5 Fun Holiday Games for Your Office Party

It’s that time of year when many companies plan their holiday parties and employee recognition ceremonies, but finding the right holiday party games for work gatherings can be tricky. Some people like competitive team events, while others prefer trivia and guessing games. When it comes to holiday office games, the only thing that really matters is that everyone has fun.

With that in mind, and in the spirit of giving, we’ve compiled a list of the top five office holiday party games for you.

1. Fun Facts About Your Coworkers

This icebreaker game is a fun way to get everyone involved and share some interesting tidbits about the participants. It’s also one of the easiest to execute.

A few weeks before the party, ask attendees to email a fun fact about themselves. Make sure to tell them what they choose to share will be read aloud to the group and should not already be common knowledge.

On the night of the party choose a time to start (right after dinner works well) and get everyone’s attention. Read through each fact and let the partygoers shout their guesses. If you have an extra competitive group, you can assign points for right answers and award prizes to the person(s) with the most correct guesses.

2. Ornament Seesaw

Some of the most popular holiday office games are “Minute to Win it” types like this one. The goal of ornament seesaw is to see how many ornaments you can balance on a yard stick. To play, you’ll need the following items:

• Paper towel tubes
• Yard sticks
• A lot of unbreakable Christmas tree ornaments

Place your paper towel tubes standing vertically on a table, and balance the yard stick on the end of the paper towel tube. Then set out your selection of ornaments nearby. You may even choose to have the ornaments in a bowl or a box.

After you’ve gotten everything organized, split your group up into teams of two. Each pair can have a turn, or you can choose to have head-to-head matchups. Once the timer starts, the teams will have one minute to see how many ornaments they can balance on the end of the yard stick without knocking it off the paper towel tube. Whoever gets the most ornaments on their yard stick wins!

3. Funniest Gifts: True or False?

Here’s another good icebreaker game. All you’ll need are a few slips of paper and some writing utensils. Have each partygoer write the strangest holiday gift they’ve ever received on their slip of paper. Once everyone has completed their answers, let each participant read theirs aloud and guess whether they’re telling the truth or not.

Find out which of your coworkers are inventive liars and which ones have received truly weird presents 😊

4. Ornament Relay Race

Like ornament seesaw, this game doesn’t just offer a bit of holiday fun, it can also help with teambuilding! Ornament relay race is very similar to the egg-on-spoon race we all played as children. Simply swap the eggs for ornaments and you’re ready to play.

For those who never played the egg-on-spoon game, the rules aren’t complicated. Start by splitting participants into teams of four or five and then mark out a race course – feel free to put some obstacles in or just race from one end of the room to the other.

Each racer starts by holding a spoon straight in front of them and lining up at the starting line. Carefully place an ornament on the spoon of the first racer. When everyone’s ready, yell “Go!” Each team member must race to the end of the course, turn around, and come back to the starting line without dropping their ornament (if they drop their ornament, they must return to the starting line and begin again). Once they’ve completed their circuit and made it back to the starting line, they must carefully transfer their ornament to the next member of their team without using their hands. The first team to complete the course, wins.

5. Marshmallow Wreath Toss

Of all the fun holiday party games on this list, this one may be the best to watch. If you plan to have wreath target practice at your next office holiday party, you’ll have to get a few supplies first:

• Five-gallon bucket (you can find these at any hardware store)
• Wreath
• String/twine
• Tape
• Bags of marshmallows

To play this game, you’ll need some way to hang the wreath from the ceiling. Carefully attach the string/twine to an anchor in the ceiling and then tie the other end to the wreath. Once this is done, place the five-gallon bucket a few feet behind the wreath and use the tape to mark a line on the floor in front of the wreath.

Each competitor will then take turns standing at the line and tossing marshmallows through the wreath and into the bucket. You can decide if you want to give each thrower a certain number of marshmallows or let them toss as many as they can in 30 seconds. The winner will be the person who gets the most marshmallows into the bucket.