One of the best things about the holiday season is that it brings people together. Friends, family, and neighbors come together to celebrate at parties and dinners throughout December. Although conversation and eating often dominate large parts of these celebrations, if you have a little extra time on your hands, why not play a few games? Below we’ve compiled a list of Christmas games for seniors, but most of these games work well for people of all ages.
Christmas Games for Seniors
Candy Canes (the holiday version of “Spoons”)
If you’ve played Spoons, you know how to play Candy Canes. All you need is a deck of cards, three or more people, and some candy canes (one less than the number of players). Everyone sits in a circle with four cards in their hands. Cards are passed around the circle, and the first person to get four of a kind takes a candy cane from the center of the table as stealthily as possible. All of the other players then grab a candy cane as quickly and sneakily as they can. Whoever fails to grab a candy cane is eliminated, and the game continues until just one person remains.
Festive Pictionary or Charades
Everyone knows how to play Pictionary and charades. To add a little festive cheer to these popular party games, only select words and phrases that relate to Christmas. For example, you could use activities related to Christmas: making a snow angel, decorating the tree, building a gingerbread house, opening presents, caroling, and drinking hot chocolate. Or you could do a round of Christmas songs: Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, Blue Christmas, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, The Twelve Days of Christmas, All I Want for Christmas Is You, Let It Snow, etc.
Name That Carol
Give each participant a blank list and then play short snippets of popular Christmas songs. Everyone writes down which song they think it is, and whoever has the most correct guesses wins. If you have a large group, split everyone into teams. Not only will everyone have fun playing the game, but they’ll also enjoy the camaraderie they share with their teammates.
Team Gift-Wrapping
Could you wrap a present one-handed? Probably not, but what about if you teamed up with another one-handed person? Split your group into teams of two and have each pair stand side-by-side. Then, tie their hands together in the center (tying one person’s right hand to the other person’s left hand). Give each team a box (or an actual present), wrapping paper, scissors, tape, and ribbon. Using only their free hands, the participants must work together with their partners to wrap the boxes – including tying up the present with a bow. The team that properly wraps their gift the fastest wins!
Christmas Trivia
Finally, if you want to test your guests’ holiday knowledge, why not play trivia? Check out our last blog post for some Christmas trivia.
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As we mentioned above, this is a list of Christmas games for seniors as well as adults and older children, but it could easily be adapted to work with young children as well. Or if everyone on your team is a Christmas expert, you can make Pictionary, charades, and trivia a little harder by choosing more difficult clues.
Merry Christmas!
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