Christmas Day
Games
Just because the gifts are opened and
the paper strewn about the living room doesn't mean the fun of
Christmas is over. Add some fun party games to Christmas day to
extend the fun of Christmas.
If you have a large gathering on Christmas day, have fun with
the hat game. When they arrive, give everyone a Santa hat. These
are inexpensive and can be purchased for $1 at the dollar store,
or even less in bulk, if you plan ahead. As everyone goes about
their business of getting food, chatting with others and the
like, the room will look very festive with everyone wearing
their Santa hats.
However, the object of this game is to not have your hat on. As
people forget about the hats, the object is to get rid of your
hat and not be the last one wearing a Santa hat. Inevitably
there will be one person so wrapped up in a conversation or the
buffet table, they forget to take off their hat and will be left
the game's loser. This is a game that can be played again and
again as you head forward with the day's festivities.
One fun memory game that kids particularly like is to make
everyone pay careful attention to all the gifts that are opened
on Christmas day. After the gifts are removed from the room (or
you remove yourselves from the gift room) have everyone try and
remember every single gift everyone got. Include stockings and
any food gifts. Tell people they only have to remember the items
that were opened that day, not any gifts they received and
opened prior to Christmas day. This can be a fun game that's
particularly popular with kids because they love to relive the
gift magic. In addition, if they were so immersed with their own
gifts they didn't notice anyone else's this is a good chance for
them to educate themselves about what everyone got that day.
If you need a game to keep everyone busy before dinner, try the
"guess me" game. Buy some large heavy socks, not low-rise, but
the type that are worn outdoors in the winter that are thick and
come at least to the calf. Put several items in the socks. Make
sure identical items are in each sock. These items should be
related to Christmas in some way. You might include a small
ornament, scotch tape, a pinecone, a Hershey's kiss, and the
like. Have each person feel the socks (having two socks just
makes the game go faster, but you can play with just one sock),
and write down their guesses about what's in the socks. Be sure
to tell everyone how many items are in each sock. The winner
gets, you guessed it, one of the socks!
If you have a bunch of wanna-be performers in your group on
Christmas day, how about playing a little game of "Christmas
Idol"? Set up a small table for the "judges" and have teams of 2
people (or individuals, if they want) sing a Christmas carol.
Tell them to have a lot of fun with the song, and even add a
Santa hat or other dress-up items if they wish. The winners can
take home a CD of Christmas music. This game is particularly fun
if just the children want to perform and be judged by the
adults, or if, conversely, the adults perform and are judged by
the children.