No skills are necessary for these hilarious family Christmas games. In fact, the worse you are, the better this race-to-the-finish relay gets. Want printable instructions? Get the ‘Reindeer Games Guide‘ in our Meaningful Holiday Memories bundle!
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Over the years, our family has always tried to find unique ways to keep the holidays entertaining. When the kids were little, it was an effort to keep the TV off on Christmas Day. We’ve gone bowling in matching holiday pajamas, played board games, and done family music concerts.
Now that we’ve got a hand-full of tweens and teens, we’re coming up with ideas in an effort to keep the kids happily off their smartphones. Here are my girls and their goofball cousins…
Last year, my husband and youngest daughter (Rose) modified a collection of traditional “minute to win it” games and created a team-based Christmas Relay Challenge using a collection of simple family Christmas games. We had so much fun, I just have to share.
Disclaimer: Now I admit, when some of the adults learned the Christmas Relay Challenge was a required family event… there were a few huffs and puffs. By the end of the relay though, there was non-stop laughter and cheering. In fact, a few family members have asked Rose what new games are on the agenda for this year.
Setting up a Christmas Relay Challenge with your family in three simple steps:
- Pick your three or four of your favorite challenges from the list of 10+ family Christmas games below.
- Break into small groups of two or more family members.
- Review the challenge and relay instructions together… then GO!
Our family of twelve broke into three groups of four members. If you have any really young kids, consider buddying them up as a “two for one” with an adult. These are the general rules we followed during our Christmas Relay Challenge:
- Only one team member can be working on a challenge at a time. This way you get to enjoy watching your team members’ attempts.
- A team member is allowed to move forward to the next challenge, only upon successfully completing the previous challenge.
- The team that successfully accomplishes the collection of challenges in the shortest amount of time wins (and gets full bragging rights for the next 365 days).
Of course, you can feel free to modify the rules to meet your family’s needs. Whatever works best for you!
Want printable instructions for our five favorite minute-to-win-it family Christmas games? Get your copy of “Reindeer Games” guide as part of our Meaningful Holiday Memories Ultimate Bundle.
10 Hilarious Family Christmas Games
Here are the three family-friendly Christmas games we used during our relay last year…
Family Christmas Game #1: The Christmas Cookie Challenge
Challenge: You must move a cookie from their forehead to your mouth using your facial muscles — no hands allowed!
Supplies needed: One cookie per team member (plus spares!).
Notes: Be cautious of holiday cookies. No one needs sprinkles in their eyes. We used Oreos for simplicity’s sake (and to ensure consistency across the teams).
Instructions:
- Lean your head back and place a cookie in the center of your forehead.
- Use the muscles on your face to move the cookie down to your mouth.
- If the cookie falls before reaching your mouth, you have to start over.
- You must securely hold the cookie in your mouth for a full 3-second count.
- Pop the cookie in your mouth (you can use your hands now!) and eat it.
Family Christmas Game #2: Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice Challenge
Challenge: You must balance six sugar cubes on a Popsicle stick that is held in your mouth for a full 3-second count.
Supplies needed: A box of sugar cubes, a bowl, and jumbo Popsicle sticks. (affiliate links)
Notes: You could also play this game with unwrapped Rolo chocolates–YUM. We happened to have a container of double-dice on hand, so we used them for our challenge.
Instructions:
- Put the Popsicle stick in your mouth.
- Grabs items from the bowl and stacks them on the Popsicle stick.
- The six items must stay on the stick for a full 3-second count. If they fall down, the player can get them and try stacking again.
Family Christmas Game #3: Hot Mitts Challenge
Challenge: Put together a puzzle while wearing thick winter mittens or Christmas oven mitts.
Supplies needed: Mittens, oven mitts, and puzzles.
Notes: The puzzles you pick for this challenge, should be based on the age of the kiddos involved. A nice thick wood puzzle (like this chunky Christmas Tree Puzzle) might be a great fit, if you’ve got a lot of young kids in the family.
If you’ve got elementary-aged kids, I highly recommend Melissa & Doug’s Floor Puzzles for this challenge. Basically, they’re complex puzzles (ranging from 24-100 pieces), but the piece sizes are big. We used 48 piece puzzles for our challenge and it felt like a good fit!
Disclosure: I am a Melissa & Doug Blog Ambassador, but this is not a sponsored post. We just had a lot of their floor puzzles on hand. I noticed the large piece size ROCKED for this challenge, so I wanted to share.
Instructions:
- Designate a “puzzle builder” to begin and have them put on the mittens or oven mitts.
- Other team members may help strategically sort and point out where pieces go within the puzzle, but only the designated “puzzle builder” can add pieces to the puzzle.
- Your hands will get hot in those mitts! Team members can tag team and appoint a new “puzzle builder” at any point during the challenge.
I am proud to say that my team, showcased in the last pic, rocked the individual challenges and came together with the puzzle challenge to kick some butt (despite me continuing to pause and take photos). Here are ten additional minute to win it games that can be modified for a Christmas Relay Challenge.
10 Minute To Win It Family Christmas Games
You might also enjoy…
- Snow Shovel Race: The team’s designated snow shoveler uses one spoon to shovel a pile of snow (cotton balls) into a bowl.
- Jingle All the Way: Attach a Kleenex box with 8 bells to your backside. Then “Rock Around the Christmas Tree,” shaking your bootie until all the bells fall out of the box.
- Marshmallow Toss: Attach a wreath to a bucket and start tossing mallows. Set a required number of marshmallows in the bucket to move forward to the next challenge.
- Snowman Stomp: For this challenge, you’ll need to blow a pyramid of snowman cups off a table using a Q-tip and straw.
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Get a red pom pom to stick to your vaseline covered nose for a count of 3-seconds.
- Silent Night: If you’ve got little ones in the house, add one of these simple jingle bell obstacles to your evening!
- Stack the Holiday Cups: Stack 36 plastic cups in a pyramid using only one hand.
- Decorate the Christmas Tree: As fast as you can, move one green cup through the stack of 39 red cups, til the green cup is back on the top.
- Nut Stacker: Using candy canes stack eight metal nuts, one on top of another, to move forward to the next challenge.
- Keep Christmas Spirits High: A two-person team (each using only one hand) must keep three red & green balloons in the air for 60 seconds (or a designated number of taps). If a balloon hits the ground, the timer or count needs to reset!
CHRISTMAS EVE BONUS CHALLENGE: Roll a designated number of twelves using two dice (“midnights” welcoming Christmas Day) to move forward in the holiday relay.
If you have any questions about our family’s Christmas Relay Challenge or more family Christmas games to suggest, let me know in the comments.
Happy Holidays!!!
P.S. Want printable instructions for our five favorite minute-to-win-it family Christmas games? Get your copy of “Reindeer Games” guide as part of our Meaningful Holiday Memories Ultimate Bundle.
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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