Christmas! The season which celebrates the birth of Jesus; when we spend time with family and friends, indulging in too much good food, and attending endless parties. It’s a time of great joy yet it can also be a time of great stress. One of these stresses may be the organisation of a church, office or club Christmas party. Here are six of the best Christmas games for groups, if you have the task of planning a party for a large group.

You may like to start with a Christmas icebreaker game where people can be introduced to each other and everyone can begin to enter the joy of a party. “All I Want for Christmas” is one example, where players sit in a circle. One player starts by saying “My name is… All I want for Christmas is…” The next player states their name before saying “All (name of first player) wants is… All I want for Christmas is…” Players continue around the circle. Any player who cannot repeat the list of everyone’s name and gift is out. You may like to restart the games when the list gets to about 10-12 names to make it a little easier.

Another element of many Christmas parties is a time to exchange gifts where each person brings one gift to a required value (say $5). This can be done by conducting a simple raffle, but why not make it into a game? One of the most popular and fun Christmas gift exchange games is the “Left Right Christmas Game.” Again, players sit in a circle, each holding a gift. The games leader narrates a story. Each time the word ‘left’ is mentioned, players pass their gift to the left. Similarly when the word ‘right’ is spoken, gifts are passed to the right. At the end of the story, each person opens the gift they have at that time.

One of the more active Christmas games for groups is “Balloon Relay.” Two teams line up at one end of the room. One team is given a red balloon and a wooden ruler. The other team has a green balloon and ruler. Team players must bat their balloon, using only their ruler, around a chair at the other end of the room and back in a relay.

Younger children may enjoy “Christmas Card Hunt”, where each child is given half a card. They must find the matching halves of the Christmas cards which have been scattered around the room. The first child to find three matching halves wins the game.

A Christmas carol game is an interesting way of testing your knowledge of Christmas carols in a team game format. There are a number of games you could play. One example involves one player from the team who is given the name of a carol and must draw a picture. The rest of the team must guess the carol and sing the first verse within a one minute time limit.

Finally, “All Tied Up” is another one of the active Christmas games for groups. Each team forms a circle and is given a ball of twine (one red, one green if possible). The first player winds the twine once around their waist and passes it to the next player who does likewise. The first team to wrap themselves completely in twine wins.

For further details on these and more Christmas games for groups please visit our website.

Andrew owns Family Games Treasurehouse which has over thirty ideas for Christmas party games. Visit http://www.family-games-treasurehouse.com and sign up for our free newsletter to download our ebook, “25 Family Dice Games”. This article is copyright but may be freely republished provided the text, author credit, site links and this copyright notice remain intact.

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One of the most important elements of any kids birthday party is the time spent playing party games. If well planned, they can make great memories for the birthday child and guests alike, if not, they can be a minefield of problems.

Don’t despair – a little forethought and common sense are all that’s needed to make your game time a smashing success!

Follow these Ten Easy Steps to Great Kids Party Games:

1. Group together at least six to eight appropriate party games then adjust down according to
your party timetable. Remember it’s better to have more activities planned than not enough.

2. Run through each game to iron out any glitches that might arise. The party child will be only too happy to help with this and get a sneak preview of the party agenda in the process!

3. Enlist other adults as helpers so things will run smoothly and stress-free. You can promise to reciprocate when their child’s birthday rolls around! Ages and abilities of your party guests should be considered when choosing your party
activities. A five year old won’t be capable of playing charades, but he can probably pop a balloon with his bottom to get the prize inside!

4. Timing is everything! Start your party with an icebreaker game while guests are arriving and end with a quiet game to help kids wind down from all the party excitement.

5. Gather materials you’ll need for each party game in advance and place them in the pre-selected kid-safe location. Pin the Tail on the Donkey just isn’t the same when you’ve forgotten the blindfold!

6. Arbitrate – adult leaders should understand the rules of the games and gently enforce them. Kids have a strong sense of what’s fair and will look to the adults to keep everyone playing by the rules.

7. Make sure each child gets a prize for his or her efforts so everyone feels like a winner. Wrapped candy, stickers, erasers, pencils, coins, medals and other small tokens make great prize incentives.

8. Encouragement and enthusiasm keep guests motivated and happy. For a fun twist, change the rules of the game and give a prize not only to the first player, but to the last one, saying it was the secret plan of the game.

9. Success! Congratulate yourself on a job well done! When your pooped party guests go home to Mom and Dad, this is the part they’ll talk about the most!

10. By taking the first letter of each of the ten steps above, you can spell out what you will accomplish when you follow this guideline: GREAT GAMES!

Patricia B. Jensen is a mother of three and kids party enthusiast. She is the webmaster and owner of Kids-Party-Paradise.com – a complete resource for kids party ideas including invitations, cakes, decorations, games, costumes, favors, and food.

For all the latest party news, read her Kids Party Blog

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