Ideas for Christmas games- non-board- for all ages

[Watermelonsugar44]

This thread is for ideas for games to play over the Christmas period which aren’t board games (have loads of these).

We have online murder mystery games (murdered for money) in the past and enjoyed that. We have also enjoyed boxed escape games but they tend to be for less people.

We also devised our own game like scattergories where we have a list of categories eg city, country, celebrity etc and pick a letter. Then you get a point for a correct answer and 2 if no one else gets it.

We used to play so many great/imaginative games in the past which were pre-prepared and easy to play and not too complicated, but I can’t remember them now!

Also quizzes which people used to bring.

Anyone do anything else?

The Mind

The Name Game. Everyone writes four names on strips of paper (celebrities, historical figures etc). Fold them up and put them all in a bowl and split into teams of about 4 people. The teams then get a minute to take turns drawing a piece of paper and describing the person for the rest of the team to guess. The team that guesses the most people wins.

Thank you letter consequences. You need a long strip of paper and a pen for each player.
At the top of the strip write Dear (insert any name) Fold the paper over so it can't be read and pass the paper to the next person.
They write Thank you for (insert name of present) and fold the paper
Next person writes some thing about the present
Next person writes what they will do with the present.
Next person writes who the letter is from( not their actual name)
Pass to the next person who unfolds and reads the letter aloud.
So you might get; Dear Donald Trump, thank you for the cranberry jelly, green and purple are my favourite colours. I shall wear it every time I walk the dog. from Frodo Baggins

We play this every year, everyone loves it and it lasts a while so definitely worth it https://www.onlinescoutmanager.co.uk/programme.php?action=view&id=8006

Google 'parlour games' and loads will come up

A few family games we like that can be improvised or easily planned with little cost or equipment:

Pictionary and charades - there are ideas generators online so you don't need to even think of the categories or items in advance

Name on the head (stick a post-it note on your head) with celebrity name on. Or do pairs where you have to find the person with the same name by asking yes/no questions. Can do animals or even make the animal sounds if there are younger children joining in

Who's in the bag - write celebrity/author/family members/animals/food on bits of paper and pull them out of a hat then describe the thing without giving saying the name or exact thing and people guess who/what they are

Animal vegetable mineral - ask yes/no questions to discover the item someone is thinking of

Mars bar game - take turns rolling a dice and when someone gets a 6 they put on thick gloves, Hat, scarf and try to cut up and eat a mars bar with a knife and fork, or use chop sticks to pick up smarties and move them from one bowl to another. As soon as someone else rolls a 6 they have to stop mid task.

keep talking and nobody explodes-you need an iPad to play it. You work together to help a player diffuse a bomb.

Spyfall

@Forgottenmyphone Is this a link to a game?

@NorthSouthEast Yes, sorry it’s the instructions to play the game.

Choose a Christmas related word and everyone gets one minute to make as many words from that word that they can.

give everyone 2 minutes to come up with a Christmas related word for each letter of the alphabet but you only get a point if no one else has the same word

hold a piece of paper behind your back rip it into the shape of a Christmas tree. Closest one resembling a tree wins.

Tie a piece of ribbon between 2 dining chairs so it is taut. Take turns standing on one of the chairs and dropping a candy cane to hook round the ribbon. Least tries to get it to hook wins

Wrap a bunch of stuff up — some good prizes and others booby prizes. Try and do things you can’t easily identify Everyone throws a dice. If they get a 6 they take a present. If they get a 1 they can steal a present from someone else. Keep going until all presents have been taken from the centre and then open them all

Find a Christmas themed jigsaw and put it on a table in the corner for everyone to do a few pieces when they feel like it

scavenger walk -come up with a list. Things like “ what colour is the door at number 16”.

Choose a Christmas related word and everyone gets one minute to make as many words from that word that they can.

give everyone 2 minutes to come up with a Christmas related word for each letter of the alphabet but you only get a point if no one else has the same word

hold a piece of paper behind your back rip it into the shape of a Christmas tree. Closest one resembling a tree wins.

Tie a piece of ribbon between 2 dining chairs so it is taut. Take turns standing on one of the chairs and dropping a candy cane to hook round the ribbon. Least tries to get it to hook wins

Wrap a bunch of stuff up — some good prizes and others booby prizes. Try and do things you can’t easily identify Everyone throws a dice. If they get a 6 they take a present. If they get a 1 they can steal a present from someone else. Keep going until all presents have been taken from the centre and then open them all

Find a Christmas themed jigsaw and put it on a table in the corner for everyone to do a few pieces when they feel like it

scavenger walk -come up with a list. Things like “ what colour is the door at number 16”.