150 Christmas Icebreaker Questions & Games for the Holidays
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By Angela Robinson
You found our list of the best Christmas icebreaker questions and games.
Christmas icebreakers are short and simple prompts and activities that get folks chatting and interacting during holiday parties, meetings, and at work. Example questions include "what was the best holiday present you ever received?" and "what is your family's funniest holiday story?" and example games include Jingle Mingle Bingo and Blackout Holiday Truth or Dare. The purpose of these activities is to make connections and spread holiday cheer. These activities are also called "holiday icebreakers."
Here is a list of holiday icebreaker games to play on Zoom and other video calling platforms.
1. Seasonal Settings
One of the simplest virtual holiday icebreaker activities is to have attendees switch their virtual backgrounds to a personal holiday photo. For example, a childhood photo, a favorite present, their best-ever Christmas decorations, or their favorite holiday movie.
Pro tip: To avoid awkward silences while people search for photos, have come ready with the photo and then take time to talk about it.
2. Christmas Confessions
Christmas Confessions is a holiday guessing game where players must figure out which statement belongs to which player. At the start of the game, each player writes down one holiday-themed confession. These statements could be misdeeds that would land them on the naughty list, good deeds worthy of the nice list, admissions of strange holiday tastes, or wild or bizarre Christmas stories.
Players can submit these tidbits to the host before the party, or privately message them to the host at the start of the activity. Then, the host picks confessions at random to read aloud, and the other party guests must guess which participant the answer belongs to.
Pro tip: To save time, you can tell attendees to come to the party with a response prepared to share.
3. Blackout Holiday Truth or Dare
Blackout holiday truth or dare puts a seasonal twist on a classic icebreaker game. The game is best played online during a video call, however, you could adapt the game for play in person as well.
All players start off the game with webcams off. Then, a leader reads out a series of questions or dares, and players who are unwilling to participate turn their video off. The leader then chooses one willing participant to respond to the prompt.
Here are a few example truths and dares:
What is your most embarrassing Christmas story?
What is the worst gift you have ever received?
What is the worst gift you have ever given?
If you could spend Christmas with any celebrity, who would it be?
If you could get away with giving someone a petty present, what would it be and why?
If money was no object, what would you ask for for Christmas?
I dare you to make a Santa beard from cotton balls.
I dare you to sing a Christmas song at the top of your lungs.
I dare you to text one of your contacts, "what date is Christmas again?"
I dare you to fit a whole cookie in your mouth.
I dare you to dance to a Christmas song.
I dare you to not to say "Christmas" for the rest of the meeting.
You can also have players take turns giving out prompts, or simply play a standard, holiday version of truth or dare.
Here is a list of holiday party games to get guests socializing.
1. Spontaneous Secret Santa
Spontaneous Secret Santa is an improvised version of the beloved Christmas gift exchange. Instead of preparing a present in advance, participants only have 5-10 minutes to get a gift together. Simply explain the activity, draw names, give participants time to rummage for presents, and then swap gifts. Examples of last-minute-presents might include candy from a snack stash, a parody song written on the spot, a drawing, or a "survival kit" made out of unopened items found in a backpack. Part of the fun is seeing what kinds of presents people can put together on the fly.
The community tree is a group decorating activity. Each participant arrives at the event with a unique ornament to hang on the tree. You can turn the exercise into a guessing game by challenging guests to figure out who contributed each ornament, or you can invite participants to say a couple of words about the significance of the ornament when putting it on the tree.
Jingle Mingle Bingo is a game that encourages guests to mix and learn facts about each other. Each participant gets a unique Bingo card. To mark squares, players must make conversation with fellow attendees, and mark the box with the name of a fellow partygoer who matches the description. The first few players to get five squares in a row win a prize.
Here is a generator to create free Bingo cards for the game.
Carols and Carolers is a simple matching game. One one slip of paper, put the name of a famous Christmas song, and on the other slip, write the artist who originally sang or is most known for singing the song. Then, put the slips into a bowl and have each guest draw a slip. The folks with the songs must pair up with the folks with the correct singer, and will chat for a couple of minutes.
Pro tip: If you have an outgoing group, then you can have the duos sing the song together for the group, or choreograph a short dance to the music.
5. Christmas Telephone Charades
Telephone Charades is a fun holiday icebreaker game for large groups. To set up the game, participants stand in a line facing one direction. The first player in line gets a Christmas-themed clue and acts it out for the next person in line. That second person then taps the person in front of them on the shoulder and acts out the silent prompt for that third player. The game continues until the last person in line must guess the original clue.
Special snowflakes is a game that breaks the ice by pairing participants up. To prepare this activity, create identical sets of snowflakes. You can make matching snowflakes by folding multiple pieces of paper together before cutting out shapes. Next, give the snowflakes out as folks arrive, and tell guests to find the snowflake shape that matches their own.
You can also give participants talking points to encourage conversations with their snowflake twin.
Pro tip: To ensure that each guest gets a match, you may want to make more than two possible matches per pattern, or keep track of which snowflakes you give out to ensure that everybody gets a buddy.
Holidays are about togetherness, yet folks sometimes have a hard time starting conversations at seasonal events. Icebreakers are a good way to help folks get more comfortable with each other around the holidays, and can serve as a destresser. You can use these Christmas icebreaker games and questions to kick off holiday meetings, parties, or as team building exercises throughout the month of December.
Here are answers to common questions about Christmas icebreakers.
What are Christmas icebreakers?
Christmas icebreakers are holiday-themed games and questions that start conversations and foster connections. These activities are also known as "holiday icebreaker games."
What are some good holiday icebreaker questions for work?
Some good holiday icebreaker questions for work include:
If you had to live in a holiday movie, which one would you choose?
What is one unique way your hometown celebrates the holidays?
What was the best gift you ever gave?
What is your favorite holiday tradition?
The best Christmas icebreaker questions are personal yet not prying, and either make teammates recall holiday memories or think critically about a seasonal scenario.
When asking holiday icebreaker questions, it is a good idea to include a few more generic, winter-themed prompts so that coworkers who do not celebrate Christmas can also participate in the discussion.
What are some good Christmas icebreaker games to play at work?
Some good Christmas icebreaker games to play at work include community tree, Christmas confessions, and seasonal settings.
Angela Robinson is a former marketing coordinator at teambuilding.com, where she led a global remote team and contributed to company-wide initiatives in team building and employee engagement. She previously planned events for local businesses at Yelp.
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