Christmas Charades

What is Christmas charades?

Christmas charades is the classic acting game with a holiday theme: one player acts out a word or phrase without speaking, and the team guesses it. This page gives you 227 original Christmas charades ideas about Santa, elves and reindeer, the tree and the presents, snow and winter fun, Christmas dinner, and a few cards for Hanukkah and New Year's Eve.

The generator above is the Charades Generator, opened on its Christmas set. Every idea was written for it, and none of them is a film, book or song title, so a seven-year-old and a grandparent can guess the same card.

How to play Christmas charades

1. Split into two or more teams and agree on the time per turn and the number of rounds.
2. One player from the first team, the actor, taps Next word, reads the card in secret and taps Hide.
3. The actor acts it out in silence: no talking, no mouthing words, no writing letters in the air and no pointing at things in the room.
4. The actor’s team calls out guesses. Each correct guess is a point, and the actor takes the next card.
5. When the time is up, the next team plays. After the last round, the team with the most points wins.

To let the phone keep the time and the score, open Team game: name 2 to 6 teams and pick 30, 60, 90 or 120 seconds per turn. A game of 2 teams and 3 rounds is 6 turns, so about 6 minutes at 60 seconds a turn. The usual silent signals (number of words, sounds like) are in the table of charades hand signals.

Christmas charades ideas

Here is the full list of all 227 Christmas charades words and phrases, sorted by level. Use it as it is, or let the generator pick for you.

Christmas charades for kids

Kids mode keeps the 180 easy and medium cards a child can act, such as building a snowman or leaving cookies for Santa, and leaves out the hard ones. Turn it on with the Kids mode switch under the card. For children who cannot read yet, an adult whispers the card. These 18 are good ones to start with:

• Santa Claus
• A reindeer
• Building a snowman
• Decorating the Christmas tree
• Opening presents
• Wrapping presents
• An elf
• An angel
• Putting the star on the tree
• Hanging stockings
• Singing carols
• Riding in a sleigh
• Making a snow angel
• Licking a candy cane
• A gingerbread man
• Baking Christmas cookies
• Leaving cookies for Santa
• Santa coming down the chimney

Printable Christmas charades cards

A sheet of 36 Christmas charades cards for the whole family (15 easy and 21 medium). Download the picture, print it and cut along the dashed lines, then fold the cards into a bowl or a hat. To print the whole set instead, open Print cards in the generator: all 227 ideas as cut-out cards on 10 pages, or as a plain list.

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Hard Christmas charades for adults

For teens and adults, set the level to hard: 44 cards that are abstract or need several steps, such as a secret gift swap, Regifting, Returning a gift. They are clean, and they are hard to act. This second sheet has 36 of the tougher cards (12 medium and 24 hard).

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Tips for Christmas charades

• Start with Santa. Many cards are about him, so agree on one signal for Santa (a hand stroking a long beard) and act only what he is doing.
• Use the room. Pointing at the real tree is against the rules, but you may stand like a tree, hang invisible ornaments or carry an invisible present.
• Mix the ages. Give children easy cards and 90 seconds, and the adults hard cards and 30 seconds, at the same table.
• Keep the cards. Print the set once, cut it up and keep it with the decorations. It comes out with the tree every year.

Ways to play

• At a family party: two teams, 60 seconds a turn, grandparents and children mixed. The easy and medium levels suit everyone.
• In class before the holidays: one child acts for the whole class, and whoever guesses acts next. Switch on Kids mode.
• At the office party: play the hard level in teams of four, three rounds, and let the losing team clear the table.
• On a video call: the actor opens the page on a phone and performs for the camera while the others shout their guesses.

More holiday charades and games

More sets of the same game: Halloween Charades (134 ideas) and Thanksgiving Charades (124 ideas). The full Charades Generator has 16 categories, from animals and jobs to idioms. For a quiet game at the same party, try the Christmas Word Scramble, or a round of Would You Rather.