Seven Easy Christmas Party Games (Part 2)



Posted: Wednesday, December 01, 2010

by Andrew Low
http://www.family-games-treasurehouse.com

In Part 1 of "Seven Easy Christmas Party Games", we discovered  "All I Want For Christmas" which is a fun icebreaker game, with the children's game "Christmas Stocking Story" and two active party games. In this second and final part, we will investigate two quieter games and a gift exchange game. These easy Christmas party games provide an effortless way to organise the games for your next Christmas gathering.

Snowman  is a Christmas twist on the classic party game of Beetle. About four to six players are seated at a table. (You can have multiple tables playing at any time.) One player at each table begins by throwing the die once. (The plural of die is dice.) Depending on the number shown on the die, the player can add a different part to their drawing of a snowman. Players need to throw a 'one' to start drawing the body. On each of the successive rounds, they throw the die again and can add to their drawing. Each player will need to throw a '2' (head) before they can add the hat (by throwing a '3'), eyes (a '4'; two eyes required) or a carrot nose (a '5'). They will also need to throw a '6' three times (once for each button). When you have drawn the rest of the diagram you will need to throw another 'one' before another 'two' and so forth up to 'six' to draw a scarf around the snowman's neck. It is not necessary to throw them consecutively. For example, it would be okay to throw 1, 5, 3, 2, 6, 3, 1, 3, 4, 5, 4, 2, 6. If a player has already drawn one part of the snowman and throw that number again (except for the two eyes and three buttons), they forfeit their turn. The first player to complete their drawing shouts ‘Snowman!' and wins the game.

Christmas Memory Game requires some prior preparation by setting about ten to twelve Christmas-related objects on a tray (for example; manger, candle, tinsel, star, candle, cookie, tree, small gift, wrapping paper, ribbon, etc.) Players also need a sheet of paper and a pencil. Players are seated in a circle with the tray in the middle so that all players can see it clearly. They have about thirty seconds to look at all the items before the tray is covered with a cloth. Players attempt to write down as many items as they can remember from the tray in the next two minutes, without cheating by looking at other player's lists. At the end of the two minutes, the tray is uncovered and each person counts how many items they had correct. The person with the most number of items is the winner.

Parcel Frenzy is a simple, fun Christmas party game for exchanging gifts. Prior to the party, arrange for each guest to bring a gift worth an agreed value (say, $10). Gifts should be suitable for males or females of any age, if possible, and should be wrapped neatly in a used shoe box (or similar) so all the gifts are identical. Gifts are placed in one location before the party. At the beginning of the game, each player chooses a gift and then sits in a circle. Christmas music is played and players pass the gifts in a clockwise direction. When the music stops, each player holds the gift they have at that time. Players can then choose to keep the gift they are holding and retire from the circle, or they may choose to stay in the circle and continue passing the remaining gifts. They may choose to retire at the end of any round, until the end of five rounds. At the end of the fifth round every player opens their gift. Once they are opened, players cannot exchange gifts (unless a gift is totally inappropriate).

For further details on these or various other easy Christmas party games, see our website.

Andrew owns Family Games Treasurehouse which has rules for over two hundred family games. Visit http://www.family-games-treasurehouse.com/ebook-sales.html and sign up for our free newsletter to download our ebook, "25 Family Dice Games" or purchase our ebook "The Family Guide to Christmas Party Games" with twenty-four fantastic Christmas 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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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Jennifer Stewart
 1 year 153 days ago.
152 fans.
I've played parcel frenzy. It was a lot of fun, and I got a Swiss army knife, which is something I never would have bought for myself, but has been so useful!
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