As the song goes, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” But what is it that makes Christmas so special? The time with family, the gifts, the festive decorations, or the great food?
Or is the excuse to have baileys with breakfast and show yourself up at the Christmas party?
Read our guide below to find some of the best Christmas party drinking games you’ll love to play at your next Christmas party.
Best Drinking Games For Your Next Christmas Party
We’ve all been there, organizing or attending the sometimes dreaded work’s Christmas party. I think it’s safe to say they don’t always go to plan, and there is always that one person who likes to drink too much and become the talk of the office till January.
However, whether we like it or not, at some point, you will have to make an appearance or even arrange one yourself. So, what can you do to make the party as fun as possible and ensure that nobody feels awkward or left out? Drinking games, of course!
Throughout this guide to the best Christmas party drinking games for the holiday, I will tell you about all the games I have played at Christmas parties. And to let you know, they have gone down a treat and been the topic of conversation for weeks after the event.
I will give you a small tutorial on how to play each game and tell you where you can find everything you need. However, some of these games need nothing but bodies and booze, so if you’re on a budget, you’re in look.
Now, let’s take a look at how we can make your next Christmas party one to remember.
1. Christmas Alphabet Drinking Game
To play the Christmas Alphabet Drinking Game, you will need some alcohol and disposable cups (if you want to save on the washing up). These Christmas-themed cups are a great choice, and they’re also recyclable.
The idea of the game is to create a formation in the group (you could all sit around a table, for example) and then go around the group. Finally, you each name something, starting with each letter of the alphabet. For example, choose a topic such as “fruit,” then the first person might say “an apple,” the next “banana,” the third “citrus,” and so on. However, there is a catch, if you linger for longer than 5 seconds, you lose and must take a drink. The same goes if you can’t come up with an answer at all.
2. Never Have I Ever
Never Have I Ever is a great game that will bring even the quietest person at the party out of their shell. It’s also a great way to discover your fellow players’ hidden secrets.
To play the game, one person will call out something like, “Never have I ever…stolen someone’s sandwich from work.” Then, anyone in the group who has committed the said act will take a sip of their drink. The person who calls out the action may or may not have committed it themselves.
You can find a full tutorial on how to play with my Never Have I Ever Rules Guide.
3. Drink If
As you can probably guess from the name, Drink If entails taking a sip of your drink if you are doing or have done whatever is requested, for example, “drink if you’re wearing socks” or “drink if your name begins with A.” This is an entertaining game that can be played using your own rules, or why not get more inspiration from the cards in the official Drink If Game.
4. Antler Toss
The Antler Toss game is great fun and an excellent excuse to make everyone at the party show off their silly side.
Simply take turns wearing the inflatable antlers and have the other party members try to toss the rings onto the antlers. Each person who misses must take a drink. But, for every ring that lands on the reindeer, the antler wearer must take a drink instead.
5. Christmas Movie Drinking Game
Everyone loves a good Christmas movie during the holiday period, so what better than to combine it with a fun drinking game?
The rules are simple, and you can make up your own rules entirely if you want. For instance, a common play method is to have three different drinking categories: take a sip, finish your drink and take shots!
What you’ll need to do is assign specific actions or scenes that take place throughout the movie to a drinking category, such as take a shot when someone kisses under the mistletoe, finish your drink when the Grinch shouts “Max!“, or take a sip when Elf says “Santa!”. Of course, these rules can be adapted to whatever movie you choose.
If you like movie-themed games, you should check out my guide to playing the Harry Potter Drinking Game.
6. The Santa Hat Game
This Christmas party drinking game is a classic and, personally, one of my favorites. The rules are simple, pick a movie, pop it on, and put your Santa hat on the corner of the television. Each time a character in the film appears to be wearing the Santa hat, everyone takes a drink. Don’t have a Santa hat? No problem, you can pick them up for a meager price on Amazon.
7. Christmas Dinner Drinking Game
If you want to add a bit of extra something to your Christmas dinner, here is a game you can play while sitting around the dinner table after finishing your turkey. This is a great game to play if you have guests coming for Christmas or if you’re sharing Christmas dinner with your work colleagues.
You make up your rules for the game by enlisting a set of words, topics, or questions, and when any of the above is mentioned, everyone must drink. For example, a subject could be pets, or words could be New Year.
8. Christmas Trivia
If you love the classic version of trivial pursuit, why not try your hand at the Christmas trivia game for your Christmas party? This game can easily be transformed into a drinking game by introducing rules such as taking a sip of your drink when you answer incorrectly or your team taking a shot each time they lose a round.
9. Beer Pong Sweater Game
Technically, this is just a typical game of beer pong, but instead, you are wearing the ugliest Christmas sweater you can get your hands on. The more silly you look, the better.
If you’ve never played beer pong before, then find out all you need to know about The Beer Ball Drinking Game with my handy tutorial.
10. Christmas Song Drinking Game
Christmas songs are now played everywhere from at least the middle of November in the run to the big day. So, the chances are, you know the words to each and every one of the Christmas classics.
So, turn your lyrical knowledge into a fun drinking game by each taking turns singing a line of a famous Christmas song, and whenever somebody falters, they have to take a sip of their drink. This gets a lot more hilarious the more everyone has to drink.
11. Cornhole Drinking Game Version
Cornhole is a game played by many people all year round, but did you know there was a Christmas-drinking cornhole game?
The rules are the same as the classic game of cornhole, which involves tossing bean bags into a target and scoring points. This can be made into a drinking game by introducing your own rules, such as taking a shot if you miss the hole or finishing your drink if you have the least amount of points at the end.
12. Tissue Paper Shot Race
To play this game, each person starts with a straw, and one person has a piece of tissue paper. The aim is to pass the tissue paper to the next person using the straw and your mouth only, no hands! If you’ve ever played the suck-and-blow drinking game, this is just like that, only with straws.
The game continues around the group until someone finally drops the piece of paper, at which point they must take a drink.
13. Roll The Dice
This is probably one of the most uncomplicated games in my guide and could be a good one to save for later in the night when people start to lose concentration.
All you need to play is a simple 6-sided dice. The rules are to roll the dice, and whatever number it lands on depends on your action. You can make up your own rules or take mine for inspiration, which are as follows:
- Take a sip of your drink
- Finish your drink
- Take a shot with the player to your right
- Mix a cocktail for another player
- Everyone sips their drink
- Select a player to perform a drink action
14. Kris Kringle
Although this game sounds extremely simple, it is probably one of the funniest games on this list, especially once people get a couple of drinks down them.
Players should all sit around the room and go around the circle, taking turns to say, “Kris Kringle.” However, at some point, any player may say the words “Jingle Jingle,” which not only reverses the order of the game but also means everyone must now say “Kringle Kris” instead. As you can imagine, this can become tricky to keep up with and become a bit of a tongue twister.
I am sure you’ve guessed by now, but the drinking comes in when someone messes up what they’re meant to say, which starts to happen more regularly the longer the game goes on.
15. Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
Have you ever played the kid’s party game musical statues? How do you like the sounds of an adult Christmas version that includes alcohol? Very much I hear you say? Well, you can!
Rockin ‘Around The Christmas Tree involves nothing but music, dancing, and drinks, and it goes precisely the same as the kids’ classic version, except anyone seen to be still moving, even slightly, when the music stops has to take a drink.
You can make this even more enjoyable by introducing an additional rule, where if someone gets caught moving three times in a row, they have to drink a shot.
Summary
So, as the Christmas countdown is underway, and you’re planning a Christmas party with your workmates, or perhaps with your friends and family, I hope I have given you a list big enough to pack your party full of fun and frolics.
Furthermore, if you want to continue your parties after the Christmas period, you should also check out my guide to the best phone app party games.
