In December, families and friends are coming together to celebrate the holiday season. Now is the perfect time to participate in some new, fun and exciting holiday games!

1. Throw the Candy Cane on the Reindeer

To begin, one partner wears the headband as the other stands a few feet away. Once everyone is in place, begin throwing the candy canes and try to get them on the antlers. When it becomes too easy, take a few steps back and continue. Whoever gets the most candy canes on the antlers wins and gets to walk away with a tasty treat. 

“This was a lot more challenging than I thought, but it was super fun. Make sure to protect your eyes from the flying candy canes though,” said Angela Azevedo. 

2. Pin the Hat on Santa

Similar to the classic birthday party game, pin the tail on the donkey, pin the hat on Santa has the same concept. In order to win this Christmas game, you need to quickly and accurately pin the Santa hat cut-out on the picture of Santa Claus hung up on the wall, while blindfolded. To increase the difficulty, you can spin the blindfolded player to confuse them about where they started. You can also print out more cut-outs for Santa, like his beard and coat, and add more objects to keep the fun going. 

“I like how we could add our own decorations to Santa,” said Amalia Azevedo.

3. Blind Christmas Drawing Competition

If you think you’re good at the previous blindfolded game, try this blind christmas drawing competition. Place a blindfold around your head and have a marker ready in your hand. In addition, choose a Christmas item to draw. This can include Santa, a Christmas tree, presents, candy canes, gingerbread etc..  Afterwards, have your partner place a piece of paper on a hard surface and hold it down so it does not shift. Set a timer for five minutes and begin to draw. Once you’re done, your partner attempts to guess your Christmas creation and you win a point for every correct identification. This game can be played no matter what size group you’re in: if you’re with at least one person, you can get drawing! 

“This was my favorite because I love to draw and I was definitely the best at this one,” said Audriana Azevedo.

4. Snowball Toss

Snowball toss is a fast and easy game, and all you need to do is grab a partner and some cotton balls for the “snowballs”’ and a cup. The first player stands a few feet away from you with the cup and begins moving back and forth. As the first player moves around with the cup, the other player attempts to throw ten snowballs into the cup. First person to make all ten snowballs in the cup wins.

“I like this game for younger kids because you have full control of the difficulty,” said Azevedo.  

5. Balance Santa’s Cookie

As Christmas Eve approaches, families will begin baking plenty of cookies, so here’s what to do with the leftovers. Start at one side of the room and have a helper place a cookie on your forehead. Get your helper to guide you across the room to the other side, where you can attempt to get the cookie in your mouth without using your hands. If the cookie falls, you need to go back to the start and try again.  

“My favorite part of this game was eating the cookies afterward. It felt like a little treat for winning. All these games were a really good way to bring the family together for an evening,” said Jonathan Azevedo.