12 Days of Christmas Game Ideas for Work – Festive Fun

12 Days of Christmas Game Ideas for Work – The 12 Days of Christmas game for work can be a fun and engaging way to boost employee holiday spirit. Each day, you can introduce a new festive activity that encourages participation, teamwork, and holiday cheer. For example, start with a Christmas Trivia Challenge, where employees answer holiday-related questions for small prizes.

On another day, hold a Holiday Desk Decorating Contest, allowing employees to showcase their creativity. A Secret Santa Gift Exchange can add excitement, while a Christmas Sweater Day invites everyone to wear their funniest or ugliest holiday sweaters. You can also include a Cookie Swap, where employees bring homemade treats, or a Guess the Christmas Song game using short clips of festive tunes.

A Random Acts of Kindness Challenge encourages employees to do something nice for a coworker each day. To add some mystery, organize a Holiday Scavenger Hunt with clues hidden around the office. A Christmas-Themed Pictionary or Charades game can bring lots of laughs, while a Hot Cocoa & Holiday Movie Break provides relaxation. End with a Team Lunch or Potluck featuring festive dishes, and conclude the 12 days with a Raffle or Grand Prize Giveaway to reward participation. These activities create a festive atmosphere, encourage team bonding, and make the holiday season more enjoyable at work.

12 Days of Christmas Game Ideas for Work

Here’s a list of 100+ game ideas for a 12 Days of Christmas celebration at work. These activities range from fun and interactive to creative and team-building, ensuring everyone can participate in spreading holiday cheer!

🎄 Team Challenges & Competitions

1. Christmas Trivia Challenge
2. Holiday Scavenger Hunt
3. Gingerbread House Building Contest
4. Christmas Carol Lip Sync Battle
5. Office Door Decorating Contest
6. Ugly Sweater Contest
7. Holiday Desk Decorating Contest
8. Christmas-Themed Pictionary
9. Christmas Movie Trivia
10. Secret Santa Gift Exchange
11. Christmas Bingo
12. “Guess the Christmas Song” Challenge
13. Snowflake Cutting Contest
14. Paper Chain Garland Challenge
15. Christmas Emoji Quiz
16. Holiday-Themed Escape Room Puzzle
17. “Find the Hidden Elf” Office Game
18. Reindeer Antler Ring Toss
19. Christmas-Themed Scavenger Hunt (find holiday-themed objects around the office)
20. Who Wrapped It Best? (Gift Wrapping Contest)
21. Christmas Office Olympics (fun mini-challenges)
22. Holiday Riddle Challenge
23. Best Holiday Socks Contest
24. Christmas Crossword Puzzle Race
25. Candy Cane Relay Race

🎅 Food & Drink Activities

26. Christmas Cookie Swap
27. Holiday Bake-Off
28. Gingerbread Decorating Contest
29. Hot Cocoa Bar Day
30. Christmas Potluck
31. Festive Snack Table (each department brings a snack)
32. “Guess the Holiday Treat” Blind Taste Test
33. Christmas Cake Decorating Contest
34. Best Homemade Eggnog Contest
35. Peppermint Bark Making Challenge
36. Mystery Stocking Taste Test (guess what Christmas treat is inside)
37. Office Chili Cookoff
38. Holiday Beverage Tasting (coffee, tea, cocoa, cider)
39. DIY S’mores Bar
40. “Secret Cookie” Exchange (randomly assigned coworkers bake for each other)

🎁 Gift & Giving Games

41. White Elephant Gift Exchange
42. Secret Santa with a Twist (add fun themes like “Everything Red” or “Under $5”)
43. Pay It Forward Challenge (do something kind for a coworker)
44. Office Holiday Charity Drive (donate food, toys, etc.)
45. Desk Stocking Surprise (leave small gifts for coworkers in stockings)
46. Christmas Cards Exchange Day
47. DIY Gift-Making Day
48. Holiday Wrapping Relay Race
49. Toy Drive Team Competition
50. Office Gratitude Wall (post kind notes to coworkers)
51. Christmas Lottery (draw for small prizes each day)

❄ Fun & Interactive Games

52. Holiday-Themed Charades
53. Name That Christmas Tune
54. Elf on the Shelf Hunt (move the elf around the office daily)
55. Pass the Present (pass a wrapped gift while music plays)
56. Christmas Karaoke
57. Holiday Mad Libs
58. Christmas Word Scramble
59. Santa Hat Game (last person wearing their hat wins)
60. Christmas Tongue Twister Challenge
61. Festive Tic-Tac-Toe Tournament
62. Office “Holiday Hunt” (find objects matching a Christmas theme)
63. “What’s in Santa’s Bag?” (guess the mystery holiday items by touch)
64. Holiday Raffle Draw
65. “Pin the Nose on Rudolph”

🎶 Music & Movie Activities

66. Christmas Movie Marathon
67. Favorite Christmas Song Poll
68. Office Christmas Playlist Creation
69. “Which Christmas Movie?” Emoji Challenge
70. Christmas Movie Character Dress-Up Day
71. Holiday Commercial Guessing Game
72. Office Holiday Jukebox (employees submit song requests)
73. Christmas Carol Karaoke Battle
74. Silent Night Challenge (who can stay quiet the longest?)
75. Name That Holiday Sound (identify jingles, sleigh bells, etc.)

🏆 Team-Building & Icebreaker Activities

76. Christmas-Themed “Would You Rather?”
77. Holiday Joke Contest
78. Winter Office Trivia
79. Festive Two Truths and a Lie
80. Best Holiday Memory Sharing Circle
81. Christmas Office Superlatives Awards (e.g., “Most Festive Desk”)
82. Holiday Bucket List Exchange
83. “What’s Your Elf Name?” Game
84. Santa’s Workshop Challenge (team problem-solving game)
85. Virtual Holiday Icebreaker (for remote teams)
86. Holiday Team Selfie Challenge
87. Christmas Chain Reaction Game (like dominoes with holiday props)
88. Snowball Toss (throw white paper balls into buckets)
89. Office Christmas Card Challenge (team designs the best card)
90. Holiday Cheer Chain (write compliments & pass them on)

🎆 Outdoor or Physical Activities

91. Snowman Building Contest (if possible)
92. Winter Walk & Hot Cocoa Break
93. Office Christmas Parade (walk around in themed outfits)
94. Christmas-Themed Relay Race
95. Office Sledding Day (for those in snowy areas)
96. Holiday-Themed Yoga or Stretching Session
97. Snowball Fight (with soft indoor-safe balls)
98. Reindeer Races (hop on exercise balls and race)
99. Christmas Lights Tour (walk around to see decorations)
100. Office Caroling (sing carols around different departments)

🎇 Bonus Virtual-Friendly Games (for remote teams)

101. Virtual Holiday Scavenger Hunt
102. Christmas-Themed Online Trivia
103. Best Virtual Holiday Background Contest
104. Zoom Holiday Costume Day
105. Virtual Christmas Storytelling
106. Online Christmas Card Design Contest
107. Digital Christmas Bingo
108. Virtual White Elephant Gift Exchange
109. Holiday Themed PowerPoint Night
110. “Elf Yourself” Video Challenge

These 100+ ideas will make the 12 Days of Christmas at work fun, engaging, and memorable!

How to Play

🎄 1. Christmas Trivia Challenge

Objective: Test employees’ knowledge of Christmas traditions, history, and pop culture.
How to Play:

1. Prepare a list of Christmas trivia questions (mix of easy, medium, and hard).
2. Divide employees into teams or have them play individually.
3. Read the questions aloud, or distribute printed question sheets.
4. Set a time limit for answering each question.
5. Award points for correct answers. The team or individual with the most points wins.
6. Provide small prizes or holiday-themed rewards for winners.

🎅 2. Holiday Scavenger Hunt

Objective: Find hidden Christmas-related items around the office.
How to Play:

1. Create a list of holiday-themed items (e.g., candy cane, Santa hat, wrapped gift, ornament).
2. Hide these items around the office before the game begins.
3. Give employees the scavenger list and set a time limit.
4. Employees search for as many items as they can find.
5. The first person or team to find all the items or the most by the end of the time wins.

🏠 3. Gingerbread House Building Contest

Objective: Create the best gingerbread house using provided supplies.
How to Play:

1. Provide gingerbread house kits or graham crackers, icing, and candy decorations.
2. Assign teams or let employees compete individually.
3. Set a time limit (30-60 minutes).
4. After the time is up, judges vote on the best house based on creativity, stability, and decoration.
5. Award prizes for categories like “Most Creative” or “Best Structure.”

🎤 4. Christmas Carol Lip Sync Battle

Objective: Employees lip-sync to holiday songs in a fun performance.
How to Play:

1. Create a playlist of popular Christmas songs.
2. Let employees or teams pick a song in advance.
3. Give them time to practice and prepare a performance.
4. Set up a performance space and play the music.
5. Each team or individual performs while lip-syncing.
6. Judges or audience members vote on the best performance.

🚪 5. Office Door Decorating Contest

Objective: Decorate office doors with a Christmas theme.
How to Play:

1. Announce the contest and give a deadline for decorating.
2. Employees can use paper, lights, garlands, and other materials to decorate their doors.
3. After the deadline, judges walk around and score decorations based on creativity, holiday spirit, and effort.
4. Announce the winner and offer a prize.

🎽 6. Ugly Sweater Contest

Objective: Show off the most outrageous or festive holiday sweater.
How to Play:

1. Announce an Ugly Sweater Day and encourage participation.
2. Employees wear their funniest, tackiest, or most festive sweaters.
3. Judges or coworkers vote on categories like “Ugliest Sweater,” “Most Creative,” or “Funniest.”
4. Give awards to the winners.

🖥 7. Holiday Desk Decorating Contest

Objective: Decorate desks in a holiday theme.
How to Play:

1. Announce the contest and set a deadline.
2. Employees decorate their desks with lights, garlands, and other festive items.
3. Judges or all employees vote on the best desk decoration.
4. Award prizes to the winners.

🎨 8. Christmas-Themed Pictionary

Objective: Guess Christmas-related words drawn by teammates.
How to Play:

1. Write holiday-related words or phrases on slips of paper (e.g., “Rudolph,” “Candy Cane,” “Snowman”).
2. Divide employees into teams.
3. One person from a team picks a word and draws it without speaking.
4. Their team has 60 seconds to guess.
5. Award points for correct guesses. The team with the most points wins.

🎥 9. Christmas Movie Trivia

Objective: Answer trivia questions about Christmas movies.
How to Play:

1. Prepare questions related to classic Christmas movies.
2. Players or teams take turns answering.
3. Correct answers earn points.
4. The highest-scoring player or team wins.

🎁 10. Secret Santa Gift Exchange

Objective: Exchange gifts anonymously.
How to Play:

1. Set a price limit and sign up participants.
2. Draw names randomly so each person is assigned a coworker to buy for.
3. Employees buy and wrap gifts before the exchange day.
4. Distribute gifts and reveal who gave each one.

🎟 11. Christmas Bingo

Objective: Mark off squares on a bingo card based on called words.
How to Play:

1. Create Christmas-themed bingo cards.
2. Call out words randomly.
3. Players mark their cards when they hear a word they have.
4. The first to complete a row, column, or full card wins.

🎶 12. “Guess the Christmas Song” Challenge

Objective: Identify Christmas songs from short clips.
How to Play:

1. Play a few seconds of a Christmas song.
2. Players write down their guess.
3. The person with the most correct guesses wins.

❄ 13. Snowflake Cutting Contest

Objective: Create the best paper snowflake.
How to Play:

1. Provide paper and scissors.
2. Give a time limit to cut out the best snowflake.
3. Judges choose winners based on creativity and detail.

🔗 14. Paper Chain Garland Challenge

Objective: Make the longest paper chain in a set time.
How to Play:

1. Provide colored paper and tape/staplers.
2. Set a timer (e.g., 5 minutes).
3. Teams compete to make the longest chain.

😊 15. Christmas Emoji Quiz

Objective: Guess Christmas phrases from emoji clues.
How to Play:

1. Create a quiz using emojis (e.g., 🎅🎁🏠 = “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”).
2. The person with the most correct answers wins.

🔎 16. Holiday-Themed Escape Room Puzzle

Objective: Solve Christmas-themed puzzles to “escape.”
How to Play:

1. Set up a series of puzzles (e.g., deciphering a coded Christmas message).
2. Teams race to solve them.
3. The fastest team wins.

🎄 17. “Find the Hidden Elf” Office Game

Objective: Locate a hidden elf toy in the office.
How to Play:

1. Hide a small elf decoration each day.
2. The first person to find it wins a prize.

🦌 18. Reindeer Antler Ring Toss

Objective: Throw rings onto inflatable reindeer antlers.
How to Play:

1. One player wears inflatable reindeer antlers.
2. Other players try to toss rings onto the antlers.
3. The player with the most successful throws wins.

🎁 19. Who Wrapped It Best? (Gift Wrapping Contest)

Objective: Wrap a gift in the most creative way.
How to Play:

1. Provide wrapping paper and decorations.
2. Set a time limit.
3. Judges pick the best-wrapped gift.