100 Free Christmas Games

Christmas is my favorite time of year to play games. You’ll find a list of 100 Christmas games for families to play, for kids to play, or for Christmas parties. Be sure to pin this post so you can refer back to it every year.

Family Christmas Games

1. Christmas Family Feud is a fun game based on the popular TV show. This link includes directions and common holiday questions.
2. Christmas Lights scavenger hunt is a fun scavenger hunt for the whole family.
3. The Christmas Story Scavenger Hunt is perfect if you’re looking for a Christian based scavenger hunt.
4. Christmas Decoration Scavenger Hunt is a way to focus on the beautiful decorations of the season while playing a fun game.
5. These Christmas Reindeer Minute to Win It games will delight adults and children of all ages.
6. Super fun Christmas Drawing Game where all you’ll need are sturdy paper plates, pens, and your family and friends.
7. Fun Christmas Tree Trimming Game Decorate your best friend or youngest child and turn them into a Christmas tree with crepe paper.
8. This Christmas Smell Game is so much fun and will challenge everyone at your party. Place your favorite Christmas smells in jars, blindfold your family or friends and see if they can identify what they’re smelling.
9. Christmas Rollick is a Reverse Charades game.
10. Bible Christmas Trivia is the perfect family game. This free printable is just the perfect resource.
11. You’ve Been Jingled! Is a fun way to celebrate the holidays with your neighbors.
12. Christmas Word Scramble can be turned into a game where the first one to complete it wins the game!
13. Christmas Party Improv Game This game is hilarious and is perfect to play as a family or include it for your party.
14. The Candy Cane Card Game is played like Spoons but you use candy canes!
15. Cut the Candy Bar Game The object of the game is to eat as much of the candy bar before someone rolls a double.
16. DIY Christmas Jenga All you need for this game is a Jenga game and the free printable.
17. Homemade Bananagrams Customize this game to your Christmas theme. It’s an anagram game that drives you bananas!
18. Truth and Lies About Christmas Games This is the Christmas version of Two Truths and a Lie. Players guess which statement is a lie.
19. Stick it Fun Christmas Game Players have a designated time to throw as many mini-marshmallows as the can into Santa’s shaving cream beard.
20. Do You Hear What I Hear Players will rearrange the gift boxes based on the number of bells they hear in each box.

Christmas Games for Children

22. Don’t Ring the Christmas Bells is a fun sensory game for small children. This game will allow even the youngest children of the party to join in the fun.
23. Christmas means snow in many areas but if you don’t get snow your kids can still have fun with this Snowball Toss Game!
24. The Poke-A-Tree Game is perfect for the kids at your party. Included are video instructions and free printables for this game.
25. Christmas I Spy Game is a fun Christmas game that will keep your kids busy as they search through the colorful free printable.
26. Candy Cane Catch is a fun game where your little ones will fish for candy canes. This simple game only requires a few supplies.
27. Naughty or Nice Christmas is a children’s version of the game which involves throwing coal into Santa’s buckets.
28. Candy Cane Hunt. Hide a bunch of candy canes and the child that finds the most candy canes wins.
29. Ornament Number Matching Game This is a fun game involving cutting, numbers, and matching.
30. Santa’s Beard Roll & Count Game This is a sweet game involving Santa and marshmallows. It works on fine motor skills and math.
31. Rudolf Balloon Race – combine fun with physics with this balloon race.
32. Grow a Christmas Tree Farm Math Game uses the book The Christmas Tree Farm and teaches literature and math while playing!
33. Away in a Manger Minute to Win it Game is a team game for kids. Each team has a minute to use as many props as they can.
34. Jingle on the Trunk Minute to Win it Game uses jingle bells and tissues boxes. Be the first one to bounce the bells out of the box.
35. Build a Snowman Game. Take one minute to blow three ping-pong balls across the table and try to line them up to build a snowman.
36. Launching Snowmen Game is a two for one! A fun game and a Science lesson.
37. North Pole Game is a ring toss game made to look like the North Pole.
38. Snowball Transfer Game. This a timed game will delight little ones as they use a straw to transfer their “snowballs” into a bowl.
39. Bow Run. With a bucket on each side o the room, each child will take turns transferring bows from one bucket to the other.
40. Lucky Line Gift Exchange Game. Here is a unique game that gives a surprise gift to the winning player.
41. Pass the Present Wheel Game uses a DIY printable wheel that guides you as you pass the present.
42. Put the Baby in the Manger. Rather than pinning a tale on a donkey, young players have to Put the Baby in the Manger.
43. Roll a Reindeer Game is a game your preschoolers will love! Use the free printable and have fun learning.
44. Roll a Snowman Dice Game With each roll of a die your preschooler will build a snowman.
45. Christmas file folder games are fun learning games that can be played at home or taken to a party.
46. Do You See What I See? One player will hold a Christmas object and the other player will have to draw it by listening to a verbal description.
47. Christmas Rhythm Game Cards This musical game is customizable according to the age of the children playing.
48. Snowman Family Tally uses printables for these math and phonics games
49. Christmas Pom Pom Drop will be a fun way to help your kids celebrate while developing their fine motor skills.
50. Christmas Picture Puzzle Game for elementary age children only requires this free printable.
51. Try December Would You Rather Prompts for a fun Christmas game for older kids.
52. DIY Holiday Reindeer Ring Toss is a game for children and adults. This game is easy to make and fun to play.
53. Santa Says is a game that is a playoff of the classic game, Simon Says. Use the free prompts to make this the highlight of your party.
54. This Pin the Heart on the Grinch game is perfect for your party especially if you a Grinch or two attending.
55. The Nativity Game and Craft is perfect for your littles.
56. Printable Holiday Lights Scavenger Hunt is the children’s version of the Holidays Lights Scavenger Hunt.
57. Christmas Roll a Story Game. Children take turns building a story with each roll of the dice.
58. Christmas Mad Libs will be a fun game for kids all the way to adults. You can print out Mad Libs according to Christmas Themes. There’s even a Mad Libs for preschoolers.
59. Snow Shovel Race is a simple game to plan and a fun game to play and will also help with fine motor skills.
60. The Snowman Slam Game is a fun game made with Styrofoam cups. Simple to make and hours of fun.
61. Pin the Nose of the Reindeer takes the popular birthday game and turns it into a Christmas party must!
62. Toilet Paper Snowman Game can be played by kids of any age!

Christmas Games for a Party

63. Download your favorite What’s In Your Phone game and use it as the perfect icebreaker for your party!
64. Print off these free Christmas Photo Booth Props and have loads of fun at your party.
65. Build anticipation with your young guests by offering each an envelope. The one Who’s Got the Santa wins the game! Simple, exciting and fun!
66. Name that Christmas Tune and How Do You Dooo are two Christmas music games that are sure to please everyone at the party.
67. The Christmas Word Scramble Game is an engaging game that doesn’t require a lot of physical energy.
68. Christmas Cans Bowling is so much fun for kids. You can use a Cricut to produce similar labels or purchase Christmas vinyl cling or stickers.
69. Snowman Toss requires a little bit of prep work but the result will be worth it! Create a snowman with 3 boxes, tape, and homemade beanbags.
70. Punch a Present Gift Game is a game and gift giving all in one!
71. Candy Cane Snag is a holiday twist on the classic game Tag.
72. Sing Song Ping Pong The room is the “table” and the song is the ping pong. Make this a fun game with Christmas songs.
73. This Christmas Trivia Powerpoint is a great game for teens but can be played by everyone at the party.
74. Christmas Carol Pictionary Relay. Race to draw Christmas Carols and try to get their team members to guess them.
75. Candy Canes is like the classic game Spoons but exchanges those spoons with candy canes. You might want to keep this game for older kids and adults, it could get a bit rambunctious.
76. Christmas Who Am I?  Each guest will have the name of a fun Christmas character taped to their back. They will try to guess who they are based on the clues the other guests give them.
77. Christmas Charades is a must for your Christmas party! Charades is a classic game enjoyed by families and party goers everywhere.
78. Pass the Presents White Elephant Gift Exchange Game puts a new spin on the traditional White Elephant exchange.
79. Ready or Christmas is a fun Christmas icebreaker for your party!.
80. Ring a Bell Christmas game is super easy to plan for and super easy to play. All you need are friends, family, and a bell.
81. Christmas Oven Mitt Game will bring laughter as your guests try to open wrapped boxes using oven mitts.
82. 20 Questions Christmas Game challenges players to guess an object with twenty questions.
83. Christmas Carol Catch Phrase using free printables and non-Santa themed songs.
84. The Saran Wrap Ball Game is a game that doesn’t need to be played in the kitchen. This free game idea is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
85. Fat Santa is a hilarious game involving the largest sweat suits you can find and balloons.
86. The winner of this Right-Left Game- Uses for Fruitcake gets to take the fruitcake home.
87. Let’s Make a Deal is a fun party game that can be easily adapted to your Christmas theme.
88. Gift Wrap Twins Game This game is for teams of two and is fun for all ages.
89. Lapland Limbo – Try doing the limbo under a string of Christmas cards with a Santa sized belly.
90. Reindeer Antler Game This game is sure to have everyone at the party laughing hysterically!
91. Face the Gingerbread man only uses your face muscles (no hands) to get the cookie into your mouth.
92. Who Am I Game plays with cards placed on the player’s forehead and then they have to guess who they are.
93. Christmas Balloon Antlers Game is the perfect game for large groups of people.
94. Gingerbread Cookie Relay Exactly what it sounds like, a relay using gingerbread cookies.
95. Olaf Knockdown Game Create these easy Olaf cups, stack them and have the kids at the party try to knock them down.
96. Indoor snowball soccer game. Snow & soccer balls are not required but you will need some space for this game.
97. Musical Chairs Gift Exchange This fun musical chairs game involves Christmas music and a gift exchange.
98. Christmas Card Balderdash. Play this traditional game using Christmas cards.

Christmas Game Apps

99.        The Impossible Test Christmas is a free app that can be played with family and friends. It features Christmas trivia, holiday jingles and unique games. Available on iPhone and iPad.
100.     Christmas Bingo Santa’s Gift is a Christmas Bingo game you can play on your devices. Available on Windows, iTunes, Android, and  Google.

Here’s a bonus if you love Karaoke. Try the karaoke app called Smule. There’s a large collection of Christmas songs to keep your party lively! Download on Apple products, Android, and Windows.

[Read 60 of the Best Christmas Gifts for Kids]

Find more 100 Things posts for homeschooling families right here.

How to Have a Saner Christmas This Year

‘Tis the season to be stressed! But it doesn’t have to be that way. Use these six tips to have a saner Christmas in your homeschool this year.

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#1 Make the Christmas Season Unique

The first tip for a saner Christmas is to treat the Christmas season differently. You’ll want to consider again doing a special study for Christmas this season.  Consider this unique unit study on Christmas in the White House or an online study from Techie Homeschool Mom. It’s not too late to focus your studies on Christmas itself. But even if you’ve opted not to do a Christmas unit study, you can still change up your homeschooling this time of year. Consider changing your schedule. Church and family and even homeschooling events may keep you up later this time of year. Why not allow everyone to sleep in and start school later? For those of you who have younger children who get up at the crack of dawn no matter how late you stay up, consider having a longer rest time during the day or multiple rest times. Whatever you do, don’t treat this time of year like any other.

#2 Take Time to Get Organized

The second thing we can do to have a saner Christmas this year is to take extra time to get organized. There are plenty of things we can do to get organized for the Christmas season itself, but I am specifically referring to getting organized in your homeschool. Put your bookshelves back in order. File the papers that have accumulated since the beginning of the school year. Put your supplies and other items making your school pace space look out of order away.

Also begin decluttering your house. Use a slower schedule to go room by room to throw away, give away, or sell things you aren’t using. Move items you want to keep but aren’t actively using to storage. Having a decluttered home will make entertaining and even battling potential illness that much easier. Speaking of that, make sure you have everything on hand that you need for colds and flu. You could declutter your home in a weekend.  Or using this approach, you could be finished decluttering by Christmas.

#3 Limit Activities

Make a Christmas bucket list with your family. If touring the expensive light display doesn’t make the list, don’t do it! Put all of your anticipated Christmas activities on the calendar so you can view them in one place. The potential for stress and overwhelm will be more evident if you can see everything you’re planning to do. When you see the potential for overwhelm, decide to skip some activities. But skipping is not the only option. You can also reschedule some of these. Celebrating with family on days other then Christmas Eve and Christmas Day can be a real sanity saver. Some families aren’t flexible on this, however. So you will want to use your flexibility for scheduling activities with other people.

One of the best decisions we made in my homeschool co-op was to have our Christmas party in January. Our kids, who aren’t necessarily happy about starting back to school, look forward to this a great deal. We exchange gifts and play Christmas games and even go out to eat.  All of these things are easier when they are not smack in the middle of the busiest time of the year. If you are part of a group that has a party, suggest moving it to January. Don’t be discouraged if your suggestion isn’t well received. Suggest it again next year.

#4 Plan Ahead

The next important way to have a saner Christmas this year is to plan ahead. My book, The Organized Homeschool Life, gives you 15-minute missions that enable you to be prepared with Christmas clothing, Christmas decorations, and more this season. But if you’re not on track with the missions in The Organized Homeschool Life, you still have time to be early. The best way to prepare in advance for the holidays is to look through the calendar you created in step three. Make a list of everything you need to buy or do for each event on the calendar. My recommendation is to begin with the first events coming up and work forward from there. However, if you can combine shopping for all of the events on your calendar, you’ll save yourself a lot of time. Perhaps you have a list of items to purchase online. You can do that in one sitting. You could turn a shopping trip for the materials you need into a fun activity with the kids. As you are preparing, consider outfits that your children will need to wear. For some reason, this has always caught me by surprise. Will your child need to be wearing his holiday best for a concert or party? Does your child have shoes, socks, and a belt to look presentable? Now is the time to prepare these items.

Plan ahead for your homeschool too. Pull out books and curriculum you won’t be using next year and give them away or arrange to sell them. Do some research of other curriculum you would like to use next year. Spend time lesson planning for the new year. Be prepared for moans and groans after the holidays. Don’t anticipate hitting it hard immediately after the new year, but find some things to motivate your kids. Kids and moms need fun in January even more than they need it in December.

#5 Keep Things Simple

The fifth way we can have a saner Christmas this year is to keep things simple. If you love elaborate decorating, marathon baking sessions, or shopping for hours, then keep doing those things. But if you don’t love them, ask yourself why you’re doing them. Let me give you an example to get you thinking. I am in charge of a middle school event at my church. I want to provide a snack. Will middle schoolers think less of me or the activity if I provide store-bought snacks as opposed to making fancy Christmas cookies? I think we both know the answer to that. I do enjoy making Christmas cookies, but I don’t have time in my schedule without a lot of stress to make the cookies before the middle school event. I will be purchasing from the store. Here’s another example. If you are attending an ugly Christmas sweater party as I am and you don’t love creating a sweater with hot glue and craft supplies, pick up a premade sweater at the store or even better, ask to borrow one. We want the emphasis this Christmas to be on people and enjoying ourselves with them. If what we are doing to celebrate Christmas adds to our stress level, leading us to become ill, we aren’t going to be able to enjoy our loved ones.

We can keep things simple by buying fewer gifts. We haven’t purchased gifts for my husband’s side of the family in many, many years. We enjoy eating appetizers together on Christmas Day evening. No one has to prepare a full meal. We also enjoy playing games together. Last year we played Reverse Charades and everyone from the oldest to the youngest enjoyed playing together.  will provide in the show notes, has one limitation and that is that there aren’t as many cards as I would like. This year I purchased Christmas cards to go with the game.

Talk with your family and friends about not exchanging gifts. If that isn’t an option, consider buying or making one simple gift for most people on your list. You may consider playing a White Elephant Game with a gift that is appropriate or just plain funny for anyone who ends up with it.

When it comes to your kids and close family members, you can limit the number of gifts to three by exchanging gold, frankincense, and myrrh gifts. We have done this in my family for many years and it has saved my sanity. I not only purchase fewer gifts for my children, but the limit and focus of the three types of gifts helps me decide what to buy.

[READ GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH GIFT IDEAS]

I can give you an example from this Christmas for my own family. I have a son who is constantly asking me for cash. He goes out with his brother who is driving and a friend and loves to buy food. This year his gold gift will be cash in a box. He will love it. My daughter’s frankincense gift will be baking materials. Frankincense is what was burned in an offering to God. Her baking is how she serves God and our family, so these baking materials are an appropriate frankincense gift. I have older boys who are particular about their clothing. This Black Friday when they were around, I asked them to look over clothes that were on sale. I purchased the items as their myrrh gifts this year.

#6 Keep the Focus on Christ

Finally, keep your focus on the reason for the season. The part of the original The Grinch Who Stole Christmas movie where the Whos gather around the tree to sing convicts me every time. All of their food, gifts, and decorations had been stolen from them, but their joy remained. This is who I want to be. I want to model this attitude for my children. Here’s my plan:

First, be as excited about worship and devotions as I am about all the rest of the Christmas stuff. Talk about how you love the music you sing, the decorations at church, and the reading of God’s Word.

Second, find and use advent devotionals. Daily devotions this time of year keep us focused on Jesus. Here are some resources for your devotional time.

Third, make giving a part of your Christmas. Discuss what to give, to whom, and why. Share your joy in giving of your time and money and ask your children to share in the process. Here are 12 ways children can give this Christmas.

Conclusion

I use these tips to have a sane Christmas each year.  If I can have a saner Christmas by keeping making the Christmas season unique, getting organized, planning ahead, limiting activities, keeping things simple, and making Christ the focus of Christmas, so can you.

Which of these tips will help you the most? Let me know in the comments.

The Organized Homeschooler Gets the Deals

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You don’t have to be early to save big this Black Friday and Cyber Monday on curriculum, homemaking helps, organizing products and more.

You just have to be organized!

Most of these sales will run through Cyber Monday, so don’t panic. You have a few days to save. But you do need help organizing all of the sales. I wanted to organize them for myself, so I used Airtable, one of my favorite online organizing tools. I’ve organized the sales in this table by category so you can take advantage of the ones you need. Scroll through the table to view all the savings you won’t want to miss.

Of course, I want to highlight the sale of The Organized Homeschool Life and Grammar Galaxy language arts curriculum. You’ll get 25% off with code BLACKFRI2017. Click on the links in the table below to use my affiliate links (if I have one).

Which of these sales are you most excited about? Comment and let me know.

Do you have a friend who is looking for a deal? Forward this post.

Are You Planning Happy Holidays?

My answer to the question, “Are you planning happy holidays?” has always been yes. But the truth of the matter was a lot different for many years.

“I hoped for happy holidays, but I hadn’t planned for them.”

Planning? It seemed like a buzz kill. But nothing can destroy the joy of the holiday season like a failure to plan.

Being the only mom whose child didn’t wear dress clothes for an event (when that was clearly spelled out in the email I was sent) is not fun.

Rushing through the grocery store to get materials for the cookies that are supposed to be delivered in an hour? Also not fun.

Feeling like the holidays are somehow disappointing again didn’t make me happy either.

Then I discovered the power of planning for moms like me. You know, the distracted ones who overdo it and end up forgetting things and stressing out.

If that’s you, I encourage you to read my post on how planning can rescue your holidays from embarrassment, guilt, and frustration this year.

Planning, as you’ll learn at Life of a Homeschool Mom, doesn’t have to be a buzz kill. In fact, planning can be easier than the willy-nilly, spontaneous, putting-out-fires approach you’ve been using.

Planning doesn’t have to take away from your style, your personality, or the joy of the moment. Planning allows you to enjoy being you, guilt-free.

Holiday Planning at Life of a Homeschool Mom

Many weeks ago, Heather Bowen of Life of a Homeschool Mom asked if would like to contribute to her holiday series. I said yes and put it on the calendar. The post was due well ahead of time. As I wrote it in advance, I found myself walking the talk. I began planning my holidays early and loving it! If you want to have more peace and joy this holiday season despite the squirrels that distract us, begin your planning by reading my post and picking up your copy of the Organized Homeschool Life. You’ll be so glad you did.