The winter holidays are a wonderful time for you to get together with your closest family and friends.
Whether you are spending these weeks with a significant other, some close friends, or extended family, you may want to spice up the action as everyone gathers.
A great way to make get-togethers more exciting and adventurous during the holidays is by playing games. Rather than bringing out the usual games that you play all year, you can try holiday-themed games.
Even if you love playing titles like megaways, change is great, especially in the winter season. Below are five of the very best holiday-themed games of all time.
1. Guessing Ornaments
If you have put a lot of effort into decorating the Christmas tree at your house or apartment, you may want to show that off to your guests. What better way to do so than to make it a part of a themed game that you play at a get-together?
Ornament Guess is such a fun game, as you only need to give a slip of paper to each guest as they walk into your home. They are asked to guess how many ornaments are on your tree, and they have to do so immediately, without more than a cursory glance at your tree, then write the number on the paper.
You would be surprised at how much people struggle to guess the correct number of ornaments. If you want to make the game even more fun, you can add a little prize for the person who has the guess closest to the actual number of ornaments on your tree.
2. Christmas Find Out Who
When you are hosting a holiday party that includes family and friends, there is a good chance that some of the people attending are not too familiar with each other.
Rather than having an awkward party where people are not talking or mingling, you want to ensure that everyone is familiar with each other very quickly. That is where Christmas Find out Who comes into the picture.
This game is so much fun, as you can jot down a list of questions on your smartphone or even hand out pieces of paper to guests so they can write down questions.
You can then take turns, with each person having a turn of picking out a question from a list to ask another person at the party. That is a wonderful way for everyone to introduce themselves and to break the ice!
3. Dreidel
Anyone who is Jewish or has Jewish relatives or friends knows about Dreidel. There are very few games that scream Hanukkah in the same way.
Playing dreidel during Jewish holidays is a tradition that has stood for many thousands of years. All you need are a few players, even if they are kids, and you can have a wonderful time with this game.
The dreidel should be made of wood, plastic, or even clay, featuring four sides and a spinning top. You should also have some coins that you can use for betting, which are traditionally meant to be chocolate coins. But you can use any other food items that you want.
The game is so much fun, as everyone gets plenty of turns, and the winning is usually spread out among all the players. Dreidel is the best game that you can play to include the spirit of the holidays in your upcoming get-togethers.
4. Hanukkah Scavenger Hunt
Come up with an idea for a Hannukah-themed scavenger hunt if you are having a family or friends get-together. Only do so if you have adventurous friends, as some people may not like the idea of roaming around the property trying to find various trinkets. Such a game is even more fun if there are kids at your party.
What you should do is set up a theme, such as collecting all blue items or items that begin with the letter H. Then scatter around some of these items in both easy and hard-to-find places, and divide your group up into two teams.
Set a timer for 30 minutes, with whoever has the most items at the end of that time winning the game. You may think a scavenger hunt is a silly way to spend time during the holidays, but you would be surprised how competitive everyone can get when they are playing against family and friends!
5. Christmas Movie Charades
There are countless fantastic movies that have a Christmas or holiday theme. Some people even argue about what qualifies as a Christmas movie, with many insisting that a film like Die Hard is a Christmas or holiday flick.
What better way to celebrate and discuss some of your favorite holiday movies than playing Christmas Movie Charades; take many pieces of paper and write down the names of your favorite Christmas movies. Try to keep the list to movies that are well known, as you do not want guests struggling to act out a lesser-known film.
Divide up the group into two teams and play charades as you would, but with the caveat that titles are being picked out from a list of Christmas movies.
If you are having a party that is for adults, then you may even want to turn this into a drinking game. Perhaps you can add a fun challenge, such as players having to take a drink each time they are the ones to correctly guess a charade from a teammate.
Enjoy Your Holidays to the Fullest
As the warm weather turns cold, and it even starts to snow in some parts of the country, you may be experiencing winter spirit to the fullest extent.
With family and friends gathering, everyone having something to be thankful for this season, and plenty of instances where people get together, there is no better time to play themed games.
The above holiday-themed games are a fantastic way to spice up your Christmas or Hanukkah celebrations in the coming weeks.