Polar Games
Guide

Christmas party games and white elephant rules

Christmas party games for family, friends and the office, plus simple white elephant gift exchange rules and Secret Santa tips.

By Polarzinho ·

Polarzinho in a Santa hat exchanging gifts with a bunny and a fox in front of a decorated tree and a fireplace

Christmas is my favorite season: there is food, the family gets together and nobody complains when I go back for seconds. But the games are what make a party memorable.

Here are 12 Christmas party games that work with family, friends and coworkers, plus simple white elephant rules and how to run a Secret Santa.

Play Stop! Play Zabum!

Christmas party games

  1. Christmas charades: act out reindeer, carols or Santa going down the chimney, without talking.
  2. Cookie face race: put a cookie on your forehead and get it to your mouth using only your face.
  3. Oven mitt wrap: wrap a present while wearing oven mitts. Fastest neat wrap wins.
  4. Who am I, Christmas edition: stick a Christmas character on everyone's forehead; ask yes-or-no questions to guess.
  5. Hum that carol: one player hums a Christmas song and the others guess.
  6. Blindfolded drawing: draw a Christmas tree or a snowman without looking.
  7. Present hunt: hide a gift around the house with rhyming clues.
  8. Christmas bingo: cards with holiday pictures instead of numbers.
  9. Musical chairs with Christmas songs.
  10. Christmas telephone: whisper a holiday sentence around the circle and see how it ends.
  11. Christmas Stop: categories like holiday food, gifts, decorations and carols.
  12. Christmas trivia: questions about traditions, movies and holiday food.

White elephant rules

  1. Everyone brings one wrapped gift within an agreed budget.
  2. Draw numbers to set the order.
  3. Player 1 opens a gift from the pile.
  4. Each next player either opens a new gift or steals an opened one.
  5. Whoever gets robbed opens a new gift or steals from someone else (but not the gift just taken from them).
  6. A gift can only be stolen a set number of times, often three. After that, it is "frozen".
  7. Optional: at the end, player 1 may swap with anyone, since they never got to steal.

How to run a Secret Santa

  1. Agree on a budget and a date.
  2. Put everyone's name in a hat and draw. If someone draws their own name, draw again.
  3. Keep it secret until the exchange.
  4. At the reveal, describe your person with clues until the group guesses, then hand over the gift.

Play online with family far away

If part of the family is far away, you can still play together in the browser. In Stop!, create a room and send everyone the link.

Stop! home screen with the options to play with the crowd or create a room with friends

PolarzinhoIn Christmas Stop!, I wrote "panettone" for everything. Even for country.

Stop!: create a room and invite the family.

And in Zabum!, the general knowledge quiz, the whole family competes on a live scoreboard.

Zabum! question about Ayrton Senna with four options and the players’ scores

PolarzinhoGrandpa beat everyone at Zabum!. Nobody saw it coming. He did.

Zabum!: a quiz with a live scoreboard and rooms to play together.

FAQ

What is a good Christmas game for the office party?

White elephant, Christmas trivia and charades work well with coworkers.

How many times can a gift be stolen in white elephant?

It is up to the group. Three times is a common limit.

What is the difference between Secret Santa and white elephant?

In Secret Santa, each person buys a gift for someone drawn in secret. In white elephant, gifts go into a pile and can be stolen.

Merry Christmas!

Pick your games, set your white elephant rules and, if family is far away, play together below.

Play Stop! Play Zabum!