Christmas Games for Parties: Have the Best Party Ever with these Christmas Party Games for Adults (Tips to adapt for children's parties too)

Are You Ready for the Best Christmas Party Ever? 

Here are some fun games for your holiday party for kids or adults: For many years, I was a party planner. The office Christmas party got me started, and then I became a catering and special events manager. I had to come up with creative, innovative ideas for icebreakers and party mixers. We also have some fun ideas for New Year's Eve with the kids. Scroll to the bottom for Cotton Ball games that you can swap out for Marshmallow games. Enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.*

Shh... I paparazzied Santa during a summer picnic. 
He was wearing this discreet disguise.

This skill came in handy when I later began teaching summer camp and afterschool enrichment activities for kids. What's cute for little ones is silly for adults and embarrassing for teens. Want to have the best party ever? Pick a few games for parties from the list below.

Click the link to find ideas for the best slumber party ever.

Games for Christmas Parties:

• Gift Wrapping Game

Divide groups into pairs. Each pair of people stand around a table in front of a piece of wrapping paper, a roll of tape, scissors, ribbon, and shirt gift boxes. Each pair of players stands with one arm around the other person. Say "Go!' and the players must race to wrap their box with one person using only their right hand and the other person using only their left hand. (Keep the other hand wrapped around the partner's waist.) The first pair to wrap their gift box wins!

• Toothpick Tower Marshmallow Game

Supplies: Toothpicks, mini-marshmallows, and adult supervision or use uncooked spaghetti noodles to make an edible game for preschoolers.  

Who can build the tallest marshmallow tower? It may sound simple, but you have to be super fast and some what creative to win. Suggested for ages 10 and up. Game details and instructions 

• Shaving Cream Santas

Supplies: Shaving Cream, plastic spoons, and paper towels.

Divide into pairs. Each pair decides who will play Santa. The Santa covers his face with shaving cream. The other player is Santa's barber. Jingle a bell to start! The teams race to "shave" their Santas. The winning team is the first to have a clean shaven Santa and sit their spoon onto the table. To signify they are done, Santa lets out a loud "Ho ho ho"! 

Tip: Make this an edible game for kids with Non-dairy whipped cream.

• Balloon Stomping Game

Grab a bag of Dollar Store balloons and give one to each player with some curling ribbon. The players blow up their balloon and tie them to their ankles. Now blow a horn or ring a holiday bell to start the stomping! Each party guest has to stomp the other player's balloons. The more you stomp, the better your chances of winning the game. The last person to have a balloon wins! Use masking or painter's tape to mark a circle of play area on the floor.

Christmas Book for Kids

• Little Known Secrets Game

Before the party collect little known surprising facts about 5-10 employees or party-goers. Collect photos of them as a toddler. On a colorful poster board, tape photocopies of the baby pictures and write the secret fact underneath the photo as a caption. Label the images from 1-10 (or how many co-workers you chose). Hand out paper and pens as guests arrive. Point them to your board and tell them to number the paper from 1-10.  Can they guess who is who?Winner is the one who gets most correct wins. If several get all the answers correct, place their papers (with their names) in a Santa hat and draw for a winner!

• What’s in your Stocking

Before the party, fill several stockings with two or three non-breakable items. Tie the stocking closed with a ribbon. Divide party-goers into teams. Have them spread out into different corners of the room to work. Now, each team must guess (by touch alone) what is in their stocking. The winning team wins the contents of all stockings! 

• The Amazing Maze Game

This is a fun party idea for a  child's party. Choose a variety of Christmas curling ribbon colors in a single roll or ball. One for each player. Tie a prize or party favor to one end of each ribbon. Hide the end with the gift on it somewhere in the house. Now, unwind the ribbon and wrap it all over the room, all around furniture, over tables, under doors, anywhere it will be a fun challenge. Tie a candy cane to the other end of the ribbon. Repeat for each player, tangling the ribbons if necessary. When the guests arrive, give each one a candy cane and have them follow the ribbon to untangle it (wrapping it around their candy cane as they go). Let them know it leads to a surprise! Then, let the chaos begin!

Handmade Candy Canes

• Christmas Wrapping Pin the Bow

Wrap three large boxes. Line players up single file behind each box. Give each player a giant sticky bow, spin them around and jingle a bell to start. They must walk around the box and then pin the bow on top, return to the opposite end and sit down before the next team member goes. The first team sitting down wins.

8 Simple Holiday Games with Santa

Find Santa's Reindeer

Buy some cute Dollar Store holiday plushies Reindeer, Angels, Santas, etc. Hide them around the house. The reindeers must be found to drive Santa's sleigh. Attach a clue to each stuffie of where the next one can be found. When they find a reindeer, they line it up next to the Santa stuffie. There are 9 reindeer to be found. When all reindeer are placed next to Santa you announce the winner. The winner is the one who 
found Rudolph and/or placed him in the lead position next to Santa. They win the stuffie of their choice!

Cotton Ball Games for Parties Fun Adult or Kid's Activity

We have lots of games with cotton balls 
which are a great sensory activity for kids.

• Shoveling Snow – Cotton Ball Game

Supplies: Vaseline, bowl, cotton balls, stop watch, camera

How to play game: Everyone sits in a circle on their knees or around a table. Place a dab of Vaseline on the tip of each player’s nose. Place a bowl in front of each player with a pile of cotton balls next to the bowl or scattered in front of them on the table. 

The object of the game is to have them use their noses to pick up a cotton ball and then somehow get the cotton ball off their nose and into the bowl without using hands. Hands should always be clasped behind their back. After 1 minute, the player with the most cotton balls in their bowl wins! The prize can be a wrapped surprise gift or a stocking full of goodies.

• Sticky Cotton  - Another Cotton Ball Game Fun for all Parties

Supplies: Bag of cotton balls, two large bowls, a blindfold, and a large wooden spoon or ladle. 

Blindfold your guests and place them in front of two bowls, one empty bowl and one with cotton balls. Give the players a wooden spoon. They must move as many cotton balls as they can from one bowl to the other using only 3 spoonfuls. Tally the number of cotton balls per player. Have them go to the end of the line when done. Everyone gets two chances! The person with the most cotton balls in both turns wins! 

• Cotton Ball Relay Races

Supplies: Bag of cotton balls, two large bowls, a blindfold and a wooden spoon (Note: these are the same for another game above, you could play both at the same time.)

Divide the co-workers, family members, or kids into groups. Place a bowl of 10 cotton balls at a starting line (Use painter's tape on the floor) and the other bowl 15 to 20 feet away. To begin the cotton ball relay game, player number one takes the spoon, selects a cotton ball, and walks it down to the bowl on the other end dropping it in. When the player drops the cotton ball into the bowl, they must race back to the start. When they touch the bowl, the next player takes their turn, and so on. If the cotton ball falls off the spoon, the player must return and start over. No hands allowed! The first team to empty their start bowl and fill their finish bowl wins. 

• Cotton Ball Spoon Race

Supplies:  Bag of cotton balls, bowls, wooden spoons

This is similar to the game above, but in this one there are no teams just individual players. 

Set your start line, halfway point, and finish line with painter's tape of chalk. Divide the players and put them on opposite ends of the halfway point. Give each player a cotton ball and a spoon. Ring a bell to start the race. Players must place the cotton ball onto their spoon, and race to the halfway point and return to the start without losing their cotton ball. They cannot touch the cotton ball after initially placing it on the spoon. If it falls they must return to the start line and begin again. The winner is the one who returns to the start line first.

• Snowman Building Contest 

Supplies: White trash bags, recycled items, plastic grocery bags, duct tape, etc.

Get white trash bags and have the teams/players stuff them with recycled plastic grocery bags or old paper (shredded office paper). Get a basket to fill with office or recycled items (you choose what you have on hand). Ask a trivia question about the holiday, your boss, your company, or team members. The team who answers correctly first gets to choose an item from your basket. These items will then be placed onto the trash bag snowman with duct tape. When all of your items are gone the team with the best snowman wins! 

Make a Snowman Potato Head Game

• Cotton Ball Straw Race

Supplies: Cotton balls, drinking straws, space 

Use a long dinner table or the floor for this fun, competitive, sensory game for kids or adults. Hint: Teens love it!

1. Set a Start and Finish line (10 to 15 feet apart.) 

2. Give each player a drinking straw and a cotton ball.

3. Let them know they must move their cotton ball from the Start to the Finish using only their Straw. (Keep hands clasped behind back)

4. Tip - Do not demonstrate how to play. They can use it like a hockey stick, folded as chopsticks, or as a straw blowing air toward the cotton ball.

5. The first one across the finish line Wins. You can make a dot on each cotton ball with a marker so you know who is what color. This will eliminate any confusion as to who won.

*This cotton ball game can also be played as a relay race. 

• Cotton Ball Target Drop - Easy and fun game for toddlers.

Supplies: Cotton balls, bowl or jar 

This is an easy games for the little ones. Toddlers and preschooler will enjoy this party game just as much as teens or adults!

1. Player stands on a step stool.

2. Give each player five cotton balls.

3. They are to hold the cotton ball to their nose and let it drop into the bowl below. 

4. Each player gets five tries. Give a party favor for each cotton ball that makes it into the bowl. If playing with adults or teens, the team with the most balls in the bowl wins.

• Cotton Ball Snowball Scoop Up Game

Supplies: 1 or 2 bags of cotton balls, bowl, spoon, blindfold 

This is a simple game. Players form a circle. Blindfold the first player and sit them in the middle of the circle to scoop up as many cotton balls as they can within thirty seconds. The middle of the circle is filled with snowballs (cotton balls). Hand the bowl and spoon to the player once they are seated. Jingle a bell to signify the start. The player with the most snowballs in the bowl wins. Enjoy! 

Recommended Reading:

Great Games! 175 Games and Activities *


Teen Birthday Party Sleepover Ideas for Girls

Seasonal Party Ideas and Activities *


Group Activities for Kids


Earth Day Activities for Adults

Look for more Christmas Party Games in our site. In the meantime, add some Christmas Stories to your kids' holiday party.

ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

3 Easter theme Physical Education Activities for Elementary Kids using Eggs

Want to add an Easter theme to homeschool physical education activities for elementary school age kids? 

Use plastic eggs and egg cartons in the games. To make a fun preschool activity or silly Easter party game add some bunny ears. These 3 games work for a kid's birthday party  and are fun to play in Sunday School at church. We also have a fun pe game for Easter. Enjoy!

More PE Games

Plastic Easter Egg Games and Activities for PE/Gym.

Easter Egg Pockets Game                                                   
You need:  egg carton, markers, plastic Easter eggs, and 1 or more players.

How to play game: Any size egg carton will do, but cardboard egg cartons are easier to color with markers than styrofoam ones.

Cut lid off carton. Color each pocket a different color. Write a point value in each pocket. The points should be in increments of 10. So, if you want to use an egg carton with 8 pockets, the point values would be 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80. The larger point values should be in the pockets around the outside edges, since these are harder to get the ping pong ball into.

Place the your egg carton on the floor. Stand about four feet back from the carton. To make it harder you can stand even further back.

Now, try to toss a plastic Easter egg into one of the pockets. Where the egg lands is the number of points you get. Then, the next player takes a turn. The first one to reach a score of 100 is the winner!

How to decorate Easter eggs and make homemade dye

Easter Egg Pass Game
You need: Plastic Eggs, Large Spoons, and an Easter Basket.

How to play game: Each player needs a large ladle or spoon. Each group of two players needs a plastic Easter egg. Player one starts with the egg balanced on his spoon. He tosses it to the other player, who in turn catches the egg in his spoon. The object of this game is to pass the ball back and forth without dropping it off the spoons. 

With a larger group of children, at a kid's birthday party, you can play a variation of this game by dividing in half and lining everyone up into a single file line and asking them to pass the egg down. 

When a whistle blows or you say, "On your mark, get set, go" the race begins and the egg is passed from spoon to spoon until it gets to the person at the end of the line. If the egg is dropped the team must start over. 

The last person drops the egg into an Easter basket at the end of the line to win. Or, try this variation: The fastest team wins or give each team an equal number of eggs and a time limit. When you blow the whistle, everyone must freeze. The team with the most eggs in their Easter basket wins.

In My Easter Bonnet Game
You need: Plastic Eggs, Easter Basket, 1 Easter Bonnet (Make one here) and enough bunny ears for all players.

How to play game: Before the game begins mark one of the plastic eggs with a tiny bunny face. For a preschool or Sunday school class let the kids make their own ears and bonnets beforehand.

Everyone sits in a circle like Duck, Duck, Goose only everyone is wearing bunny ears (Don't worry it is fun for older kids too). Place the basket of eggs with the bonnet in the center of the circle. One player is chosen to hop around the circle like a bunny. He chooses another player by tapping him on the shoulder. The second player, places his hands on the firsts shoulder (like a train) and they continue to hop around the circle adding to their bunny hop. The last player sitting grabs the basket and the bonnet. 

The bunny train circles him and then sits down. The player with the basket passes 1 egg to each of the other players. The player with the bunny egg must trade his ears for the bonnet. 

Now, the eggs are placed back into the basket, and everyone wearing bunny ears forms a new circle around the basket of eggs. The player in the Easter bonnet is now "it". This player must twirl around the circle and tap another player on the shoulder to twirl with him until all but one player remains again.

Play continues as before, and the person who gets the bunny eggs must trade his ears for the bonnet. Play continues until everyone has a chance to be "it".

If you can find the music for the Bunny Hop and Easter Bonnet songs, play them during the game to make it more festive :)


Recommended Reading:

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Egg Hunt Game for Physical Education

The Ultimate Homeschool Physical Education Game Book: Fun and Easy-To-Use Games and Activities To Help You Teach Your Children Fitness, Movement and Sport Skills*


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ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Monkey Valentine Conversation Hearts Sight Word Game

Conversation Heart Sight Word Game for Kids

Get crafty for Valentine's Day using Cupid's arrows and Conversation Hearts in a Sight Word game for kids. This simple activity is perfect for early childhood literacy. Store the arrows and hearts in the monkey pocket, and then mix and match to form sentences. Scroll below for printable pattern and how to play the game. Enjoy!

Make Conversation Hearts into a Sight Word Literacy Game for Kids.

Template pattern for Monkey Valentine game.

You will need:
Construction paper, markers, scissors, glue, and scrap gift bags.

How to make the game:
Cut out pieces per pattern above. Glue monkey's face together. When gluing monkey face to paper; glue only  the outermost edge. Important: do not glue the top of the paper down (between his ears). Now you have a pocket to store your game pieces. Cut out game pieces and write simple sight words on the arrows and hearts. Make sure to use lots of action words, pronouns, nouns, and verbs.

Ideas for heart words might include feeling words like happy, sad, mad, funny.

Arrow words should include words like the, boy, girl, I, a, dog, cat, was, is, could, ran, likes. Cut more than 10 arrows to make the sentences more interesting.

How to play the game: (two players)
You will need 2 dice. Place hearts upside down on table. Each player takes turn drawing for a total of 5 hearts. Hold in hands like cards or place face down on table. Each player takes a die. Youngest player rolls first. Player must roll a 3 or 6. When a 3 is rolled player draws an arrow from the pocket. When a 6 is drawn player draws 2 arrows. With each turn, the player tries to form a simple sentence. Player must pass if they cannot make a sentence. Players can work together to make sentences too. The first player to use all of their conversation hearts wins! 


Recommended Reading:

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Monkey Snack

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ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Plan a Fun Party for Kids with a Balloon Car Theme for Boys or Girls

Struggling to find a unique theme for a boy's birthday party at home that is a fun party for kids? Why not have a Balloon Car theme. 

There are tons of things to do with Balloons. Here are a few for your next party planning checklist. Have the best party birthday party ever with these fun ideas for things to do with balloons.

Cute Birthday Party Balloon Clip Art.

Arvind Gupta makes toys from trash on his fabulous website offering many recycle crafts for kid, arvindguptatoys.com  He offers a great how to make a balloon car tutorial printable pdf.

Visit Arvind Gupta Toys for the tutorial.

Michael Floyd of BalloonHQ offers a balloon car tutorial for making a car out of balloons for a kid's birthday party. Not sure Id' have the patience for this one!

Balloon Car from Michael Floyd 
 looks like Barbie might like to take a ride in this one.

My favorite site for balloon art has to be The Balloon Pastor he has balloon pictures of full-size car costumes for kids including a Tow Mater. You'll have to hop over to check them all out. Here's an example of his work, Lightning McQueen balloon car.

Finally, PBS Design Squad has some great balloon science projects which are fun for a kid's party or perfect for a homeschool project. Show your magic trick skills with this unpoppable balloon trick or 2-wheel balloon car tutorial.

Unpoppable Balloon Party Trick from PBS Design Squad.

How to make a 2 Wheel Balloon Car  from PBS Design Squad.

Recommended Reading:

Phineas Costume Mask

More Balloon Clip Art

Children's Party Activities: Toss the Marshmallows Game for Kids

 

Marshmallow Toss Game: Easy, Budget-friendly Birthday Party Game for Kids

BIRTHDAY ON A BUDGET

Get back to the basics with Marshmallows, always fun for kids and perfect for children's party activities!  We have lots of marshmallow activities for kids. Enjoy!

How to Play Marshmallow Toss Game

Things to do with Marshmallows

What you Need:  Bucket or Large Bowl and a bag of Large Marshmallows 

How to Play:  Divide the party-goers into pairs. The first team up chooses a catcher and a thrower. The catcher stands on one end of the room and holds the bucket or bowl on top of their head and the thrower stands on the other end of the room with the bag of marshmallows. The thrower tries to toss the marshmallows into the bucket. The catcher can move and duck to try to catch them, as long as they do not move their feet and they must remain standing. Each team takes a turn to see which team can catch the most!

Recommended Reading:

Owen's Marshmallow Chick

Sensory Marshmallow Game

More fun things to do with Marshmallows Activities

Fun Games to Play with Marshmallows for Quiet Time

Here are three children's activities using Marshmallows that are oh so fun for children. Marshmallows are a quick way to steal a few second of quiet time. Kids love them with all their puffy squishy goodness they are fantastic for sensory play. Want to add an element of Messy Play? Just add water or edible paint and make marshmallow prints. 

Marshmallows are the perfect companion for kids quiet time.

Recommended Reading:

Marshmallow Fun for Advent

Gingerbread Marshmallow Man

Marshmallow Game

Marshmallow Mystery (Candy Fairies)

Sensory Game for Children with Marshmallows: Fun for Kids!

Marshmallow Sensory Game for Kids

Need a few minutes of peace and quiet, Marshmallows are fun game for kids and this SENSORY game for children is the perfect fix. Kids can't talk with the straws in their mouths!  Everyone is intent on winning and they all loved it! Looking for more marshmallow activities for kids? In the sidebar, enter marshmallow(s) for a list of our posts with Things to do with Marshmallows. Enjoy!

Fold the straw in half and use it like chopsticks 
to pick up the marshmallows. This way is easier for preschoolers.

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Marshmallows make great sensory games for children.

How to play Sensory Marshmallow Game

• Open up a bag of mini-marshmallows and spread them in the center of a cloth covered table. Give every kid a cup and a straw. (The teenage counselors liked it too.)

• Start with a stop-watch to increase the excitement. Let the Marshmallow Games begin!  Ready, Set, Go!  It is a race to see who can suck up the most marshmallows and place them in their cup.  No hands allowed. Suck and hold until you drop into the cup.

• I quickly realized no stop-watch was needed and let them play until all marshmallows were gone. We counted who had the most.  The winner got stickers and candy and everyone else got to eat the marshmallows!

Aren't marshmallows fun?

For another sensory element, poke marshmallows with straw.
Then, try to pick up and place into the cup before they fall off.

Recommended Reading:

The Marshmallow Incident

Fun with Marshmallows

Marshmallow Math; Early Math For Young Children

Owen's Marshmallow Chick by Kevin Henke

Turkey Marshmallows

Kids, Easy, Fun, Messy, Shaving Cream Craft Activity for Sensory Play

This shaving cream kids' sensory play activity is super easy!

Messy, sensory Shaving Cream tinted with food coloring is tons of fun for kids to play with at home or as an after-school activity. After all, what's more fun than making a royal mess? Play with your shaving cream outdoors to keep Mom's house clean!

Shave Cream Sensory Play: Start with shaving cream,
food coloring, plates and spoons for mixing.

Be careful not to get a shaving cream beard into your eyes.

Use it like face paint to add texture, beards, moles, crazy eyebrows, or scars.  It will stiffen and dry on your face. Don't get it in your eyes please- ouch!

Mix it up to your heart's content.

Make a shaving cream cake and pretend to eat it. The cream makes nice snowmen sculptures too!

Pretending shaving cream pie 
is yummy.



Use shaving cream like sidewalk paint.

Well, no, it's not for the faint of heart. Dig in and go crazy!

The messier the more fun!

This is one crafty recreation project that kept the kids busy for an about hour. The possibilities are endless.



Don't forget aprons and lots of paper towels
for your shaving cream play time.



With shaving cream sensory play, anything goes!

Recommended Reading:

Slurpin' for Worms Messy Birthday Party Game

Sensory Play: Over 65 Sensory Bin Topics with Additional Picture Books, Supplementary Activities, and Snacks for a Complete Toddler Program (Busy Toddler, Happy Mom)

Busy Toddler, Happy Mom: Over 280 Activities to Engage Your Toddler in Small Motor and Gross Motor Activities, Crafts, Language Development and Sensory Play