To play Christmas charades, write festive prompts on slips of paper, split into two teams, and take turns acting one out without speaking while your team guesses against a timer. Below you'll find 76 ready-made prompts grouped by difficulty and age, so you can print them, cut them up and start straight away.
Pick the groups that suit your crowd. Little ones do best with the first list, mixed family tables enjoy the middle two, and a room of adults who've had a mince pie or two will happily take on the hard ones.
Easy prompts for young children
These are single objects or actions a five-year-old can mime with a bit of help.
- Snowman
- Reindeer
- Christmas tree
- Present
- Candy cane
- Snowball fight
- Stocking
- Building a snowman
- Bell
- Star on the tree
- Sledging
- Angel
- Opening a present
- Hot chocolate
- Penguin
Family favourites for mixed ages
Short phrases and festive activities everyone at the table will know.
- Wrapping presents
- Pulling a cracker
- Hanging the stockings
- Decorating the tree
- Ice skating
- Writing a letter to Santa
- Kissing under the mistletoe
- Carol singing
- Roasting chestnuts
- Leaving out milk and cookies
- Elf on the shelf
- Gingerbread house
- Untangling the fairy lights
- Falling asleep after dinner
- Burning the roast
- Shaking a present to guess it
Christmas films and songs
Use the usual signals first: wind an old camera for a film, mime singing for a song, then hold up fingers for the number of words.
- Home Alone
- Elf
- The Grinch
- Jingle Bells
- Frosty the Snowman
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- A Christmas Carol
- Silent Night
- The Nutcracker
- Deck the Halls
- Miracle on 34th Street
- Let It Snow
- The Polar Express
- Last Christmas
- White Christmas
Tricky phrases for teens and adults
These need some creative acting, which is half the fun.
- Boxing Day sales
- Regifting a present
- Office Christmas party
- Secret Santa
- Christmas jumper day
- New Year's resolution
- Twelve days of Christmas
- Queue at the post office
- Assembling a toy with missing instructions
- Batteries not included
- Re-heating leftovers
- Trying to stay awake for midnight Mass
- Hiding presents from the kids
- Pine needles everywhere
- Snowed in
Hard mode for big teams and quiz lovers
Save these for the end of the night or for a team that's winning too easily.
- Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
- Ghost of Christmas Past
- Partridge in a pear tree
- Figgy pudding
- Yule log
- Wassailing
- Winter solstice
- Advent calendar
- Nativity play
- Brandy butter
- Panto villain
- Lighting the pudding
- Christmas Eve box
- First footing
- Wise men following a star
Quick rules for a smooth game
- Split into two teams of roughly equal size and age.
- Fold the prompts into a bowl. One player draws a slip and reads it silently.
- They act it out with no words, no sounds and no pointing at objects in the room.
- Their own team guesses within 60 seconds. A correct guess scores one point.
- Pass the bowl to the other team and keep alternating until the bowl is empty.
If you want ready-made games for colleagues as well, our list of free party games for the office pairs nicely with these slips.
Two scoring twists worth trying
Speed round: each team gets two minutes to get through as many slips as possible, with one player acting the lot. Passing is allowed but costs the slip. This keeps teenagers interested and stops anyone overthinking.
Difficulty points: easy prompts score one, family and film prompts score two, tricky phrases three and hard mode five. Players choose which bowl to draw from, so a team that's behind can gamble on a big one. It works well when grandparents and kids are on the same side, because each can pick a bowl they're comfortable with.
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Playing with people who can't be in the room? Charades works on a video call too; see our ideas for a virtual holiday party for how to run it on screen. For more low-effort games once charades winds down, try these no-prep family Christmas games.
Christmas charades questions
How many players do you need for Christmas charades?
Four is a comfortable minimum, two per team. It works up to about twenty, and beyond that it's easier to run three or four teams in a rotation.
Can young children play Christmas charades?
Yes. Give them the easy list, let an adult whisper the prompt to non-readers, and allow simple sounds like a jingle or a belly laugh of a ho-ho-ho if they get stuck.
How long should each turn last?
Sixty seconds suits most groups. Drop to 45 seconds for confident adults or stretch to 90 for little ones and hard mode prompts.
What are the usual charades hand signals?
Hold up fingers for the number of words, tap fingers on your arm for syllables, cup your ear for sounds like, and wind an imaginary camera for a film or mime singing for a song.
My take: print the full set, keep the bowls separate by difficulty, and let the room choose. You'll get more laughs from a mixed bowl than from any single list.
