Christmas Party Games for Kids: 10 Games, No Prep Needed

By Tess Marlow · Last updated: October 10, 2026

The living room is full of cousins, the good toys are already out of ideas, and nobody packed a craft box, so you need something that works with whatever is already in the room, right now, without a store run or a search for supplies you don’t have.

These christmas party games for kids ask for no prep: no printer, no trip to the craft aisle, nothing you don’t already have in a kitchen drawer. Every one of them runs in any room, rain or not, with stuff you already own at home.

That’s the gap this list closes.

A search for party games on a holiday afternoon usually turns up a roundup where half the entries need a template, a craft supply, or outdoor space the weather already took away.

The ten below skip all of that.

Each one tells you exactly what it needs, how to run it, how long it holds a group, and who it suits best, so you can pick the right game for the next ten minutes in one glance.

Christmas Freeze Dance

• What you need: any music with a stop button. A phone works.
• How to play: everyone dances to Christmas music, and when you pause the song, every player has to freeze mid-move, elf-on-the-shelf style. If you catch anyone still wiggling, they sit out one round.
• Holds: the whole group at once, for as many rounds as the room has patience for.
• Best for: a loud group that needs to burn off energy before anything quieter.
• Variation: call out a pose before you pause the music, “freeze like a reindeer,” so everyone is racing to land the pose in time.

Pausing right after a big dance move gets the biggest laughs, so wait for someone to commit to a pose before you hit stop. Younger kids tend to peek and wiggle, so give them one warning before they sit out instead of calling it on the first wobble.

A printable game bundle has more prompts like this one.

Jingle Bell Shake Challenge

• What you need: one bell per player, or one shared bell for a relay version. A jingle bell off an old ornament works fine.
• How to play: everyone holds a bell behind their back, and the first player to shake it completely silent, no jingle at all, for a slow count wins the round. One wrong twitch and the bell gives them away.
• Holds: small groups and pairs, best played in short rounds back to back.
• Best for: kids who like a quiet dare more than a running game.
• Variation: turn it into a relay by passing one bell down the line, and anyone who makes it jingle has to start the pass over.

It sounds too simple on paper and then the whole room goes dead silent trying to win it, which is exactly the point. Grown-ups usually underestimate how hard it is until they try holding one themselves.

A printed sheet set covers louder rounds too.

Musical Christmas Presents

• What you need: empty wrapped boxes or any objects you can pass hand to hand, plus music.
• How to play: this is musical chairs without the chairs. Players sit in a circle and pass a wrapped box around while the music plays. Whoever is holding it when you stop the music is out, until one player is left.
• Holds: a full circle of kids, seated, for several rounds in a row.
• Best for: mixed ages, since sitting and passing needs no coordination at all.
• Variation: tape a small treat inside the last box standing so there’s a reason to want to be the one holding it when the music stops.

Swap in a second box for a bigger group so two players are “out” each round and the game moves faster. Keep the circle tight so the box moves hand to hand instead of getting tossed, or the pace turns chaotic fast.

The bingo set makes a good next round once the box stops moving.

Christmas Cookie Face Game

• What you need: a handful of small round decorations, raisins, chocolate chips, cereal pieces, anything the size of a facial feature, plus a plain cookie or paper plate per player.
• How to play: each player gets blindfolded and has to build a face, Santa, a snowman, a reindeer, on their plate using only touch. No peeking until everyone compares.
• Holds: any size group, since everyone plays their own plate at the same time.
• Best for: a messier game you don’t mind cleaning up after.
• Variation: give a theme to each round, Rudolph one time, a snowman the next, so the same supplies produce a different face every round.

Judge the results together at the end. The lopsided ones get the loudest laughs every time. Lay down a sheet or a tray under each plate first, since blindfolded placement rarely lands where anyone expects.

A party planner template helps time this one between messier games.

Penguin Waddle Race

• What you need: a balloon per player, or one balloon for a relay.
• How to play: each player squeezes a balloon between their knees and waddles to a finish line and back without dropping it. Drop it, and you have to go back to the start.
• Holds: teams of two or more, racing in heats if the room is big.
• Best for: a group that wants to move but doesn’t need loud music to do it.
• Variation: run it as a relay, where the next teammate only starts once the balloon is handed over without touching the floor.

Mark the finish line with anything flat, a book, a scarf, a line of tape, so nobody argues about where the race actually ends. A carpeted room slows the waddle down just enough to keep younger kids from falling over.

The printable game set has a relay scorecard for tracking heats.

Reindeer Antler Ring Toss

• What you need: a headband or a paper cone taped to a hat for antlers, plus a few rings, bracelets, pipe cleaner loops or paper rings all work.
• How to play: one player wears the antlers and stands still while everyone else takes turns tossing rings at them from a few steps back, aiming for the antler points. You can call out a point value per antler for a tighter score.
• Holds: a small group taking turns, with a new “reindeer” for each round.
• Best for: kids who want a target game that isn’t a dartboard.
• Variation: give each thrower three rings and keep a running score across rounds instead of starting fresh each turn.

Let every player be the reindeer at least once. Standing still while rings bounce off your own antlers turns out to be half the fun. Keep the throwing line close for younger kids and step it back for an older group that wants more of a challenge.

A printed scorecard keeps the running tally straight across rounds.

Marshmallow Snowman Stack

• What you need: a bag of marshmallows and a flat surface. Toothpicks make for a sturdier build, but bare marshmallows stack fine too.
• How to play: each player, or team, stacks marshmallows into the tallest snowman they can before it topples. You can set a one-minute timer so nobody takes forever to build.
• Holds: pairs or small teams, building side by side so everyone can see whose fell first.
• Best for: a calmer game between two loud ones, and the marshmallows double as a snack after.
• Variation: set a timer by ear, counting slowly out loud, instead of watching a clock, so nobody is staring at a phone instead of the stack.

Give everyone the same count of marshmallows to start, or the game turns into a hunt for extras instead of a build. A warm room softens marshmallows fast, so this one plays best as an early game, not the last one of the afternoon.

The bingo cards pair well as a calmer round right after.

Christmas Would You Rather

• What you need: nothing but your voice. A written list helps anyone keeping score, but it isn’t required.
• How to play: ask the group a silly holiday choice, like getting coal in every stocking for a year or having to sing every sentence until New Year’s, and everyone picks a side and defends it. You can go first to show how much detail is fair game.
• Holds: any size group, sitting down, for as long as the questions keep coming.
• Best for: winding a loud party down, or filling a car ride on the way to one.
• Variation: let the group vote on each choice by raising hands, then ask the smallest side to defend their pick first.

The sillier the choice, the longer kids argue over it, so skip the easy ones and go straight for the ridiculous. This is also the game to pull out when a few kids are done running around and the rest still want to play something.

A planner template is handy for jotting down the best answers.

Christmas Story Circle

• What you need: nothing at all.
• How to play: the first player starts a Christmas story with one sentence, and each player adds a sentence in turn, going around the circle until the story has gone somewhere nobody planned. You can go last so you get to land the ending.
• Holds: a seated circle of any size, as long as everyone can hear the last line.
• Best for: a quiet wind-down with no setup and no cleanup.
• Variation: give the circle one silly rule to work in somewhere, a talking snowman or a lost reindeer, and see who remembers to use it.

Start the first sentence somewhere ordinary, “It was Christmas Eve and Santa couldn’t find his boots,” and let the group take it from there. If a younger player gets stuck, let the adult running the circle offer two options instead of an open blank.

Our free printable games round has a few more quiet options like this one, and a printable story-starter sheet works well for a group that wants a prompt.

Blow the Cotton Ball Snowstorm

• What you need: cotton balls and two straws, or just one straw for a one-at-a-time version.
• How to play: players race to blow a cotton ball “snowball” across a table or the floor to a finish line using only a straw. No hands, no blowing with just your mouth, the straw is the whole trick. You’ll feel out of breath after one round.
• Holds: pairs racing side by side, or one player against the clock.
• Best for: a laugh-out-loud game that needs almost nothing to set up.
• Variation: line up two teams on opposite sides of the table and let them race their own cotton balls to the center instead of a far finish line.

Cotton balls roll off a table edge fast, so play this one on the floor if the group gets competitive. It works just as well as a quick one-on-one tiebreaker between two bigger games.

A ready-made game bundle has a scoring sheet for this one too.

Want the Printable Version Too?

A no-prep game asks for nothing but your voice or a bell you already own. A printed game asks for a file, and that file is either attached or it isn’t.

Every game above uses things that are already in the house. That is the whole point of a no-prep list: nobody has to print a thing before the party starts.

Between the ten of them, you can fill an afternoon of running around, a quiet stretch on the couch, and a wind-down before everyone goes home, without once reaching for a printer.

Open any other roundup of christmas party games for kids and a good chunk of the list quietly needs a printed piece: memory cards, a Rudolph nose template, a bingo grid, a scavenger list, a word search, an I Spy sheet, charades cards, a coloring page.

The page almost never hands you that file.

It tells you to “find a free template online” or says the printables live “somewhere on the site,” and then there’s no link at all.

You’re left searching for a template that was promised but never attached, usually the night before the party, when you have no time left to make one from scratch.

That gap is why a no-prep list and a printed-games pack solve two different problems. The games above need nothing but what’s already around the house.

A printed layer, bingo cards, charades decks, a full activity pack, brings a different kind of game: cards to pass around, a prize for a full card, something you can hand a child instead of running the whole thing yourself.

Neither replaces the other. Most parties end up wanting both: the no-prep games for whenever a lull hits, and one printed game held back for when everyone is seated and ready for a clear winner.

For a version built entirely around printed sheets, our easy Christmas games you print once and play in five minutes covers that side of the party.

Our classroom christmas games for 25 kids sizes the same idea for a full class instead of a living room.

Planning the whole evening, not just the games? Christmas Eve activities sorted into five blocks maps out the rest of the night for you.

Our activities sorted by how long they hold a group help you pick what comes next.

Or browse kids party games, Christmas games for kids and Christmas activities for kids.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best christmas party games for kids when you have zero time to prepare?

Christmas Freeze Dance and Christmas Would You Rather. Both start the moment you say “go,” no supplies gathered first, no setup at all.

One burns energy, the other settles a group down, so between them they cover most of a party without a single trip to another room for supplies.

What are the best indoor christmas party games for kids on a rainy day?

Musical Christmas Presents and Blow the Cotton Ball Snowstorm.

Both run entirely indoors, in any room big enough for a circle or a table, which matters most on a day when a backyard run-around is off the table entirely.

What are fun christmas party games for kids and adults to play together?

Christmas Would You Rather and Christmas Story Circle work across ages because nobody needs speed or coordination, just an answer or a sentence.

An adult can join either one at the same level as the youngest kid in the room.

Which of these christmas party games for kids need absolutely nothing bought?

Christmas Story Circle needs nothing at all, and Christmas Would You Rather needs only your voice.

Jingle Bell Shake Challenge and Reindeer Antler Ring Toss use things most houses already own, bells and hair ties or pipe cleaners, so neither counts as a trip to the store either.

How many kids can play these games at once?

Most of the ten work for a small family gathering or a full room of cousins and classmates alike.

Christmas Freeze Dance, Musical Christmas Presents and Christmas Story Circle scale to almost any group size, while Jingle Bell Shake Challenge and Reindeer Antler Ring Toss play better in smaller clusters taking turns.

Can I turn any of these into a printed party game later?

Yes. None of the 10 games above need a printed piece, but a printable game bundle pairs well with them for anyone adding a bingo round or a set of charades cards to the mix too.

What are the best christmas party ideas for kids beyond the games above?

Pair two or three of these with a simple snack table and a wind-down activity, and you’ve got the best christmas party ideas for kids covered without any extra planning.

Our family games that need just one sheet round out the afternoon with a mix of running-around and quieter options.

Key Takeaways

• 10 christmas party games for kids that use things already in the house, no printer and no craft-aisle trip before the party.
• Each game lists what it needs, how to play it and who it suits best, loud group, quiet wind-down, mixed ages or a rainy afternoon indoors.
• Christmas Freeze Dance and Musical Christmas Presents hold a full room at once; Christmas Story Circle and Would You Rather need nothing but a voice.
• Most roundups of these games quietly point to a printable template that was promised but never attached.
• Want a printed layer too: a ready-made Christmas game bundle has the bingo cards and charades decks laid out already.

About the author: Hi, I’m Tess. I taught preschool for nine years and now make the printables I used to photocopy at 7am.

Every game here has been played with a real group of kids before it goes up, and I tell you how long it actually held their attention, not how long it should have.