CHRISTMAS STAR SCAVENGER HUNT – Make or purchase plastic or card stock star ornaments. Hide them around the party room prior to the party. Divide the large group into teams (or play individually if a smaller crowd) and have them find the stars. The winner is whomever finds the most. Candy canes can be given to all the “runner ups”.

JINGLE BELL RELAY – Before the party you will need to purchase at least 12-1″ Jingle Bells (available at craft and discount stores). Divide your group into two teams. Players race around a specific course with a heaping pile of jingling bells (at least six), before handing them off to a teammate. Dropped bells must be retrieved before the handoff. The first team to complete the course wins. (Ages 5 to adult—you may want to give players over the age of 12 lots of additional jingle bells to carry to make the game more challenging)

CHARADES – Go with a Holiday related theme. Use titles of Christmas songs, Christmas movies (cartoon or real!), or Christmas traditions that everyone would be familiar with. A few ideas to get you started…”Chestnuts roasting on a open fire”, “The Grinch who stole Christmas”, “Miracle on 34th Street”, “Jack Frost nipping at your nose”, “Frosty the Snowman”, “Turkey with all the trimmings”, etc. A winner every time! (Ages 5-Adult)

HO, HO, HOLD YOUR TONGUE! – Give each player a bag or stocking with 10 small treasures in it (candy, chocolates, little favors). Have bags labeled with players’ names, so they don’t get mixed up. Let players know at the start of the game exactly when the game will be ending—this game can be played throughout an entire party if you so choose. The object of the game is to catch fellow players saying one of the following words or phrases:
SANTA, REINDEER, SNOW, CHRISTMAS, ORNAMENT, PRESENTS
To help players, post the words prominently on a board where they can be seen often. If someone is caught saying one of the words on the list, that person has to give up a treasure from their stash. The player with the biggest haul of goodies at the end of the game is the winner! This game is always a big hit. (Ages 7-adult)

GIFT-GIVING GAME - Great for Christmas Parties and Exchanges! Everyone brings a gift to the party, this is fun for gift exchanges during the holidays. TO BEGIN: Everyone stands in a circle holding the gift he/she brought to the party. Someone reads the story, every time the word RIGHT is read, everybody passes his gift to the right. Every time the word LEFT is read, gifts are passed to the left. The gift that each person is holding at the end of the story is the gift he keeps.

Story Example:
The Right Family Christmas Story Christmas was almost here and Mother RIGHT was finishing the Christmas baking. Father RIGHT, Susie RIGHT, and Billy RIGHT returned from their last minute Christmas errands. “There’s not much LEFT to be done,” said Father RIGHT as he came into the kitchen. “Did you leave the basket of food at Church?” asked Mother RIGHT? “I LEFT it RIGHT where you told me to,” said Billy RIGHT.” “I don’t have any money LEFT.” The hall telephone rang, and Susie RIGHT LEFT to answer it. She rushed back and told the family, “Aunt Tillie RIGHT LEFT a package for us RIGHT on Grandma RIGHT’s porch. I’ll go over there RIGHT now and get it,” she said as she LEFT in a rush. Father RIGHT LEFT the kitchen and brought in the Christmas Tree. By the time Susie RIGHT returned, Mother RIGHT, Father RIGHT, and Billy RIGHT had begun trimming the tree. The entire RIGHT family sang carols as they finished the decorating. Then they LEFT all the presents arranged under the tree and went to bed, hoping they had selected the RIGHT gifts for their family. Now I hope you have the RIGHT present for yourself, because that’s all that’s LEFT of our story, except to wish you a Merry Christmas, isn’t that RIGHT?

SANTA HAT BADGE GAME - Purchase enough of our Santa Hat Badges for each guest you will have. Pin them on as each person arrives and let the game begin! Choose a word that no one is allowed to say. For example, the word “gift”, “holiday”, or “snow”. The idea of the game is to trick people into saying the forbidden word and getting their badge. Whoever has the most badges by the end of the party wins a prize!

JINGLE BELL RELAY Before the party you will need to purchase at least 40-1″ Jingle Bells (available at craft and discount stores). Divide your group into two teams. Players race around a specific course with a heaping pile of jingling bells (at least 15), before handing them off to a teammate. Dropped bells must be retrieved before the handoff. The first team to complete the course wins. Your guests will feel like kids again!

NAME THAT TUNE – You’ll need a CD player and some compact discs with compilations of Christmas songs. Play the first few bars, and see which guest can name that tune the fastest. Keep track of points and award the winner a Christmas music CD. If your group is large, play a variation on this game. Using famous Christmas and holiday songs, list song titles on one side of a page, and the original Artists or songwriters on the other side. Make enough copies for all guests. Challenge guests to match as many as possible. A challenging but fun adventure!

Christmas Party Ideas, Party Supplies and Decorations!