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! :)

What are Good Outdoor Games to Play?

10 Great Outdoor Games for Kids

The days of simple parties where balloons, music, and a cake with candles were enough are long gone. In 2019, fun birthday ideas are at a whole new level. You need these 10 great outdoor games for kids to get moving and enjoy their special day.

Kim and Kanye set the bar high with a "kidchella" themed party, featuring bouncy houses, a Ferris wheel, and several music stages. While you won't have the same budget as the Kardashians, take inspiration from their intuitive ideas and create a party with good outdoor games to play.

If you're arranging a summer party for your kid's birthday bash, what outdoor games can you play? Read on for the 411 on which outside games your kids will actually love!

This post contain Amazon Affiliate Links.

Outdoor Games Kids Will Love

We all know the math. Kids + Birthday parties = Chaos!

Instead of expecting kids to sit around, drink tea, and chat like adults, prepare some cool games that will burn all their pent-up party energy. We've chosen 10 outdoor games that will have your guests giggling from beginning to end. Are you ready? Let's get this party started!

1. Hop Your Way to Victory

Try a traditional sack-race to get the kids moving. Give each child a good quality burlap bag or king-size pillowcase. Line them up in a grassy area and have them hop their way to victory down a marked path.

To mix it up a little, decorate the plain sacks. Make it more challenging and make the marked path curvy. Even if you just do it the old-fashioned way, it'll get a lot of laughs on the way, Scout's honor!

2. Make Your Birthday Party Pop

Balloon stomping is one of the best group games for parties. What's a party without balloons popping?

Before the party starts, prepare by blowing up at least one balloon per guest and a few extras just in case. Tie a long string or ribbon around the end of the balloon so that it is long enough to tie around the children's ankles.

When the party gets started, tie a balloon around the ankle of each child. The aim of the game is to pop everyone else's balloon while protecting your own. The last kid with an intact balloon wins.

3. Jump to It

Let the kids blow off a little steam before you sit down to open presents. One of the best outdoor games for kids, is an outdoor bouncy house. Hiring a bouncy house is an exciting treat for the kids! It really is fun for all ages (even big kids!)

From bouncy houses and inflatable water slides to blow-up climbing walls and bouncy bungee runs, knowing which one to choose boggles the mind. Do your research to find out more about the options and you'll find the perfect match for your big outdoor birthday bash.

4. Treasure Hunt

Treasure hunts have been around a long time, but they're still one of the most interesting outside games for kids to play. Adapt the hunt depending on the ages of the guests and the style of the party. Be sure to offer prizes and other birthday party favors for the winning team.

For instance, create a list of items in nature they have to find in a certain time limit. Give each guest some magnifying glasses, binoculars, and a treasure bag for their adventure. They can search for various bugs, pinecones, daisies, leaves, and more on a nature scavenger hunt or you can hide items throughout the yard and give them a list of riddles to solve to find the next treasure. As an alternative, hide pieces of treasure and candy for the kids to find. Give them a bucket and send them on their scavenger hunt,

5. Cool Pool Party

Fun birthday ideas for the summer usually involve water. Wet and wild games give kids the chance to get soaked and cool off. A pool prize search is one of the most fun outside games for a kid's party.

Use an inflatable pool filled with water. Hide weighted treasures at the bottom of the pool. Then, fill the rest of the pool with floating toys and balls, so that it's hard to see what's at the bottom. Give the kids a time limit and tell them to find the treasures at the bottom of the pool.

If kids are a bit older and it seems too easy, try blindfolding them. Their teammates can shout out directions to help them find the treasure.

6. Use Your Noodle

One of the cheapest outside games for kids is Pool Noodle Croquet. It's budget-friendly but takes a little bit of time to set up.

Create several pool noodle arches in your back yard and stake them into the ground. Give each child a pool noodle and an inflated beach ball. The idea is to be the first to get the ball through the course of arches.

7. Make a Splash

Another variation of a classic game is water balloon baseball. It's one of the easiest outdoor games for kids and parents because it's so easy to set up.

All you need is a baseball bat and some pre-filled water balloons. Make sure the guests are ready to get soaked!

8. A Tasty Mess

Fun birthday ideas have got to include cakes and treats, right? So why not turn your dessert into a game? When played outside, this donut game is lots of fun.

Tie dangling donuts from a high place, such as a tree or doorway. Then have a donut eating race, without using hands. Chocolate donuts make the most mess, so be ready with a cleanup team when the game is over.

9. Water Shoot

Here's another outdoor water game for you. Divide the party into two teams. For each team, string a plastic sand pails onto one end of a clothesline.

The concept of this game is for each team to work together to move their bucket along the clothesline, using only the spray water guns. Of course, if you don't have enough squirt guns for the party, you could fill up plastic bottles instead. Be sure the squirt guns are powerful enough to make the pails move!

10. An In-Tents Party

Another awesome outside party activity is camping. If camping somewhere remote is too much of a task, just set up a camp ground in your backyard.

Set up tents and a supervised fire-pit. Play some camping-themed games during the day. And when it gets dark, roast some s'mores on the campfire and tell scary stories.

Keep Calm and Party On!

We hoe you like this list of outdoor games with a twist for parties. Pick one, two, or as many outside games as you want, to make your birthday bash super fun!

What if it turns out to be a rainy day and you can't have fun in the sun? For some more games inspiration, both inside and out, check out the "Games" section of our blog.

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5 Household Items Party Games for Birthdays

5 Birthday Party Games for Kids Using Household Items

Kids want to be entertained, especially on their birthdays. Give your kids a fun, memorable birthday celebration with games for birthdays that use household items. These kid party games are easy to do with little prep, and you probably already have the items in your house. No need to plan ahead when you do these household items party games for Birthdays!

This post contains affiliate links.

Playing interactive games that get your kids moving at birthday parties is a great way to introduce them to kid activities that are active and engaging. Perhaps the next time they have a playtime choice, they’ll choose one of these games rather than a video game. After scouring the internet for games to play at birthday parties, we found several games for kids that are simple to set up with common household items. As always, we've updated old games with fun new twists! If you don't want to plan the party activities and implement them yourself, Yabadoo Kids Parties are another fun way to make birthday parties fun and memorable.

Keep your kids in the loop. Give them choices and let them help plan their own birthday party by scrolling through this list of kids party games and letting them choose their favorite activity to play with friends and family.

Common Household Items Party Games

• Life Size Board Game

This great game for kids is suitable for kids of all ages. Life Size Board Game is a  fun party game activity that has players jumping forward two spaces, singing a song, turning in circles, telling jokes, reciting  nursery rhymes, jumping up and down periodically, and moving back three spaces.

During game play, the players begin by rolling oversized  dice to see where to move. The first person to reach the finish line is declared winner.  You can simply use white paper or the inside of recycled cereal boxes to create the game board. To make a permanent yard decoration, use stepping stones.

• Clothespin Snatch Game

Every player is given a clothespin. Wrapped candy and trinkets (you can even use coins) are sprinkled on the floor. During this game, players will try to pick up as much candy or trinkets as they can using only their clothespins. Set a timer for one minute and let the fun begin!

• Marshmallow Catch

Marshmallow Catch is super easy to set up. Grab a bag of mini marshmallows a timer, and some plastic party cups. Standing on opposite ends of the room, players try to catch marshmallows that are thrown by other party-goers. After one minute, the team with the most marshmallows in their cup wins.

• Spoon Relay Race Game

The Spoon Relay is an old party favorite, you can make this party game more complicated by adding fun elements like playing while turning in circles, skipping, walking backward, or any fun way that will make the birthday party game more challenging or difficult for the players.

Any small household object will do, but mini marshmallows and cotton balls are the most common items used with plastic or wooden spoons. In the course of this game, players race against each other to be the first team finish. Divide party guests into two or more teams. Each team is given a marshmallows and a spoon.

Lining up single file, the first person on each  team takes a marshmallow and begins passing it down the line using only their spoon.  The first team to get their marshmallow to the end of the line wins.

• Balloon Bust Game

Before the party, fill balloons with candy or small prizes. Rub the balloons on your head to give them static cling and then place them on a wall or table. Play begins with birthday party guests choosing a balloon. Tell the kids to hold the balloons with two hands, careful not to pop it. Then, tell them to sit down in a circle using their balloons as chairs. On the count of three, have everyone tries to pop their balloon chair to discover the prizes. First one to pop a balloon, gets a special grand prize in addition to the trinkets inside.

Have you played these games with different variations? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear about more fun birthday party games and ideas for kids that use household items.

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Party Games for Kids

Non-Toxic Face Paint Recipe for Kid Parties

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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:

Monkey Mask Craft and Story Ideas

Monkey Snack

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed*













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! :)

Slurpin' for Worms Birthday Party Game for Kids and Moms on a Budget

Birthday's on a Budget: Party Game Ideas

No matter how much we would like to, most parents just aren't able to throw that ultra-expensive birthday party for kids every year, but that doesn’t mean your BIRTHDAY still can't be fun! Here is a great, cheap birthday game activity. You can switch up the theme. We went with Gummi Candy Worms, but you can use Gummy Bears too. Enjoy, this worm birthday game for kids!

This post contains affiliate links.

You might also like to Paint with Worms (Spaghetti).

What you Need: 

Fun Paper Plates
Canned Whipped Cream
Albanese Gummi Worms or other small Gummy Candies 

*Please be mindful of small children and choking hazards.

Easy Kid's Game for Birthday Party: Worm Party Game.

How to Play Worm Birthday Game: 

• You can play one at a time or all at once as a race- we have done both.
• Place the same amount of objects on a paper plate for each participant. (10 kids = 10 plates)
• Cover the items completely with whipped cream. (Try to make each plate exactly the same.)
• Each player gets a whipped cream-covered plate and an empty plate.
• Hands are placed behind your back and on "Go," players use only mouths to find items on plate, one at a time, and spit them onto empty plate.
• The first player to find them all wins!
• (If playing one at a time, the person with the quickest time wins.)

This is a great game for Summer Camp too.


Recommended Reading:

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Worms! 

Worm Birthday Party Favors

Worm in Apple Healthy Party Snack

Sensory Spaghetti Painting (Feels like worms).

Follow us on Instagram for Daily Fun!

Easy Fun Teen Birthday Party Game: Slurpin' for Worms.