Holiday Cookie Exchange Party Games
Add fun game and activities to your Christmas Cookie Swap
Can't
say Cookie Game
Make necklaces using small candy canes and red ribbons. When the guests
arrive, give each person a necklace to wear and tell them they're not allowed
to say the word cookie. If a person says "cookie", they lose their
candy cane necklace to the person who caught them saying it. At the end of
the cookie exchange, the person with the most candy cane necklaces gets a
prize.
Submitted by Darilyn
Match the Cookie
Memory Game
A game I play every year at my cookie exchange which helps everyone break
the ice and get to know each other’s names is the Match the Cookie
Memory Game.
Since I know ahead of time who is coming and what cookie each person is bringing,
I simply list everyone’s first name in one column and list the cookies
in random order is a second column on a sheet of paper. I ask each person
to introduce themselves and the name of the cookie they are bringing and
tell people to pay close attention.
At the end, they have to draw a line to match each person’s name to
the cookie she brought. The person(s) who matches the most correctly wins
a prize.
Submitted by: Kathryn McCarty, Chicago, IL
Guess the Songs
of Christmas!
DECIPHER THE CANTICLES
OF THE YULETIDE SEASON
given by Debby Griffith, who attends my Cookie Exchange.
(You'll need to print these sheets)
Who Are
You?
Make a nice holiday basket and have it filled with names of famous people.
Have everyone submit an entry, fold the paper and place in basket. Hostess
starts taping a piece of paper with a famous name to a persons back. Everyone
walks around and asks people questions to figure out "who they are". You
are allowed to ask one person, one question as to "who you are". Am I male
or female? Politics or entertainment? Famous or infamous?
Intent: To get people to circulate, make new aquaintences and break the
ice!
(Thanks, Diane for this one!)
Hi Robin!
I'm in the process of getting ready for my 4th annual Cookie Exchange this
Sunday afternoon. I came up with a new idea for a game using several groups
of Christmas Trivia questions that I have collected over the years. I'm calling
the game Christmas Bowl (which is a variation of the old
"College Bowl" which used to be on TV. Here is how it goes:
SET-UP: 2 small tables, bells, marker board and marker for writing points,
timer, toss up questions and bonus questions, enough small prizes for one
team. (Toss up questions are simple Christmas trivia questions. Bonus questions
are harder, little-known Christmas trivia questions and the answers are multiple
choice) I found these on the internet at different holiday games websites.
Arrange chairs around a small table (like a TV tray) for each team. Place
a jingle bell tied to a ribbon on the table for each person..
Divide group in half. Each team picks a captain. (The captain will make the
final decision for the team’s answer to a Bonus question.) Have each
lady take up her ribboned bell. Read the rules so all know how to play. Begin
with a toss up question. The first player to ring bell and get it right gets
10 points for their team, and gives their team an opportunity at a bonus
question just for them. This is followed with another toss-up question, and
the game proceeds. A player may ring bell during the middle of the question,
but if the answer is incorrect, they lose 5 points and the other team gets
the question. Teams may not confer with one another on the toss-up questions,
but are able to do so on the bonus questions. Play for 2 seven minute halves.
When timer rings, half or game is over.
At half-time, take a break and you, the hostess and game moderator, bring
out the gift-wrapped prizes and place in middle of room. (This can give teams
incentive to play better in the second half!) Resume play after gifts are
“show-cased”. Don’t forget to re-set timer! At the end of
the seven minutes, timer rings. Count up points and winning team collects
prizes.
I hope this is successful! We will be playing several other fun games so
no one will leave my party empty handed!! And, of course, we'll all have
lots of cookies!
Thanks for all the great work you do on your website. It has been a great
help to me in planning the Cookie Exchange parties.
Blessings,
Sue Burmeister
The Ministers
Cat:
(From the movie "Scrooge" (Albert Finney version, my favorite!)
An old, old, party game.
The Ministers Cat is a alphabetical word game.
Everyone gets in a circle and claps hands to the beat.
When someone blows it by not saying an adjective in alphabetical order, they
are out.
Start with A.
Example:
"The ministers cat is an Orange Cat", "the ministers cat is
Ornery cat". "The ministers cat is a , um, uh, oh shoot, I can't think
of anything!" Ooops! You blew it.You're out. NEXT! Start game with the next
letter."The ministers cat is a Purple cat"...
Pass the
Key
You need two similar sized Very Large Keys (about 6 inches long), each tied
to the end of a long length (60 feet or more) coarse string. The keys and
string should have spent a few hours in the freezer immediately before being
brought out.
Line up two teams of about eight to ten.
The key must be passed down trousers and dresses and skirts and the string
will show the route followed. The winning team is the first to get everyone
'threaded.
Guess the
Picture
A Good game to get people talking together at the start of the party. Collect
a set of pictures of your town / locality / personalities etc. and display
them on the wall with a number. The guests have to identify them and write
the name on a sheet of paper. The winner is the one with the highest score.
Debbie sent in these two games:
Pin the Nose on
the Rudolph
...a spin-off of the kids game 'Pin the Tail on the Donkey'. I have
a poster of Rudolph and a few red crafting pom-poms with tape on them. Each
guest will be blind folded and attempt to put the nose in the right spot.
The closest person wins!
Christmas
Bingo...I will make up Bingo Cards on my computer with
symbols like Santa, Candy Canes, Snowflakes, etc. Then for the bingo chips,
I am using the round peppermint candies. :)
Hi Robin:
On November 7th. I emailed you about my upcoming cookie exchange party. I
told you I had a game that I would be using this year. You requested a copy
and I was unable to send it until now. Each guest starts out with their own
ornament and as the story is read the ornaments are past in the direction
mentioned in the story. Hopefully this is not to late for some parties. Mine
is tomorrow night.
Right Left Christmas
Gift (Ornament) Exchange
I'm a person who always likes things done right. I write notes to
myself, I write notes to my husband to make sure things get done
right. Well.....one day I wrote a note to my husband, asking him to
deliver some cookies to Ellen Wright's home. Well.....my husband
left the house right before 9 AM. Friday morning, with
Ellen Wright's cookies.
Right before he left I made him take the cellular phone
in case he got lost. Well, he did right about 9:30, he called me and
said he was lost and that he was sure that I did not write the directions
down right. He said he made a left at the light and a
left at the stop sign. Right when he got to the second street,
he made another right . Right after the fire hydrant, he again
make another right and ran right into a dead end. I then saw that
he was indeed right and had not got the directions right.
He actually left the note with the directions on it right on
the kitchen counter. I then told him, that instead of making a left
at the stop light and a left at the stop sign, he should have made
a left at the stop sign and a left at the stop light. He then
could have turned right on the second street and Ellen
Wright's
house was on the left hand side of the street. My husband then said
that the right thing to do next time, was to sleep in.
7/11 Dice
Game
All you need is a manual egg timer, two dice and a plastic flat Christmas
cookie container to throw dice in or a pie pan works too and several wrapped
prizes. I usually give out two gifts/game.
I have four to six friends sit in a circle on the floor. The object of the
game is to roll a 7 or 11 to gain possession of a prize(s). The wrapped prize(s)
are passed from one person to another, as someone rolls a seven or eleven.
It's fun because the presents are taken away and passed around a lot, when
someone else rolls a 7 or 11. I usually set the timer for 3 or 4 minutes.
Make sure people in circle roll the dice fast, where everybody gets to roll
at least two or three times. The person(s) who has the prize in their possession,
when the timer dings is the winner. Once you win, the winner(s) get out of
the circle and someone else can play or the circle just gets smaller, depending
on how many people want to play. It's a lot of fun and my guests love to
play it. It's funny to see people's reactions when, they get the prize in
their hands and then somebody else rolls a 7 or 11 and takes it away from
them.
I usually buy inexpensive prizes at my local dollar store; Christmas mugs
filled with Christmas candy, little bags of Christmas coffee, Christmas
ornaments, envelopes filled with lottery scratch off tickets, little bottles
of liquor, candy cane sticks, bottles of wine and gift certificates for a
blockbuster rental or to a movie.
Anyway this game is a lot of fun and my guests always like to play it each
year.
Happy Holidays!
Karen Wargo
Robin,
I don't know the actual name for this game, but we play it every year at
our Church Christmas Party sponsored by our Women's group.
"The Ever Changing
Gift Exchange"
The game is started by telling each person who wants to participate to bring
a $5.00 gift (male brings male gift and female brings female gift). All gifts
are placed under the tree and our preacher counts the number of participants,
making strips of paper for the total count. Each person selects a paper with
a number and the gifts are selected in turn. Each person opens and shows
their gift. The next person has a choice of opening a new gift (for their
gender) or selecting a gift from another person. If they take another persons
gift, that person can select a new gift or take someone else's gift (but
not the one they had taken). If a person obtains the same gift three times,
they get to keep it. This is great fun and works best with groups of 30 or
less. It can be time consuming as those who have gifts taken get to pick
again before the next number is chosen to select their gift. We state
approximately $5.00, but some go slightly higher. I bought a very nice Nativity
afghan at Wal-Mart for about $7.95 and it really went around the party until
it was finally selected for the third time by one of our ladies for keeps!
A fun addition to the game rules is that once a gift has been opened by someone,
it can later be selected by another participant of either gender.
Two truth's
and a lie.
Sent in by Donna Brashier
This can even be played with friends that know each other well.
Everyone writes down two truths and a lie about themselves. When everyone
is finished, you go around the room and read the 3 things you've listed about
yourself. One by one everyone guesses which is the lie. After everyone has
guess your answer, you reveal which is the lie and you move on to the next
person. Each guest keeps a tally of how many lies they've detected. The person
that guesses the most lies, wins.
I'm hosting a cookie exchange and white elephant swap next weekend. I've
really enjoyed the ideas shared on your site! Thanks!
Donna Brashier
Hello Robin,
I was reading through your website and found it to be very informative. Thanks!
Anyway, I'd like to share a game with you to share with others who are interested
in holiday party games.
For Christmas parties:
Ornament Name Game
I use colorful round metallic tree ornaments with a safety pin attached instead
of an ornament hook. Also, using name tags with adhesive backing, I write
a word associated with the holiday season on each tag; for example, Snowflake,
Rudolph, Mrs. Claus, Santa, Elf, The Grinch, Holly, Bells, Yuletide, etc.
etc.) I place the pinned ornaments in a decorative basket close to my door,
along with another basket with the name tags.
As my guests arrive, I pin an ornament to them and I have them pick a tag
from the basket. They place the name tag on and I tell them that this is
their name for the duration of the party. I also tell them that they must
pay close attention to all the other guests name tags because they must use
the name on ones name tag when addressing them also. Once all the guests
arrive, and although everyone is aware of their new names for the day; I
get everyones attention and I still have each guest introduce themselves
using their new name.
It is explained to everyone that whenever someone calls them a name other
than the one on their name tag, they can take that persons ornament and pin
it onto themselves. Also, if someone hears someone address "Janet" as "Janet"
instead of her tag name which may be "Snowflake", that person may take the
persons ornament only if "Janet" wasn't aware that she was just addressed
by her real name. It's very simple and a LOT of fun. Also, if a person loses
their ornament to someone, they are still in the game. They must still address
everyone by their tag name and they can still take someones ornament if they
hear that person use a persons real name, etc.
The person who has the most ornaments pinned to them at the end of the party
wins a prize. I ususally makeup a nice holiday basket with a variety of small
gifts in it. This game is enjoyed by men and women and I customize it with
different occasions. On Thanksgiving, I use turkey's instead of ornaments,
etc.
Thanks for letting me share...
Juaneece Clark
Tell me your favorite
party game!
