20 Christmas Party Games for Adults That Actually Get Played

At an adult Christmas party, the games that work are the ones you can play standing up, with a drink in one hand, while the doorbell keeps going. People arrive late, half the room only knows the host, and nobody wants to sit down and read a rulebook. Somewhere in the evening there is usually a gift exchange, and that is a game too, so it should be run like one.

The filter for this list: can you explain it in one sentence, does it survive latecomers, and does it still work when the room is loud. The games are sorted by prep, from nothing at all to a box you buy once and keep. If this is a work party, we have a separate guide to office Christmas party games. This one is for friends.

The short version

Games that need nothing

1. Christmas movie charades

Ordinary charades, limited to Christmas movies, songs and characters. Split the room into two teams, or skip teams and let whoever guesses go next.

The limit is what makes it good. Everyone has seen Home Alone and Elf enough times to guess from a single gesture, and a grown adult miming Die Hard is worth the evening. Nothing to set up, and a latecomer can join the next round.

Best for: the moment the room gets quiet, any time after the first drink.

2. Most Likely To

Someone asks “Who is most likely to…” and on three everyone points at a person. Christmas prompts write themselves: most likely to regift this year’s present, to open presents on Christmas Eve, to still have the tree up in March.

It needs no equipment and no turns, and it works on a group that half-knows each other, because people vote on what they have seen tonight. Keep the prompts affectionate. The goal is a laugh, not a verdict.

Best for: a mixed room where not everyone knows each other yet.

3. Never Have I Ever (holiday edition)

Go around the room: “Never have I ever…” and anyone who has done it takes a sip or puts a finger down. Holiday versions: faked liking a gift, gone to two family dinners on the same day, eaten the Advent calendar in one sitting.

This is the adult twist most groups want, and it is easy to keep light. Use fingers instead of drinks for anyone not drinking, and steer away from the questions designed to embarrass one person.

Best for: close friends, later in the evening.

4. Two Truths and a Lie (Christmas edition)

Each person tells three Christmas stories, one of them made up. The group votes on the lie. The best rounds come from real disasters: the year the turkey caught fire, the gift that was obviously for someone else.

It works because Christmas gives everyone the same material. Even new friends have ten years of family holidays to draw on, and the stories keep going long after the round ends.

Best for: a group of six to ten, sitting or standing.

5. Hum That Carol

One player hums a Christmas song with their mouth closed. First person to name it hums the next one. That is the whole game.

It is harder than it sounds. Most carols share the same four notes when hummed, so the wrong guesses are half the fun. It needs no phone and no speaker, and anyone can join the moment they arrive.

Best for: filling ten minutes while the food comes out.

6. Christmas Would You Rather

“Would you rather only eat Christmas dinner for a year, or never eat it again?” Ask one, let the room argue, move on. We keep a long list of would you rather questions you can adapt to the season.

It suits a party because it has no end and no scoring. One good question can carry a group of strangers for fifteen minutes.

Best for: small groups, early, before the room has warmed up.

7. Hidden Agenda

Being upfront: this one is ours.

Everyone gets three secret missions on their own phone to pull off during the party. Steer the conversation onto a particular topic, work a phrase in without anyone noticing, get someone to agree with you on cue. You score points for the missions nobody catches, and if you think someone just ran one, you can call it out. The host approves the catch.

It fits a Christmas party because it runs under the party instead of stopping it. People keep mingling, refilling drinks and talking. When the game is started from the browser, a latecomer scans the QR code and is dealt their own missions on the spot. It is free to play in the browser at /play/, with no app and no account, and it is also on iPhone.

Best for: the whole evening, while the room does its own thing.

Games that need a little prep

8. White Elephant with steal caps

The gift exchange most adult parties already expect. Everyone brings one wrapped gift, draws a number, and on your turn you either open a new gift or steal one already opened. The rules below keep it from dragging.

Cap each gift at three steals, after which it is frozen. Let player one swap at the end, so drawing first is not a punishment. And set a theme with a price limit: “under $25 and slightly useless” gets better gifts than “anything.” Most people know it as White Elephant or Yankee Swap. Same game.

Best for: eight to twenty-five people and a clear half hour.

9. Left-Right Christmas story

Everyone sits in a circle holding a wrapped gift. The host reads a short story stuffed with the words “left” and “right,” and each time one comes up, the gifts pass that way. You keep whatever you are holding at the end.

You can find printed versions online or write your own in ten minutes with your friends’ names in it, which is funnier. It is a gentler gift exchange than White Elephant: no stealing, no strategy, and it takes about five minutes.

Best for: groups who find White Elephant too competitive, or as a second round.

10. Who Am I? (Christmas characters)

Put a sticky note on each guest’s forehead as they arrive: the Grinch, Mariah Carey, Rudolph, Kevin McCallister, Hans Gruber. They ask other guests yes-or-no questions until they work out who they are.

This is the best icebreaker for a room of strangers, because it forces everyone to talk to someone new with a ready-made opener. It needs no start time. Tag people at the door and let it run.

Best for: the first hour, when guests are still arriving.

11. Face the Cookie

Each player tips their head back and puts a cookie on their forehead. Without using hands, they move it down into their mouth. Drop it and you start again with a new cookie.

It is a minute-to-win-it game with Christmas cookies, and it looks ridiculous on adults, which is the point. Run it in heats of four, and have a phone ready to film.

Best for: a burst of energy mid-party.

12. Paper plate drawing

Everyone holds a paper plate on top of their head and draws a Christmas scene on it without looking, one element at a time: a tree, a star, a snowman beside the tree, presents under it. Then everyone compares.

Nobody is good at it, so nobody is embarrassed. It needs plates and markers and fits a group sitting around a living room.

Best for: mixed groups where some people hate performing.

13. Christmas movie drinking game

Put on a Christmas movie and pick a few triggers. For Home Alone: a trap goes off, someone says “Kevin,” a scream. For Die Hard: a character loses a shoe, someone says “Hans.” Sip on each trigger.

Keep it light. Sips, not shots, and a non-alcoholic option in the same cup. Choose triggers that come up a few times per scene, not every line.

Best for: the late part of the party, when people want to sit down.

14. Adult pass the parcel

A parcel wrapped in ten or fifteen layers, each with a slip inside: a small prize, a forfeit or a question. Music plays, the parcel passes around, and whoever holds it when the music stops tears off a layer and does what the slip says.

The adult version lives in the slips. “Show the last photo on your phone” or “Tell us your worst Christmas gift” is plenty. Keep every forfeit something anyone could do with a smile.

Best for: eight to fifteen people and a host who likes wrapping.

15. Christmas trivia

Twenty questions, three or four teams, one round. Mix it up: movie quotes, which country started which tradition, how many gifts were given in total over the twelve days of Christmas.

Write your own rather than printing a list, so it can include a couple of questions about the people in the room. That round always wins.

Best for: a mid-evening set piece, when the whole group is in one room.

16. Finish the Lyric

Make a playlist of Christmas songs. Play each one, stop it partway through a line, and the first person to sing the next words correctly gets a point.

Everyone thinks they know “Last Christmas” and “All I Want for Christmas Is You” until the music stops. It works better standing around a speaker than sitting down.

Best for: groups who will sing, which at a Christmas party is most of them after 10pm.

Games worth buying

17. Telestrations

Telephone with drawings. Everyone gets a secret word, draws it, passes their book on; the next person guesses what the drawing is, the next person draws that guess. By the end “reindeer” has become “a dog in a hat.”

Plays four to eight out of the box, or twelve with the party pack. Nobody needs to draw well, and the reveal at the end gets the loudest laugh of the night.

Best for: a group of six to eight who will sit at a table for half an hour.

18. Jackbox (Quiplash)

The Jackbox Party Packs run on a TV, and everyone plays from their own phone. Quiplash is the pick for adults: two players answer the same prompt, everyone votes on the funnier answer.

Quiplash takes three to eight players, and everyone else can join the audience and vote. You need a TV and a console or laptop, so set it up before guests arrive.

Best for: a living room with a big screen.

19. Wavelength

One player sees a hidden target on a dial between two extremes, such as “worst gift ever” to “best gift ever,” and gives a single clue. The group argues about where it lands.

Nobody performs and nobody is put on the spot, which is why it works with the in-laws of friends and the quiet ones. Two to twelve players.

Best for: a group that would rather argue than act.

20. Just One

A cooperative word game for three to seven players. Everyone writes a one-word clue for the guesser, and any duplicate clues are removed before they see them.

It is gentle, fast and easy to teach in a minute, so it suits a group that includes people who say they do not like games.

Best for: a quiet end to the night with a small group.

How to pick

Friends who know each other well: Never Have I Ever, a movie drinking game and White Elephant with steal caps. Close groups can handle more teasing.

A mixed room where half the guests are strangers: Who Am I? at the door and Most Likely To once people have talked. Hidden Agenda gives everyone a reason to walk up to someone new.

A big crowd: charades, Who Am I and trivia in teams. Our guide to party games for large groups has more that scale.

Couples and small dinners: Wavelength, Just One or Two Truths and a Lie around the table. If four to six of you have a whole evening, Guilty Party turns dinner into a murder case with no host: one phone opens it, everyone else joins by QR code in the browser, and it takes about an hour. It comes from the people who make Hidden Agenda, and the first case is free.

Nobody prepared anything: charades, Hum That Carol and Hidden Agenda in the browser. All three can start in under a minute.

The same rules carry into the next party of the season. If you are hosting again a week later, see our list of New Year’s Eve party games.