A SUPER FUN CHRISTMAS GAME
Last year I posted about a fun Gift Exchange Game for you to play with your friends and families during the Christmas season.
You can check it out HERE. It’s amazing.
I found an even more hilarious game.
All you need are sturdy paper plates (I got mine at Costco) and pens for each player.
The host tells the players to put their paper plate on their head.
Then the host will give a series of instructions for the players to draw on their paper plates (that are on their heads) without looking.
Here are the instructions:
1. Draw a line for a floor. 2. Draw a Christmas Tree. Add decorations if you feel so inclined. 3. Draw a star on top of your tree. 4. Draw a fireplace with a mantel next to the tree. 5. Draw a stocking hanging from the mantel of your fireplace. 6. Draw a present below the tree.
After the six steps have been given, let everyone look at their plates.
Then have players count up how many points they received by following this rubric:
1. 2 points if the tree touches the floor. 2. 2 points if your stocking is touching your mantel. 3. 1 point if your star touches your tree. 4. 1 point if your star is above your tree. 5. 1 point for every Christmas ornament ball that is ON your tree, etc. 6. 1 point if your fireplace doesn’t touch the tree (it’s a fire hazard!). 7. 1 point if you actually drew something decorative on your stocking (or something cute, like a tiny kitten peeking out). 8. 2 points if your present is under your tree.
The player with the most points should receive a really awesome prize (such as Christmas Window Clings).
I had a neat opportunity to speak for a large group of super fun women at a local church’s ornament exchange last weekend.
I kicked my Happy Home segment off with this game.
Here are a few pictures of how it went…
What a fun thing to do at your next Christmas event! Or even just sitting around the table with your family after dinner one night.
Looking for more great ideas?
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Merry Christmas Paper Plate Game-ing!
About Happy Home Fairy
Julie Brasington is a Preschool Director, wife of a South Florida Worship Pastor and mom of 3 boys. She writes at Happy Home Fairy where you can find easy craft ideas, FREE printables, simple recipes, holiday fun, thoughts on raising kids, and encouragement for moms.
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Reader Interactions
52 Comments
- MarissaDecember 7, 2011 at 8:28 pm
what a fun I idea I’m definitely pinning this this would be fun to play even iwth the little kids I’d love you to link this up to my what we wore party over at http://raegunwear.blogspot.com
sooooo fun! we will have to do that!
- Marva December 13, 2022 at 11:19 am
We played a similar game last year and it was so much fun. Everyone enjoyed!
Love this idea… Georgia
I loved your ideas and want to thank you for sharing.
My sewing group is having it’s Christmas party tonite. We are playing this game!
- Happy Home FairyDecember 10, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Jeri! That’s so fun! I hope you all have a blast!
Love this idea! Will try it with teens at our library program this week.
Fun idea! I’d love to have you link up to my party if you get a chance at http://scrapbookingez.blogspot.com/2011/12/anything-goes-linky-party_08.html. Thanks for sharing!
Sooo doing this with family this yr!! Thanks!
Oh MY GOODNESS that is HILARIOUS. We are going to have to do this one with our children…. I would love for you to share it here http://shoprubyjean.com/2011/12/sew-crafty-tuesday-linky-party1/
What a GREAT game! I love doing simple inexpensive things that are fun and truly memorable. We are going to absolutely do this some time over the holidays!
lol, how fun! i’ll have to tell my family about that one.
Thanks to you (and Pinterest!) we played this at our women’s ministry Christmas Party Saturday night. It was a blast! We had so much fun and I loved hearing all the laughter around the room!
We did something similar at my sisters baby shower. see how could draw the cutest baby and let mother to be choose which she liked best as winner. so much fun
We are using this game at our 4th Annual International Food Night TONIGHT!!
Thank you!
- Happy Home FairyDecember 8, 2012 at 3:25 am
Kat, that is so great! I know you will have the best time!
- KatJanuary 2, 2013 at 2:15 pm
it was a SUPER success! Thank you!!
Thank you for this game idea! We played it this afternoon at my son’s Christmas party. The kids LOVED it! I did everything as directed except when it came to figuring out points, I had the kids exchange their masterpiece with a neighbor. I figured that way the points would be more realistic as kids tend to be more generous with their own work. That ended up being almost as fun as the game!
I want to play this on Valentine’s Day, with 9 year old kids…any ideas for different wording?
I am trying to sign up for your site and you keep telling me you have sent me a email to confirm it but I am not getting the email-thank you glenda
- Happy Home FairyJune 9, 2013 at 7:01 am
Sweet Glenda, I am not sure what the problem might be… I wish I was more tech-y in times like this.
Sounds fun! I am in charge of the activities for our adult Sunday school Christmas luncheon, and this is something we can let all their kids play too. We’ll have a prize for the adult winner and a prize for the kid winner.
I’m so glad I found your blog! I teach English in Japan and my English club will be having a Christmas party in a few weeks. I’ve been struggling to find games that will not only be fun, but also use their English skills. Both this and the gift exchange game will be perfect!! Thanks!
Played this with my ladies church group tonight and they loved it, and we had some great laughs. Thanks!
How could I do this game for a Halloween RS get together? I’m wondering what the drawing could be of?
W/a Smile, Tiana
We played this this summer at our painting retreat….our theme was Witches Weekend, so I changed it up a bit by making it a Halloween theme. Very fun and LOTS of laughs.
Going to use this at our work holiday party this year. Thank you. Soooo funny to see the pics of everyone laughing.
What an awesome idea. I would like to share this with my first grade team. We can play this during our Holiday Luncheon. Thanks for sharing.
This is so fun! I sell pure romance and I do one similar at parties sometimes and the ladies always love it. it is funny to see the end images! I never thought about doing it for the parties at school though…super great idea. My baby is in kindergarten this year so I am not sure they can do it, but I pinned it for the future! I cant wait to see her class do it! Brilliant!! Shared on social media!
Jess
ps. Tomorrow at 10pm I host a link up on my blog. I would love to you come over and link up
Thank you for sharing. I just did this last night with a group of 60 women and everyone had a good laugh.
great idea. I will have to do this for my christmas party fo sho!
Thank you for the great ideas. Also found few good Christmas games here
This sounds so fun. We are playing it at our family Christmas party this weekend and can’t wait for all the laughter.
I used this for my Christmas party. It was great. And the roar that it created when the ladies looked at their drawings was well worth it all. Thanks for the idea. Going to tweak it this weekend for a coed party.
We played this game at our HPP holiday gathering EVERYONE enjoyed it.
- Happy Home FairyDecember 24, 2014 at 2:00 pm
That is awesome! Thank you for letting me know!
What would be a scene I could use for New Years Eve?
- Karissa December 30, 2014 at 2:33 pm
We are doing this tomorrow at work for New Years and came up with these ideas.
Draw a line for the floor.
Draw a clock on the wall showing midnight.
Draw a table.
Put some snacks and drinks on the table.
Draw 2 people at the party kissing.
Decorate for the party.
Our points are similar to the original posting. Points for: the clock on the wall and not touching the floor, the table on the floor, the snacks and drinks on the table, 2 people kissing, decorations at the party.
I can’t wait to hear all of the giggles tomorrow!! Good luck and hope this helps!
Awesome. It’s a stupendous idea…. I’m going to share this idea with my school team to play on All hands meet for staff and their families… I’m excited and delighted…i can’t wait to see the audiences laughing and giggling… Hurray.
I am so doing this for our thanksgiving party! What ideas are there for how I can tweak this so it’s for thanksgiving instead of Christmas? or even anything winter themed would be great!
Great idea and will be using tonight, thanks!
- Happy Home FairyDecember 5, 2015 at 9:17 pm
That’s great, Tobin! Have fun!
Love this idea! I’ve been thinking about doing a fun game with the family after church and dinner on Christmas Eve.
I’m a teacher and I played this with my third graders. So much fun!! A perfectly simple and funny game that I was able to easily squeeze into our day. Thanks!!
Any suggestions on how to do this for a baby shower? What pictures could be drawn? The Christmas version are commonly drawn images….which makes it so great. I’m a little stumped on baby shower pics that most people can draw.
Any suggestions would be appreciated:)
My family loves this activity! We did it for Christmas with a large group and it was hilarious! Since then I have adapted it for a bridal shower and again it was a hit. Now I am adapting it to use at our family reunion in July. Can’t wait to see the results with an even larger group of people who probably have never heard of this activity. Thanks sooooo much for sharing.
- Happy Home FairyJune 27, 2016 at 11:21 pm
Zoe – what fun! Will you share your creative twists? I would love to hear how you did that!
We did this at an office party, but didn’t have a way to score the drawings. (It was still fun. We just laughed at each other’s– and our own!) I wanted to play this at our family gathering, but was wishing we had a way to award points. Your scoring criteria is exactly what I needed! Thanks!
Thank you so much for this! We’re going to do it tonight at our school’s Christmas party for the moms.
Here is a cute twist to this game. Have everyone write their name on the inside of the plate before they start drawing. When done, one person collects all plates directly from the heads and shuffles them around. Lay it out on the table and everyone has to figure out which plate is theirs.
I really love these ideas & Will try it with teens at our library program this month.HAHah! my all family loves this kind of activities
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Hey there! My name is Julie, the Happy Home Fairy. I am married to a Worship Pastor, we have 3 boys, and I am a Preschool Director. I love sharing easy, fun ideas to help moms build a happy home! Here you will find simple crafts, FREE Printables, yummy recipes, stories about my journey to trust Jesus with my family, and encouragement for your mama’s heart. You can read more about me HERE!
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Christmas Drawing and Listening Game
This week’s Christmas sensory play ideas are all about sound!
As far as I am concerned the best thing about Christmas is the music! Corny songs, everyone singing along, there is nothing better than that! My kids, on the other hand, are not quite as into daggy Christmas music as I am, but they LOVED this simple Christmas drawing and listening game.
You can play this Christmas drawing and listening game with as many people as you like, but you need to arrange a space where everyone can sit and draw, without seeing each other’s drawings.
We used a large sheet of cardboard to make a screen in the middle of the table for playing in pairs, but if you have a large group you kid sit everyone in a long line and have them rest the paper on the back of the person in front.
Everyone will need something to draw with. For a small group you can make it even trickier by giving everyone the same coloured pencils or markers and adding the extra detail of colour into the instructions.
You can do this with just a plain piece of paper, or you can download our free printable Christmas Tree Drawing prompt and use this as your starting point.
This an A4 sized pdf file. If you are printing on US letter sized paper be sure to check ‘fit’ or ‘shrink to fit’ in your printer options.
To play the game select one person to give the instructions and one person to draw, or if you are playing in pairs you can take turns giving the instructions.
The instructor draws something on their Christmas tree and then explains, in words only, to the other drawers what they drew, where, and what colour. The drawer then follows the instructions, no questions allowed, and no peeking, and draws that item on their Christmas tree.
As we played my kids learned that more detailed instructions got better results.
They had to think about how to describe where on the tree the item was – left or right side? high or low? on the edge or in the middle? They had to think about how they would describe the item they drew – an angel with wings? a halo? a Christmas bauble as big as their thumb nail? And they had to think about the colours they used and where they used them.
The listeners also learned that it was best to wait until all the instructions were given rather than starting halfway through and making assumptions and mistakes – a great life lesson!
Once you are done drawing, take down the screen and compare your Christmas trees!
For more Christmas ‘sound’ and ‘hearing’ activities check out these ideas:
Holiday Bell Tota from Babble Dabble Do.
And check out this fun Christmas ‘sight’ activity – free printable crazy glasses!
Christmas tree on A Plate Drawing Game for Groups
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Nothing is more fun than spending a good time with your favorite people like family, friends, church members and co-workers! Especially during holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas!
A good way to make gatherings like this extra special is through fun Christmas games that will let everyone join in resulting in a very exciting and memorable experience! One of the easiest and budget-friendly Christmas activities that you can try on your upcoming celebration is the Christmas tree on a plate drawing game!
Table of Contents
4 Quick reasons spending time with others this Christmas is good for you:
- Spending time with other people allows you to discover and share agape love
- According to studies, the happiest people are those who feel that they are connected with the people around them
- People who have a connection with their community are usually healthier.
- Having a good relationship with the people around you can give you that sense of fulfillment which helps you live a sound and peaceful life.
The Christmas tree on a plate game needs very minimal preparation, all you need is a pack of paper plates and pens or markers for each of the players. Because of this, it is a great Christmas drawing game for groups sitting around a table or the room so that everyone is facing each other! The host will then give a series of instructions that everyone in the group will have to follow!
- Everyone should place the paper plate over their head and ready their pens.
- Ask everyone to draw a line that will act as the floor.
- Now draw a Christmas tree and add your desired decorations.
- Draw a fireplace with a mantel beside the Christmas tree.
- Hang some Christmas stockings at the fireplace.
- Draw some gifts below the Christmas tree.
- Now draw a star above the Christmas tree.
- Finally, have everyone look at their paper plates and for sure it will be a fun moment!
To make the game extra fun and memorable, we will score their drawings using the following as guidelines. The player with the highest score will win the game!
- 3 points if the tree is touching the floor.
- Another 3 points if the Christmas stockings are properly placed at the mantle of the fireplace.
- 5 points if the tree is far from the fireplace because we don’t want it to burn right?
- 5 points if the gifts are under the Christmas tree
- 10 points if the star is at the top of the tree.
What’s nice about the Christmas tree on a plate game is that you don’t have to spend a lot preparing it. You can focus the budget on buying an amazing prize for the game’s winner, unlike other Christmas games that are hard to prepare and costs a lot.
Plus the paper plates can also be considered a fun “art piece” to take home from your Christmas event. Also consider, asking everyone to sign their paper plate with Christmas greetings and hang it in a public place as added decoration or have it framed and displayed in their own houses.
Summary
In every occasion and gathering, the food and the program aren’t the most important. Be reminded that the relationships that you’ll build with the people you’re with are the best memories this holiday.
Pro tip: You can change the instructions depending on the holiday or theme of the event. The drawing can be adjusted as well and the scoring guidelines will depend on how you want to run the game! Enjoy and have a great time!
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