Games for Christmas Eve

You don't often think to play games on Christmas Eve, but playing a game or two can be a lot of fun.

One fun game is perfect for anxious children, but could also be for adults if you want to add some fun for gift giving. For children, this is a way to make that "open one gift on Christmas Eve" rule a little more exciting and make it last a little longer.

First, create a hunt with clues, so the children have to follow the clues to find their gift. Instead of the gift being under the tree, for example, you might put it somewhere else, but the children will follow clues to find it. For this game, you can use anything to write your clues on. You could use Christmas cards in their envelopes that you had extras of, or you might cut out Christmas tree shapes, or you might want to use ornaments.

Whichever method you choose, write a clue on each of your items and leave those around the house. You start by handing each child the first clue. It might say, "you sleep here every night" and the children will run to their beds. On their pillow you have placed another clue that might say, "mom's eggs taste better with this" and the children head to the spice cabinet, where they find another clue on the salt. The final clue (and depending on the ages of your children and their tolerance, you might have just a few clues for this game or many more) will be the gift itself. To make it extra fun, have the gift be under the tree. Your children won't see that coming!

If you have a large gathering on Christmas Eve, try a circle game. Have everyone get in a circle and the first person will start with, "in my Christmas stocking there is an apple" and the next person will add, "in my Christmas stocking there is an apple and a boot." Each person will continue on, remembering the previous items and the adding one of their own in alphabetical order. If you miss an item, you're out of the game and the winner is the person who successfully remembers all the stocking items over and over again each time they have to recite the items and add to the list.

Looking for a little physical activity on Christmas Eve? How about a rousing game of musical chairs using Christmas music? This one can be particularly fun if you use upbeat Christmas music. Use songs everyone knows and ask that they sing along while they run around the chairs. This adds a fun element because you are likely to have at least one person who gets so caught up in the music they don't realize the music has stopped. This game is played like any traditional game of musical chairs with the loser being the one who doesn't get a chair when the music stops.

Since the big event on Christmas Eve is Santa's arrival, play a game of "where's Santa?" In this game, everyone sits in a circle and one person is chosen to be Rudolph. That person leaves the room for a minute. A Santa is chosen among those left in the room. Rudolph returns and begins hunting for Santa. Rudolph should stand in the center of the circle and try to figure out which person is Santa. Santa, meanwhile, winks at other people in the circle. If someone gets winked at, they yell, "ho ho ho.” Once Rudolph figures out where Santa is, another Rudolph and another Santa are chosen and the game continues.

By Christmas Eve, your Christmas cards have been on display for a few weeks, so maybe it's time to play a game with them. Have someone set up a laundry basket, or a gift box a few feet away (the distance depends on the age of your players and ability). Have them try to toss the cards into the box or basket. This sounds easy, but different cards of different weights and styles will react differently and can be harder than expected to get into the box or basket.

Christmas Tree Activities

Decorating the Christmas tree is an event that most people look forward to. Not only is it a time to remember where the various ornaments came from or who made them, it is also a very festive time that really brings Christmas right into the home.

There are a variety of activities you can incorporate into bringing the Christmas tree into your home. Some families enjoy singing "Oh Christmas Tree" as the tree is brought into the home. Make a fun activity of this where everyone has to come up with an original verse to the song (since few know the actual words). This can keep everyone entertained while you work to get the tree standing up straight.

Once the tree is in a stand and ready to be decorated, make a game out of the ornaments. Put all the homemade ornaments aside and work with those first. Start with the first family member and ask them who made the ornament. Where did it come from? Once the details are out of the way, ask the crafter (likely a child) if they remember making the ornament. If you're the parent, tell the child what you thought when you first saw the ornament. This is fun, since it reminds children that the things they make and bring home are meaningful to the parents.

There is always one ornament that is odd or just plain silly. Play "hot potato" with that ornament. Whoever gets stuck with the odd ornament has to say one nice thing about it, such as "Well, there's a lot of glitter on it and that's pretty.” It's a silly way to remind children to find good in everything. It might even remind them that things are just things. This is a good lesson for this time of year.

Some people use an advent calendar to count down the days until Christmas, and this is how it's traditionally done, but there is one fun activity sure to be a hit with children. Similar to the concept in Germany (where the advent calendar originated) this involves providing one small gift for children every day until Christmas. In Germany, it's only done for several days before Christmas, but you can do it for the 24 days of the month until Christmas arrives.

Buy tiny handled gift bags at the craft store. Buy one for each of your children. Have the children decorate the bags, and on each of the bags, have them place a number as well, one through twenty-four. As you decorate the tree, find space for each of these little bags. Because they have handles, they can hang right on the tree like an ornament, or you can tie ribbon on the handles and hang them that way. Each night, fill the right bag with a tiny prize or gift. So if it's the night of December 14, you'll take bag #15 (all the bags with earlier numbers will be gone) and put some little trinket in it. It might be a piece of candy, a tiny ornament for your child's own tree, a tiny car, or small eraser. The idea here is that it's a small gift, but come morning, that's the first activity your children will engage in - discovering what little treat you left for them the night before.

Fun Christmas Activities for the Family

Family is at the core of the Christmas season, so creating fun memories with your family is always at the top of the must-do list this time of year. What fun activities can you incorporate into your family that make Christmas memorable and fun? There are quite a few traditional activities and some that are a little bit out of the box.

Think back to your childhood and Christmas time in your house. Are there particular memories that are clearer than others? Those are likely the traditions your parents created for you and your siblings. Trying to create traditions with your own children is one way of making Christmas fun and memorable. Perhaps your family enjoyed decorating cookies or making gingerbread houses. Maybe your mom always had something yummy coming from the kitchen. You can create the same kind of traditions by simply keeping potpourri warmed and smelling nice, if you don't have the time to bake frequently.

If you want to do a fun family activity in the kitchen, but baking isn’t your thing, you can make a variety of other gift items in your kitchen. Kids love making chocolate and candy covered pretzel sticks and you can pair those with homemade hot cocoa mix to give as gifts.

It’s great to incorporate music into your family's traditions. How about some family fun singing Christmas carols or creating your own family music CD? Record your family singing Christmas carols and use that CD as your music CD for the holidays. If you are particularly talented, you could make these look pretty and give them as gifts.

Many families like to cut down their own Christmas tree. This can be a really fun family activity. You can find Christmas tree farms located just about everywhere. Check into a local grower's group for locations. You simply show up, grab a saw (this is mom or dad's job), and go hunting. Depending on the location of the tree farm, you might walk only a short distance, or you might have to hike up and down hills and far into the farm's reaches to find just the right tree.

To add even more fun to this activity, you can create another family tradition to go along with the tree cutting. It can be as simple as also having lunch (at the same place each year) and picking up candy to eat in the car on the way home. You might also add a shopping excursion to the day. After the tree is safe at home, you might all go shopping as a family for some new ornaments.

Other fun family activities may include annual visits to certain places in your community. Does your town have an annual "Christmas tree lane" where all the homes on one street decorate for the holidays? You can make a tradition of driving down that street each year, or walking the entire street, if the weather allows. Walking gives the kids a chance to see some of the details of the various decorations.

Many children think hot cocoa is an essential part of the Christmas season. If that's the case with yours, you could start a fun family activity each year where you make a big batch of hot cocoa mix at the start of the season. Let the kids have a small cup each night before bed during the month of December. Closer to Christmas, add special items to the hot cocoa, like mini marshmallows one night and whipped cream another. Be sure to leave this family-made hot cocoa for Santa on Christmas Eve!

At a certain age, children enjoy decorating their room for the holidays. One fun family Christmas activity is to encourage this decoration by letting the kids shop for items to put in their rooms and letting them do the decorating. Be sure to take a picture of them in their decorated room each year. They'll enjoy looking at the pictures year after year.