Everyone at this time of month is probably preparing for a Christmas party whether it be at school or at work, and if you’re assigned to organize such an event, you might be wondering what games to hold to keep the life of the party going. From modern games to classic ones, we are listing the top 10 Christmas party games of 2023 that will bring both joy and laughter to your special event.
- Tumpakganern
Tumpakganern is a Filipino game whose name is from the common Filipino phrase “pak ganern”, blending it with the word “tumpak”. The game is popularized by the noontime show, Showtime, and is essentially a trivia game. Players are shown a question which they will answer starting all of their sentences with “I believe,” to parody a very common line in pageantry question and answer portions.
This can be a very fun game for everyone to play especially because everyone can be creative with their answers. Players can answer the questions in any way they want, with the determining factor of winning being just the keywords that directly give the answer to the trivia. Creativity is still at play here, which is a perfect moment for class clowns to shine and make everyone laugh and anticipate what they will say, whether or not they have the right answer.
- Hep Hep Hooray
Also a classic Filipino game, Hep Hep Hooray is a game of confusion as players also have to make hand gestures while saying the words. For “hep hep”, players have to clap, and for “hooray”, they have to put both hands up. A line of players will each be given a chance to say one of these words while doing the gestures, with the speed increasing as the game progresses.
Even if this game is already a classic, it doesn’t date back too long ago. There is a touch of modernity to this Filipino game, and the adrenaline that comes with the unexpectedness of everything here will surely make people laugh.
- Paper Dance
The paper dance has existed in party games since time immemorial. Players are paired and given a newspaper which gets folded in half after every time the music stops and players who don’t freeze properly get eliminated. Scientifically, any sort of paper, no matter how big or small, can only be folded up to seven times. Now imagine that while having two people being required to fit themselves into the space in their tippy toes, with higher levels only giving them the chance to stand on one foot while having to remain frozen.
Hosts can mess with players especially when it seems like no one is budging. They employ tactics to make the players laugh or move a little bit for everyone’s laughs, giving everyone in the room a good time.
- Cookie Face
Popularized by the game show Minute to Win It, the Cookie Face is played by putting a cookie on a player’s forehead while giving them a time limit (or not, the winner just has to be the first one to accomplish the goal) to get the cookie to reach their mouth so they could eat it.
This is an entertaining game that is adrenaline rushing for players who are in it to win it, while giving laughs if you have classmates or workmates who like to nitpick the faces you make from moving your face muscles to move the cookie.
- Junk in the Trunk
Junk in the Trunk is played by tying a box full of 8 ping pong balls to a player’s waist, requiring them to shake their bodies to music with the goal of being the first to empty the boxes. This is commonly played in Minute to Win It in teams to make the experience more fun and pressuring.
- Lemon relay
Lemon Relay or Calamansi Relay because we are Filipinos, is played in teams wherein each of the members are required to go forward and around something like a chair, for example, while carrying a calamansi on a spoon and relaying it to the next player in line. The calamansi cannot fall off or the player holding it has to go back from the start of the line and redo the steps. The first team to finish wins.
Being a team game, this is very fun to play and considering the amount of focus and control this requires, it’ll surely give everyone the pressure and competitiveness that make party games alive.
- Riff-off
Since everyone saw Pitch Perfect (2013), we all have wanted to do this somehow. Now, you can show off your singing skills or the lack thereof in your Christmas party with a Riff-off. Word-playing ‘rip-off’, this game is played by teams wherein first, a song is sung or played and the next person who comes up with another song by cutting off from the last word of the previous one to use that word to start the next.
Both being a skill and wit game, this will bring out everyone’s creativity and a lot of funny moments since Filipinos find a lot of joy in people who can’t sing in tune or on key. However it goes, if everyone’s having a good time, then this’ll surely make your Christmas party extra fun.
- Charades
Charades are commonly played as a peaceful house party game, but can also be a very pressuring and fun one if organizers strive for it to be. Basically, players are to pick from a ballot a word or a group of words that their teammates ought to guess. They have to reenact the words without ever saying what it is, so the expressions, both facial and gestural, can be very funny to watch.
- Blow the Ball
Blow the Ball is a popular game for kids wherein organizers set up an obstacle course for each of the player’s or team’s balls to run through. The catch is that they can only move the ball through blowing on it with a straw.
If you opt for this game, make sure to use a very light ball that can be moved just by the wind. It’ll be a fun game to watch players be pushed by their teams to blow on their straws harder.
- Flip the Bottle
Flipping bottles has become a popular practice especially in the years 2016 and 2017. Starting as an internet trend, people just take their plastic water bottles and toss them 360 while still landing on their bottoms.
Even though it was just an internet trend last decade, a lot of people have mastered this as a skill and it can truly be fascinating and amazing to watch. This can be a fun party game that Gen Z kids can enjoy. It can also be a team game to have everyone race their water bottle flipping skills.
Whatever your event may be or wherever, these games can truly make a crowd happy. Surprise your peers with an alternating set list of games with these classic and modern entries, and go have a good time!
