Games to Play on Christmas Eve: an Evening Plan for Families, from Dinner to Bedtime
Christmas Eve has a rhythm of its own: the excitement peaks around dinner, the children are far too wound up to sleep, and somehow everyone still has to be in bed before Father Christmas comes. If you are a parent or grandparent looking for games to play on Christmas Eve, the trick is not just choosing good games but putting them in the right order – lively first, calm last. Here is an evening plan from 17:00 to 21:00 with eight games for ages 6 to adult, ending with a wind-down ritual that sends everyone to bed happy.
Games to play on Christmas Eve: why the evening needs a plan
Most Christmas Eve meltdowns happen for the same reason: a lively game straight before bed, or a long quiet one when the children are still bouncing. Think of the evening as a slope from high energy to low:
- 17:00–18:00 – dinner, then two lively games to burn off the excitement
- 18:00–19:00 – the board game hour, everyone at one table
- 19:00–20:00 – quiet games by the tree
- 20:00–20:30 – the last game before bed and the wind-down ritual
- 21:00 – grown-ups only (and the stockings)
Shift the times to suit your family – with younger children, start an hour earlier. What matters is the order.
After dinner: two lively games to burn off the excitement
- Oven-glove wrapping race. Give each player an empty box, a sheet of wrapping paper, tape and a pair of oven gloves to wear. The first to wrap the box so that no cardboard shows wins. Teens and grandparents are just as clumsy as the children, which is the whole point.
- Pass the parcel. Wrap a small prize in many layers, with a joke or a forfeit (“sing the first line of a carol”) between each one. Play music, pass the parcel round, and whoever holds it when the music stops removes one layer. Make sure every child unwraps at least once.
The board game hour: one game, everyone at one table
By six o’clock the room needs to settle, and a board game is the perfect bridge. Choose one game that plays in 20–40 minutes, so you can fit in a rematch, and that gives the youngest real choices without leaving them behind. Avoid long trivia games where the six-year-old cannot answer anything, and games with player elimination, where someone sits out for half an hour on the most exciting night of the year.
A Christmas-themed game helps the mood. In Holly Lane, for example, each player is one of Father Christmas’s helpers delivering gifts around a snowy village – a fitting story for the night itself, and the game ends on time because Father Christmas moves one step toward Morning after every round. Whatever you play, set it up before dinner, so that nobody is cutting out cards at six o’clock.
- The board game. One game, one rematch if the mood is right, then put it away while everyone is still having fun.
Quiet games by the tree
Turn the main lights down and let the tree lights do the work. These games are played sitting down and need nothing but voices.
- Christmas charades. Write Christmas films, songs and books on slips of paper and act them out without words. Pair a younger child with an adult so they can whisper ideas.
- Twenty questions: what’s under the tree? One person thinks of a present (not a real one – no spoilers!). The others ask yes-or-no questions: “Is it bigger than a shoe?” “Can you eat it?” You have twenty questions to work it out.
- Hum the carol. Take turns humming a carol, with no words, while the others guess.
- Christmas memory tray. Put ten small Christmas things on a tray – a cracker, a candy cane, a bauble, a bell. Everyone looks for one minute, then the tray is covered and one item is removed. What is missing?
The last game before bed: a wind-down ritual
The final game should be the calmest of the evening and should end somewhere near the stairs. We like to turn it into a small ritual the children look forward to every year:
- Father Christmas’s checklist. Together, prepare the plate for the night visitor – a mince pie, a carrot for the reindeer, a glass of milk. While you do, go round the family: everyone names one good thing from this year and one wish for tomorrow. Nobody can name a present – it has to be something else. Then the plate goes by the fireplace or the door, the lights go out, and that is the signal that the night has begun.
Keep the ritual the same every year: it is much easier to say “after the checklist it’s bedtime” than to argue about one more game.
More quick games for Christmas Eve
If your family wants more than eight, these need almost no preparation and slot into any part of the plan:
- Santa says – Simon says with Christmas actions (lively).
- Paper snowball toss – crumpled paper into a bucket from a line on the floor (lively).
- Who am I? – a Christmas character on a sticky note on your forehead, yes-or-no questions only (quiet).
- Christmas drawing game – draw a Christmas word without letters while your team guesses (quiet).
- Hide the bauble – hide one unbreakable bauble in the room and guide the seekers with “warmer” and “colder” (calm).
Mixing ages: grandparents, teens and six-year-olds
- Pair big and small. In charades and the wrapping race, teams of one adult and one child keep things fair.
- Give teens a job. Put them in charge of the music for pass the parcel or of keeping the score – they join in far more willingly with a role.
- Let grandparents choose one game. Ask them what they played on Christmas Eve as children and add it to the quiet hour.
- Stop on a high. End each game while everyone is still laughing, not when the first tears appear.
- Safety. Keep real candles away from the play area and small game pieces out of reach of children under 3.
A board game for your Christmas Eve
Looking for a game for the board game hour? Holly Lane is a printable Christmas board game for 2–6 players aged 6+ that you can print and cut out in advance. Read how it works in our article on Christmas board games for the whole family, or start with the free edition for 2–4 players.
Download the free edition See the full edition Christmas board games for families