Christmas Charades: How to Play

Christmas charades is a silent acting game. One person acts out a holiday word while their team guesses. It needs no equipment, works at any party and gets everyone laughing, even if people claim they can’t act.

What You Need

• Slips of paper and pens
• A bowl or hat
• A timer
• Paper to keep score

Set Up the Game

1. Give everyone three or four slips of paper.
2. Ask each person to write a Christmas word or phrase on each slip. Use people, places, songs, movies or actions.
3. Fold the slips and drop them in the bowl.
4. Split into two teams and sit them on opposite sides of the room.

How to Play

1. A player from Team A picks a slip and reads it silently.
2. A timer starts for one minute.
3. The player acts out the word without talking or making sounds, and without pointing at objects with words on them.
4. Their team shouts guesses. When someone is right, the actor picks another slip.
5. When the minute is over, count the correct guesses. Each one scores a point.
6. Team B takes a turn. Keep alternating until the bowl is empty.
7. The team with the most points wins.

Classic Charades Signals

These tricks speed up guessing:

• Number of words: hold up that many fingers.
• Which word: hold up a number to say you are on word two, for example.
• Sounds like: tug your ear.
• Longer or shorter: pull an imaginary rubber band apart or squeeze it together.
• Movie, song or book: crank an imaginary camera, sing silently or open your hands like a book.

Christmas Word Ideas

• Easy: Santa, reindeer, snowman, stocking, candy cane, wrapping a gift.
• Medium: decorating the tree, building a gingerbread house, sledding, Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
• Hard: The Grinch, It’s a Wonderful Life, a partridge in a pear tree, Secret Santa, the Nutcracker.

Variations

• Kids’ version: Use pictures instead of words, or choose easy actions. Let children act in pairs.
• Teen and adult version: Add movie titles and carols, and shorten the timer to 45 seconds.
• Big groups: Use three or four teams and play for two rounds.
• Speed round: Players act as many words as they can in two minutes.
• No-props round: Everyone must stand still and only use their face.

Tips for a Fun Game

• Choose a friendly scorekeeper who keeps things moving.
• Let people skip a word once per turn if they are stuck.
• Encourage shy players to act with a partner.
• Keep the mood light. The funniest moments come from guesses that are very wrong.

Common Mistakes

• Writing words that are too hard, which makes the game slow.
• Letting turns run past the timer.
• Teams that talk over each other. Take turns guessing out loud.
• Forgetting to mix easy and hard words.

If you want a quieter option, try Christmas Pictionary, where players draw instead of act. For younger children, Santa Says is a good warm-up game.

Charades is easy to start and always ends with laughter. Pick a bowl, tear some paper and let the show begin.