About $5 to $15 is enough: coffee gift cards, holiday candy, or a funny trophy that passes to a new winner every year.
Include everyone. If not everyone celebrates Christmas, call it a holiday party, a winter celebration or an end-of-year celebration, and lean on seasonal games like the paper snowball fight, the wrap race or winter trivia. Teams spread across countries can also take turns sharing their own winter traditions from around the world.
Office Christmas Party Games FAQ
What are the best games for a large office Christmas party?
Games where everyone plays at the same time: Office Reindeer Games with rotating stations (it works for 40 to 100 people), a paper snowball fight, a charades tournament, trivia in teams, bingo and the ugly sweater contest.
Which games fit into a 20-minute slot?
Pick one quick team game, like Holiday ABCs or Name That Christmas Tune (about 10 minutes), and one background game, like How Many Ornaments. Save the gift exchange for the end.
How much do office Christmas party games cost?
Anything from almost nothing (charades, Pictionary, Two Truths and a Lie, paper snowballs) to bigger setups with decorations, themed materials and prizes. Most games in this list need only paper, a timer and a small prize.
What mistakes should you avoid when planning office party games?
Leaving people out, skipping clear instructions, underestimating setup time and forgetting the festive props.
How many games should you plan for a work Christmas party?
Two or three for a two-hour party. A common lineup is one mingling game, one main team game and one gift exchange or contest.