32 Adult-Friendly Christmas Games for Ultimate Holiday Party Fun

From White Elephant gift exchanges at work to funny drinking games to play at home, it’s time to take your festivities to the next level.

There’s so much fun to be had during the holiday season. It’s hard to fit in all the Christmas cookie baking, gift shopping and decorating in November and December. But one easy way to take a Christmas party, office party or small get-together with friends and family to the next level is with some friendly competition. You can’t go wrong playing any one of these Christmas party games for adults that show you don’t have to be a young one to have a blast during the holidays.

Put your kitchen skills to the test with cocktail-making and cookie-decorating competitions or break out a bunch of your favorite board games and make a giant tournament out of it. Whether you’re at work or at home, grab a microphone and see if your voice rivals that of Michael Bublé or Martina McBride while belting out all the Christmas classics. Even something as simple as smelling Christmas candles can become a competition in the right environment. As long as you’re with the right people and you bring the right amount of enthusiasm, we can guarantee these indoor Christmas party games — perfect for small or large groups — will help you have the most fun you’ve had all year. Just make sure to grab some paper and a pen so you can keep score!

candles lit on a mantelpiece with christmas stockings Tom Merton

Named That Scent

Nothing feels quite as cozy as when it’s time to break out the holiday candles with seasonal scents that smell like sugar cookies, evergreen trees and eggnog. Round up a bunch of your favorites with super unique names and scents and have a blind sniff test, where participants have to guess the scent of each candle. The quirkier the scent the harder it is to guess!

RELATED: Best Christmas Candles Ever

two hands wrapping a christmas present Westend61

Wrap That Gifrt

Time to see who really has major wrapping skills. Your guests might be able to wrap presents that come in standard-sized boxes, but what about unusually shaped things, like a football or a lava lamp? Round up some odd-shaped items or buy some from the dollar store and see how well your guests can wrap the gift. Judge on individual wrapping skills or split into teams and make it a group event.

four young people sitting in living room at home, drinking wine, laughing and playing a board game Andersen Ross

Board Game Tournament

Have everyone bring their favorite board games and make it a giant tournament. Let everyone rotate around and play whatever they want or turn up the heat on the competition with a bracket system and have the participant pool narrowed down by winners of each round until it’s just one winner left standing

RELATED: Best Board Games to Play

a group of adults exchanging wrapped christmas presents pipat wongsawang

Best Gift, Worst Gift Guessing Game

Everyone receives four slips of paper, and on them, participants write down two great Christmas gifts and two terrible ones. However, only one of each are things they’ve actually received. The other two are made up. Throw all the filled-out slips into a bowl, and take turns pulling them out and guessing which gifts are real and which are fake.

close up of a woman's hands decorating christmas cookies Nastasic

Christmas Cookie Decorating

Cookie decorating might seem like a pretty basic activity, but there’s nothing wrong with a classic, especially since cookie decorating makes us feel nostalgic for celebrating the holidays when we were kids. Have participants all recreate the same design or let everyone do their own thing and have a panel of judges declare the winner.

RELATED: Best Christmas Cookie Recipes

a couple of cups filled with mulled wine with candy canes sticking out of them sitting on a red plate surrounded by mini ornaments and holly leaves Anna Janecka

Christmas Cocktail Competition

Who is the best bartender in the group? Time to find out. Have everyone bring ingredients for and be ready to make a holiday-themed cocktail (enough for all drinking participants to have at least one!) and have everyone vote on which is the best. Not only does the creator of the cocktail get bragging rights, but the hostess will be thankful for the drink contributions from the group. Want to make sure you win? Take some inspiration from one of our Christmas cocktail recipes at the link below.

RELATED: Easy Christmas Cocktails

girl with bright nail polish blinded with a red scarf covering her eyes Elizabeth Hachem

Blindfolded Christmas Crafting

Everyone has to complete an easy craft, like decorating a felt Christmas tree or ornament, blindfolded. All competitors only have five minutes to decorate, and then the group will judge which ones take 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. The winner gets first grabs when the Christmas cookies are put out for dessert.

woman laughing and lying on the floor with bows over eyes during a holiday party with friends Thomas Barwick

Name That Tune

When you’re stuffed from some delicious appetizers or a big Christmas meal and you want a game you can play while still lounging around, look no further than “Name That Tune.” All you need is someone with a phone who has all the great Christmas classics queued up and ready to be played. Have someone be the DJ, and see who can guess the festive songs first after only hearing a few notes.

close up of woman holding stack of folded sweaters Isabel Pavia

How Many Layers?

Colder weather means a lot more layers, but ever wonder how many layers you can actually get on? Grab a bunch of clothes and accessories, preferably stretchy and of various sizes, and a stopwatch. Give players one minute, or a time frame of your choice, to see how many layers they can get on their body before time runs out. The person with the most wins!

santas red hat and beard photographed on red backdrop Henrik Sorensen

The Santa Claus Hat Game

An accessory and a game all in one! At the start of the party, each player gets a Santa Claus hat to wear. One person is designated the “leader” and their job throughout the party is to take their hat off at one point. Once the leader takes off their hat, the goal is then for every other player to realize and take off their own hat before they’re the last one wearing the Santa Claus hat. Instead of being a winner, the last one wearing the hat loses!

white and spacious domestic living room decorated with a christmas fir tree with ornaments in shades of gold on it Yana Iskayeva//Getty Images

Ornament Guess

An easy and free game to play! When guests come through the door, have them guess how many ornaments are on your Christmas tree. At the end of the night, the person with the best guess wins a fun prize or gets to open the first present of the night.

two adults in ugly christmas sweaters holding glasses of champagne Westend61

Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest

A tried and true favorite. The premise is simple — whoever shows up in the ugliest Christmas sweater wins and receives a grand prize (maybe an extra-nice stocking stuffer?).

man and woman watching movies at christmas time valentinrussanov//Getty Images

Holiday Movie Drinking Game

It’s perhaps the easiest holiday game ever: Pick a Christmas movie and then identify certain phrases, words or actions that will signal to everyone that they have to drink. If you need inspiration, there are Hallmark holiday movie drinking games and Elf drinking games all set up and ready to go. To get everyone excited to take a sip, swap out throat-burning shots for glasses of eggnog, sparkling ginger sangria or any other fun Christmas cocktail.

group of adults greeting each other during the holiday season Ariel Skelley//Getty Images

Who Am I?

Write up a stack of cards with characters from traditional Christmas movies and TV shows. Every guest must pick one (no peeking!) and attach it to an elastic headband. They then must spend the night asking other guests questions to try to figure out which character they currently have on their headband. The first one to figure theirs out wins!

group of friends in christmas accessories sitting around talking and opening christmas gifts together Betsie Van der Meer//Getty Images

Never Have I Ever

Once the kids are tucked in bed, it’s time for the adults to have some fun. Make this classic game more holiday-themed by posing questions like, “Never have I ever regifted a gift” to see what things your friends and family are guilty of doing. You can play the traditional way by having anyone who has done the deed take a sip of their drink or simply use a point system and reward the winner with a gift.

a group of friends dressed up and karaoking together Flashpop//Getty Images

The Caroling Challenge

This is an easy, no-setup game that you can play everywhere, from a home get-together to an office party. While everyone sits in a circle, one person starts by singing a line from a holiday song, and the person to the right has to sing the next line of this song, and so on, says Kaitlin Moss of The Every Hostess. Pick from the classics like “Jingle Bells” or try a more modern holiday hit like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” You might know the first few lines of all these songs, but it gets challenging really quickly!

marshmallow snowman laying on a cutting board Rike_//Getty Images

Minute to Win It Snowman Game

Set a timer for a minute, and see who can make the most “snowmen” by stacking mini marshmallows on top of each other. You need three to make a stack (but, no, they don’t need faces or arms). Too easy? Try making everyone use chopsticks. Use the leftovers in some cocoa.

a bunch of mini candy canes in blue bowl Lisa Sieczka//Getty Images

Candy Canes

Here’s a throwback: Remember playing the card game Spoons, the one that sent everyone diving into the middle of the table to grab a spoon, and whoever was left without one was the loser? This is the same thing, only candy canes replace spoons. Bonus: You get to eat the candy canes when the game is over.

a pile of christmas presents wrapped in blue orange and red PhotoAlto/Michele Constantini//Getty Images

“Favorite Things” Gift Exchange

A “Favorite Things” gift exchange is essentially a positive spin on a white elephant gift exchange, says Tara Berger, founder of One Stylish Party. Instead of a silly gag gift, each guest brings three, low-cost items they absolutely love. The gifts are placed on a table and everyone takes turns picking out three items to keep. “It is a great way to introduce your friends to some of your must-have items and it doesn’t require you to tailor the gift to a specific person.”

person wrapping a present Westend61//Getty Images

Gift Wrap Physical Challenge

Here’s something that’ll test family bonds: Divide into teams of two, and see who can wrap a gift — neatly! — the fastest. The twist? Each person has to have one arm behind their back. Teamwork!

unrolled roll of plastic wrap on red background KevinDyer//Getty Images

Plastic Wrap Ball Game

First, create a giant plastic wrap ball, layering in little presents like mini liquor bottles, gift cards, candy, cash and more, says Berger. How you play: One person starts unwrapping the ball while another rolls a pair of dice, trying to roll doubles. Once doubles are rolled, the ball passes to the next player and the sequence begins again. The person with the ball can’t stop unwrapping until the person to their right rolls doubles, so it creates urgency to keep rolling as fast as possible so the ball can pass to you. You get to keep the items items you unwrap during your turn, so everyone is bound to go home with something fun!

red and green plaid christmas oven mitt next to red and white frosted candy cane cookies cooling on a baking rack Tetra Images//Getty Images

Oven Mitt Unwrapping Game

The oven mitt game works on the same basic engine as the plastic-wrap ball game — one person unwraps until the player next to them rolls doubles. Only instead of unrolling a ball of plastic wrap, players have to unwrap a Christmas present — while wearing bulky oven mitts. The more bows, ribbons and boxes-within-boxes there are, the longer the game lasts, until someone finally gets to the prize inside.

a woman hugging and kissing her partner and giving him a christmas gift ljubaphoto//Getty Images

White Elephant Gift Exchange

The gist: Everyone brings a wrapped gift, an order is established and revelers take turns either choosing to open a wrapped gift or “stealing” one that’s already been opened. Every family has its own rules about how to set the order, how many “steals” are allowed, and what happens once a present gets stolen.

RELATED: Best White Elephant Gifts

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Two Truths and a Lie

Everyone is probably familiar with this classic icebreaker game: You make three statements, and everyone else tries to guess which are true and which is false. This season, give it a holiday twist by making all the stories related to Christmas, suggests Seri Kertzner, chief party officer at event-planning company Little Miss Party Planner. You can talk about funny holiday mishaps or name the three strangest gifts you’ve ever received. The player with the most correct guesses at the end takes home a prize.

three wooden kitchen spoons in different sizes Andreas Berheide / EyeEm//Getty Images

Spoon-and-Ornament Race

You’ve heard of spoon-and-egg races for Easter games, but the winter version is even more festive: Racers have to balance an ornament on a spoon and race to the finish line without it falling off. To make it more challenging, find a snowy field to tromp through, make the racers hold the spoon with two hands or have the competitors hold the spoon in their teeth.

young woman wearing elf costume and red hat standing with arms crossed against a dark green background Jena Ardell//Getty Images

Costume Contest

Instead of going the ugly-sweater route, incorporate a costume theme into your Christmas party, suggests Marcy Blum, celebrity event planner and HomeGoods style expert. You can go with classic options like Santa and his elves, or get creative by dressing up as a citizen of Whoville, a ghost from A Christmas Carol or one of the Home Alone bandits. The possibilities are truly endless. For the best-dressed guests, coordinate holiday-themed prizes like festive ceramic mugs or peppermint bark.

a box filled with red and gold christmas ornaments knape//Getty Images

Memory Game

Gather an assortment of 30 or so fun Christmas items (try different types of ornaments, wrapping supplies, holiday candy or any other fun trinkets from the Dollar Store) then give players one minute to memorize everything on the tray, says Kertzner. The player with the most correct items written down gets to keep an item or two from the tray.

group of people playing christmas charades SolStock//Getty Images

Charades

This classic game is truly fun no matter how old you are. Create a holiday-specific version by choosing popular holiday phrases, songs and movies to act out. Plus, when you’re playing with just adults, you can make the prompts as difficult and obscure as you want!

group of adults cooking in a kitchen Hinterhaus Productions//Getty Images

Christmas Cook-Off

Since whipping up delicious treats is already a beloved holiday pastime, consider turning it into a Top Chef-style competition, says Blum. You can choose to bake cookies, fry up Hanukkah latkes or ask everyone to cook something off the cuff based on a surprise holiday ingredient. (Think peppermint, turkey, cranberries … or, dare we suggest, fruitcake?) Anyone who doesn’t want to put on an apron can be part of the judging panel.

gingerbread house decorated with frosting Valeriia Sviridova / EyeEm//Getty Images

Gingerbread House Competition

That’s right, decorating gingerbread houses isn’t a just-for-kids activity, says Berger. Pair guests up to form teams and start with pre-built houses to minimize hassle and mess. The decorating portion of the party should have a time limit, followed by an anonymous vote to pick the winners by the end of the party. To give it a grown-up twist, serve spiked hot cocoa!

group of women reading books Victoria Pearson//Getty Images

Dramatic Reading

You may not consider reading a natural group activity, but it can be just as fun as watching beloved Christmas movies with your friends. Host a reading of A Christmas Carol or another holiday literary classic and assign different parts to your guests, suggests Blum. It’s a unique and untraditional way to get everyone in the spirit.

snowman outside in nature Sam Edwards//Getty Images

Dress the Snowman

Split your friends into teams and have each team wrap one member in rolls of toilet paper to transform them into a snowman, says Moss. Then each team can jazz up their “snowman” with accessories and any other fun props they find hanging around. The most ridiculous one wins!