It’s that time of the year again! Although we got back from Thanksgiving break not too long ago, it’ll soon be Christmas vacation. The most wonderful time of the year is sure to be filled with gift giving, cookie baking, and of course, Christmas parties! Here are some of my personal favorite games, perfect for any family, to play at your next Christmas party:

1. Saran Wrap Ball

The aim of this game is to unwrap the ball and win as many prizes as you can. To set it up, get a ton of little prizes like candy, small toys, and even money. Take the biggest prize, maybe a larger toy or a 50-dollar gift card, and wrap it in several layers of saran wrap. Continue to add layers of saran wrap to make it more ball-shaped and incorporate the various prizes as you go. When you’re done, you should have a fairly large ball of various saran wrap layers with the toys and candies hidden in each. To play, have everyone sit in a circle. Give one person the ball and the person to their left two dice. When the game begins, the person with the ball tries to unwrap it and get as many prizes as they can while the person with the dice tries to roll doubles, or two of the same number. Once the person with the dice is able to do so, they pass the dice to the person on their left while they have their turn to try and unwrap the saran ball. The game continues until the ball is completely unwrapped. For more a challenge, have everyone put on mittens!

2. Newspaper Dance

This traditional Filipino party game has always been one of my favorites, and it’s super easy to set up and play. All you need is a group of people, newspapers, and some music. First, make sure everyone pairs up and takes one of the newspapers. Each pair then unfolds the newspaper completely and sets onto the ground. The game begins and someone starts the music. The pairs start dancing, but when the music stops, both people must stand on their newspaper. If they’re able to stay on, they move on to the next round. If they can’t balance, they’re eliminated. Before the next round begins, each pair must fold their newspaper in half. Once the music starts, they continue dancing until it stops, and they have to get on their newspaper again. The pairs can do anything—huddle together, carry each other, etc.—as long as both are on the newspaper. The game continues, the newspapers getting smaller and smaller, until only one pair remains.

3. Mirror Charades

Everyone knows how the classic game charades works, but this version has a twist! To prepare the game, write Christmas-themed words and phrases on slips of paper, put them in a bowl or hat, and split the group of people playing into two teams. To start, one team will elect two of their players to start. One is the “actor” while the other is their “mirror.” The person who is acting out the item will pick a slip of paper—and they are the only ones who can see it—and begin to act out whatever it says. However, instead of facing the rest of the group, they’ll be behind them, so that they can’t be seen. Instead, the “mirror” will stand in front of the group and simply mimic whatever the “actor” does. The team then gets one minute to guess what the word or phrase is solely based on what the “mirror” is doing. If the team guesses within the time limit, they win a point, and the other team then chooses their actor/mirror pair to go. The game continues until there are no more words/phrases to choose from, and the team with the most points wins!

I hope you’ll enjoy these Christmas party games just as much as I do. Enjoy your holiday parties!