Not all fun and games at Christmastime have to be for children – or have to be serious. Adults are allowed to join in on the fun too. Here are some great holiday game ideas for adults and, yes, they are appropriate.
(THOSE games may be saved for another article!)
Pantyhose Antlers
If you’re with a group that is not afraid of looking silly (and even if they are, who cares?), this is a great game for some laughs!
Provide a pair of pantyhose and 8 balloons for each team. When the game begins, the team should begin blowing up the balloons and stuffing the inflated balloons into the pantyhose. To make this game fair, the teams should be of equal number and the pantyhose should be larger than a size small. For a more challenging game, ignore that last bit.
The game ends when someone gets all their balloons in to the legs of the pantyhose, “wears” the antlers on their head and sings the first verse of “Jingle Bells”. Make sure that everyone finishes the game so you can get some great pictures of everyone wearing their pantyhose antlers.
Santa Beard Relay
This is a fun relay-type game involving cotton balls and Vaseline. Place cotton balls into a large bowl and place beside it a jar of Vaseline. Put some Vaseline on the chins of each member of each team (ideally, 2 teams of about 5 people each). The first players in line run to the bowl of cotton balls and sticks there chin in, trying to get as many to stick to the Vaseline as possible. They then run to the back of their line so the next player can have a turn.
When everyone on a team has a beard, that team wins! Don’t forget to take plenty of pictures – and to have some towels on hand to clean the Vaseline off.
Packing Santa’s Bag
This game is great for a smaller group of people who appreciate a more quiet game. You start by saying, “I packed Santa’s bag and in it I put ______”, choosing an item for the blank. The next person repeats this phrase and then adds their own item: “I packed Santa’s bag and in it I put __________ and _________.” The game continues as each person adds a new items while also listing the items that were added before. You are out of the game if you miss an item.
Bonus points if someone wins while inebriated.
Christmas Scavenger Hunt
Create teams of about 4 people per team and make a list of items they need to return with. You can focus the list on items in the home or broaden it to the neighbourhood or all over town.
If you choose to have guests traipse all over town for items, you can have even more fun and include items such as a holly-decorated box of tissue or photographic proof of kissing under a mistletoe. The upswing of making this a game for adults is that you can get very creative and daring if you so choose.
Hershey’s Kisses Relay
Everyone enjoys Hershey’s kisses at Christmastime. Divide you group into two teams and have two bowls of Hershey’s kisses at the other end of the room. Give each team one set of over-sized mittens or gloves. The first person in line runs to the bowl of kisses and has to unwrap one kiss while wearing the mittens or gloves and pop the kiss into their mouth. They run back, tag the next person in line and exchange the mittens or gloves with them. The winning team is the one in which all members have enjoyed a kiss first.
