The Top Fun & Festive Games & Activities For Holiday Work Parties

The holiday season is the perfect time for some fun, laughter, and bonding among teams. If you're looking to spread some festive cheer in the office (or virtually!), team building activities for Christmas are a great way to do so. From virtual games to in-person activities, there’s no shortage of creative ideas to make your team’s Christmas celebrations memorable.

But let’s face it—it's not just about the work you do. It's about the memories you create along the way. And what better way to build those memories than through some festive and fun team-building games that’ll have everyone in the holiday spirit?

35 Holiday Team Building Activities for Christmas Fun

1. Christmas Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt is a festive way to get everyone moving and working together. Create a list of holiday-themed items like Santa hats, candy canes, or Christmas ornaments, and have teams race to find them around the office or virtually, with photos or videos as proof.

How it works: Divide your team into smaller groups, give them the list of items, and set a timer. The team that finds the most items within the time limit wins.

2. Gingerbread House Decorating Contest

Get creative with this sweet challenge! Provide gingerbread house kits or ingredients and let your team build and decorate houses. The more outlandish, the better.

How it works: Teams work together to decorate their gingerbread house within a set time limit. You can add categories like “most creative” or “best holiday theme” to make the judging fun and diverse.

3. Secret Santa with a Twist

Secret Santa is a holiday classic, but adding a twist can make it more exciting. This time, set a theme for the gifts—like something handmade, funny, or personal.

How it works: Draw names anonymously and make sure the gift fits the theme. After the gifts are exchanged, everyone guesses who their Secret Santa was based on the gift’s uniqueness.

4. Holiday Carol Lip Sync Battle

Who needs to sing when you can lip-sync with style? This activity turns a classic Christmas carol into a performance art.

How it works: Assign a Christmas carol to each team. Teams then prepare their lip-sync performance, complete with costumes, props, and choreography. Performances can be recorded or done live for the entire group to enjoy.

5. Christmas-Themed Pictionary

A holiday twist on the classic Pictionary game. Players draw holiday-related items, characters, or actions, while their teammates guess what they are.

How it works: Split into teams. One person draws a holiday-related word (e.g., Christmas tree, snowman, reindeer) without using words or letters, and their team has to guess the word within a time limit.

6. Holiday Trivia Quiz

Christmas trivia is a great way to test how much your team knows about the season. You can ask questions about Christmas movies, songs, traditions, and history.

How it works: Prepare a list of questions in categories such as “Christmas Movies,” “Holiday Foods,” and “Christmas Songs.” Teams answer the questions and score points for each correct answer. Need inspiration? Check out our list of Christmas trivia questions here!

7. Game Night Tournament

Get the competitive spirit going with a game night! Use a platform like Internet Game, to start a tournament a play bunch of simple and seriously fun games!

How it works: Sign on to Internet Game, start a tournament, choose your games, and get playing! Amp up the fun by putting a prize on the line for the winners!

8. Christmas Tree Decorating Contest

Whether it's a full-size or mini tree, teams can get competitive by decorating their trees with creative themes and materials.

How it works: Provide each team with a tree (real or virtual) and let them decorate it with ornaments, garlands, and lights. Set a time limit and have everyone vote for the best tree.

9. Holiday-Themed Charades

Charades is a fun and interactive way to play without words. Add a holiday theme by acting out Christmas-related terms.

How it works: Prepare a list of holiday phrases or actions (e.g., “building a snowman,” “singing a Christmas carol”) for players to act out while their team guesses.

10. Christmas-Themed Escape Room

Virtual or physical escape rooms can be modified with holiday-themed challenges. Puzzles can include finding Santa’s missing reindeer or solving riddles to unlock gifts.

How it works: Set up a series of holiday-themed puzzles, clues, and locks. The team must work together to solve the puzzles and “escape” the room within a time limit.

11. Cookie Decorating Challenge

A delicious team-building activity where participants decorate holiday cookies. Teams can get creative with frosting, sprinkles, and decorations.

How it works: Provide pre-baked cookies and various decorating supplies. Teams compete to create the most creative or festive cookie designs. Have a judge to pick the winners or let everyone vote.

12. Ugly Sweater Contest

The tackier, the better! Encourage your team to wear their most outrageous Christmas sweaters, and vote for the ugliest.

How it works: Set up a fashion show where everyone parades their sweaters, then vote on categories such as “Most Creative,” “Funniest,” and “Most Over-the-Top.”

13. Holiday Bingo

Holiday bingo adds a festive twist to the classic game. Use Christmas-related phrases, images, and symbols to fill the bingo cards.

How it works: Prepare bingo cards with holiday items (e.g., snowflakes, Santa, Christmas tree) and call out items. The first team to complete a row or column wins.

14. Christmas Movie Bingo

Watch classic Christmas movies while filling out a bingo card with movie clichés or specific scenes that appear.

How it works: Watch a holiday movie together and mark off clichés or scenes from the bingo card, such as “someone says ‘Merry Christmas,’” or “there’s snow in the background.”

15. Holiday Gift Wrapping Race

Race against time to wrap gifts the fastest and most creatively. The holiday season wouldn’t be complete without some gift wrapping fun!

How it works: Each team has a gift they must wrap within a set time limit. The catch: the gift must be wrapped perfectly and creatively, with teams judged on presentation and speed.

16. Snowman Relay

A fun relay race where teams must build the tallest or most creative snowman out of available materials like cotton balls, paper, or even marshmallows.

How it works: Teams race against each other to build their snowman in the most creative way using the available materials.

17. Reindeer Antler Ring Toss

A fun holiday-themed ring toss game where you aim rings at reindeer antlers (real or cardboard).

How it works: Players must throw rings (like Christmas wreaths or hoops) over reindeer antlers. Each successful toss earns points, and the team with the most points wins.

18. Holiday-Themed Jeopardy

A festive spin on the classic Jeopardy game, where questions revolve around Christmas movies, traditions, songs, and more.

How it works: Create categories related to Christmas (e.g., “Christmas Songs,” “Holiday Foods,” “Famous Christmas Movies”) and challenge teams to answer trivia questions in a game show-style format.

19. Christmas Karaoke Contest

Everyone loves a good sing-along during the holidays, so why not host a Christmas karaoke contest?

How it works: Participants select a Christmas song, and they perform their best rendition. The most enthusiastic and festive performances win!

20. Hot Chocolate Bar Creation

Teams compete to create the most delicious and festive hot chocolate drinks, complete with all the toppings and mix-ins.

How it works: Provide hot chocolate, toppings (marshmallows, whipped cream, candy canes), and mix-ins (peppermint, caramel). Teams create their signature drinks, and everyone votes for the best one.

21. Christmas Storytelling

Share personal or creative holiday stories. It could be funny, heartfelt, or entirely fictional.

How it works: Team members take turns telling their favorite holiday memories or made-up stories. Afterward, everyone votes on the funniest, most creative, or most heartwarming story.

22. Christmas-Themed Escape Challenge (Online)

Host an online holiday escape room where teams solve riddles and puzzles in a virtual environment.

How it works: Set up a holiday-themed online escape room that challenges teams to solve puzzles and complete tasks to "escape" before time runs out.

23. Gingerbread House Building with Mystery Ingredients

Add a twist to gingerbread house decorating by incorporating mystery ingredients that teams must use in their designs.

How it works: Provide gingerbread house kits and a surprise mystery ingredient (like unconventional candy). Teams must incorporate the ingredient into their designs for extra points.

24. Holiday-Themed Quiz Bowl

Create a quiz bowl-style trivia game, with holiday-related topics ranging from Christmas traditions to holiday pop culture.

How it works: Teams compete to answer questions in various holiday categories. The team with the most correct answers at the end wins.

25. Christmas Card Exchange

Encourage team members to write heartfelt or funny holiday cards to one another.

How it works: Set up a card exchange where each person writes a card for another team member. Afterward, everyone reads their cards aloud, making it a fun and touching moment.

26. Holiday-Themed Word Search

Word search puzzles with Christmas-themed words add a festive touch to team activities.

How it works: Create a word search puzzle filled with holiday-related words. The team that finishes it the fastest wins.

27. Christmas-Themed Office Decorating Challenge

Turn the office into a holiday wonderland! Teams decorate different sections of the office with Christmas lights, garlands, and ornaments.

How it works: Each team is assigned a section of the office to decorate within a set time limit. The most creative and festive space wins.

28. Jingle Bell Relay

Pass a jingle bell down a line of team members—without using your hands.

How it works: Teams line up and pass a jingle bell using only their necks, elbows, or knees. The team that successfully passes the bell through the line without dropping it wins.

29. "Snowball" Toss

This fun game mimics a snowball fight using paper snowballs thrown into virtual containers.

How it works: Players aim to toss “snowballs” into a bucket or container. Each snowball represents a completed challenge, and teams earn points for successful tosses.

30. Christmas Pin the Nose on Rudolph

A holiday spin on the classic “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.” Blindfolded players try to pin Rudolph’s red nose on a poster of the reindeer.

How it works: Blindfolded participants try to place the red nose on a picture of Rudolph. The person who comes closest wins.

31. Holiday Puzzle Race

Teams race to complete a Christmas-themed jigsaw puzzle.

How it works: Divide the group into teams, give each team a holiday-themed puzzle, and see which team can finish it first.

32. Holiday-Themed Bingo with Custom Prizes

Play bingo with a custom holiday board, where players mark off holiday-related images and phrases.

How it works: Create bingo cards with festive images and phrases. Players mark them off as you call out items, and the winner receives a fun holiday prize.

33. DIY Ornament Crafting

Teams can create their own holiday ornaments to hang on the office tree or virtually.

How it works: Provide crafting supplies like paint, beads, and glitter, and let each team create a unique ornament.

34. Holiday Movie Night and Discussion

Watch a classic Christmas movie together, then discuss your favorite moments, quotes, and characters.

How it works: Pick a Christmas movie, watch it as a group, and afterward, have a discussion about what made the movie special or memorable.

35. Christmas Carol Round-Robin

A holiday version of a round-robin singing game where each team member sings one line of a Christmas carol.

How it works: Each person sings one line from a Christmas carol, then passes it along to the next person. This continues until the entire song has been sung.

FAQs

What if my team is working remotely? Can we still do these activities?

Absolutely! Many of these activities can be adapted for virtual teams, like virtual trivia, virtual escape rooms, and virtual snowball fights. The goal is to keep the spirit alive, no matter the distance.

How do I make sure everyone feels included in the activities?

Encourage everyone to participate and create a welcoming environment. If you have team members with different cultural backgrounds, consider incorporating holiday activities from around the world.

Can I use these activities for a larger team?

Yes! Many of these activities can be scaled up. For larger teams, you can break into smaller groups or host competitions that involve more team collaboration.

Conclusion

The holiday season is all about spreading cheer, building memories, and fostering teamwork. With these 35 Holiday Team Building Activities for Christmas Fun, you’ll ensure that your team not only celebrates the season but also strengthens its bond. Whether you're looking for games that boost creativity, promote communication, or just make everyone laugh, there’s something for everyone. So, gather your team, get festive, and create some holiday magic that’ll last well beyond the season!