15 Office Holiday Party Games to Keep the Fun Snowballing

Holiday parties can often feel like just another regular meeting with cake and tinsel as an add-on, but they don’t have to. With the right kind of office holiday party games, teams can skip the small talk and yawns and get right down to having some serious fun with coworkers in festive style. From themed scavenger hunts and trivia to bingo or solving murder mysteries and breaking free from escape rooms, there are plenty of options to choose from.

If you’re looking for some amazing game ideas (that even the Grinch could’nt resist!), we’ve got you covered. 

In this blog, we’ll explore:

• Why host office holiday party games?
• Games to celebrate Thanksgiving.
• Holiday game ideas for Hanukkah.
• Holiday Games for Christmas.
• Games to Mark Kwanzaa. 
• Party games for New Year’s.

Table of Contents

Why Host Office Holiday Party Games for Your Team?

According to a survey cited by Forbes, 83% of companies in the US host holiday parties, but only 47% percent of employees seem excited about these. That number could rise dramatically if these celebrations were more interactive and engaging. One of the best ways to make that happen is through office holiday party games.

These games take the pressure off small talk, drive more fun interactions, and get everyone from different teams and departments collaborating toward common goals. They also offer a refreshing break from packed year-end schedules, turning the typical office party into something your team will truly enjoy. Best of all, these games reveal hidden talents among coworkers, like the teammate who cracks escape room puzzles in record time or the one who consistently nails every trivia question like a pro.

15 Best Office Holiday Party Games for Teams To Play

Whether you are celebrating Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, office holiday party games can easily dial up the fun. Here are a few games for holiday office parties​ , suitable for both remote and in-person teams, to embrace the holiday season together. 

Office Holiday Party Games for Thanksgiving

Hosting Thanksgiving-themed office holiday party games is a perfect way to show appreciation for your team’s hard work and bring everyone together in a spirit of gratitude and fun. Here are a few virtual office party ideas to help everyone enjoy a memorable Thanksgiving celebration together. 

1. Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt

Turn your Thanksgiving celebrations into a fun adventure with a Thanksgiving scavenger hunt game. Create a list of themed items like pumpkin pie, fall-scented candles, thank-you cards, mugs with gratitude quotes, or anything cozy and seasonal for teams to find around them. For a creative twist, turn your clues into playful riddles or add mini challenges like “Strike your best turkey pose before finding the next item” or “Share one thing you’re grateful for to unlock your next clue.”

Here’s a scavenger hunt list to enjoy the game with your team: 

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2. Murder! at the Pumpkin Patch

Murder! at the Pumpkin Patch is perfect for thrill-seeking teams looking to celebrate the holiday season with a lighthearted competition. Team members work together to solve the case of a festival critic’s death, which has interrupted the annual fall festival of Harvest Hollow. They need to collaborate and interrogate suspects played by live actors to uncover the culprit before time runs out. 

A few weeks ago, we played this game with our team and had an amazing time interrogating clever suspects like the baker, the bar owner, the crime writer, and the Mayor. The characters were so convincing and had solid alibis that it was almost difficult for us to tell who was guilty until Rory from our marketing team cracked the case for us. 

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3. Turkey Day Trivia

Can your team guess which dish wasn’t actually served at the first Thanksgiving dinner? Or which film by Ang Lee takes place over Thanksgiving weekend? Test their holiday knowledge with a fun Turkey Day trivia game. Create a list of themed questions on interesting categories like festive treats, traditions, holiday movies, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and more to engage everyone. 

You can even host surprise bonus rounds like ‘Guess that Picture’ or ‘Complete the Line’  for teams to earn extra points and climb the leaderboard. For a seamless experience, opt for a hosted session or hire a host to lead the game and keep everyone entertained with bite-sized facts.

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Office Holiday Party Games for Hanukkah

Festive Hanukkah games offer the perfect mix of fun and tradition, making them ideal for teams to enjoy a glowing celebration. Here are a few options for teams to try.

4. Hanukkah Pictionary

Hanukkah Pictionary puts a festive spin on the classic game and is perfect for bringing some lighthearted fun to your team celebrations. Teams will receive various Hanukkah-themed words or phrases as prompts, like menorah, dreidel, olive branches, and more, during their turn. They just need to draw the same for the others to guess within a set time. 

To make the game even more engaging, you can decide on a theme for each round, like festive foods, movies, or traditions. You can even award bonus points for the funniest drawing, fastest guess, or most creative interpretation to encourage participation and appreciate everyone’s efforts. 

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5. Hanukkah Trivia

Hanukkah trivia is a great way to test your team’s cultural wits and see how much they actually know about the festival. You can create a list of questions on themed categories like festive treats, traditions, cultural symbols, holiday origins, and more to engage everyone. For a fun twist, add audiovisual rounds where team members guess the names of popular movies or songs from short clips. 

To make things easy, hire a host to lead the session, track scores, and share interesting tidbits about the holiday along the way. You can even include a bonus rapid-fire round to fuel the competition and decide on a winner. 

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6. Hanukkah Bingo

Teams looking for engaging and festive office holiday party games can play Hanukkah Bingo. You can create custom bingo cards (in-person teams can print theirs) with themed prompts on festive foods, culture, or trivia, and appoint a host to lead the session. The prompts could look like, ‘knows about Torah’, ‘Played with Dreidels’, or ‘Knows how to write something in Hebrew.’ Team members just need to listen to the prompts as called out by the host, mark them off on their cards, create a winning combo, and shout Bingo! to score a win. 

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Here’s a ready-to-play Hanukkah bingo card for your team: 

Holiday Games for Christmas

Office holiday Christmas party games are perfect to dive into the merry season while vying for the top spots on the leaderboard. Here are our top picks for teams to enjoy. 

7. Guess That Holiday Picture

If you are looking for quirky office holiday party games that will leave your team thinking, Guess That Holiday Picture is a perfect choice. Team members need to identify Christmas treats, symbols, movies, or popular memes from pictures. The only catch is that the images might be zoomed in, blurred, or pixelated to add a fun twist. The group that identifies the images correctly and faster than the others climbs the leaderboard. 

Here are a few ideas to help you create images for the game:

• Close-up of a Christmas ornament.
• Snap of Ralphie’s Red Ryder BB gun from A Christmas Story
• A zoomed-in shot of Charlie Brown’s sparse Christmas tree
• Blur an image from Buddy the Elf’s spaghetti scene from Elf
• Pixelate a plate of holiday cookies.
• Crop a string of tangled fairy lights.

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8. White Elephant Game

Unlike Secret Santa, White Elephant is one of the hilarious virtual office Christmas party ideas that involves gift giving and gift stealing. Team members purchase a present based on a given budget (pro tip: look for funny and bizarre items only!). On the day of the event, a ‘picking order’ is assigned randomly, and the first person gets to choose a present from the assembled options.

The next player can either choose to open another gift or steal the one that’s already unwrapped. Any person who has their gift stolen can open another gift or take a gift from someone else. The game continues until all the presents have been opened. Remote teams can opt for online platforms like Play White Elephant to enjoy the game online. 

9. Christmas Scattergories

Christmas Scattergories is a festive brain-teaser that’ll have your team racing to think of every possible holiday-themed word. Each round, team members get 3 to 4 categories like holiday treats, movies, carols, or symbols, along with a single letter. The challenge? Come up with unique answers that no one else on the team thinks of!

Players who submit unique responses earn the maximum points, while the others earn half the score for duplicate answers. Remote teams can write their responses on paper and share them with everyone once the round is over for evaluation, or use any online platform to play together. 

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Best Office Holiday Party Games for Kwanzaa

Celebrate African American culture with your team by hosting fun and meaningful Kwanzaa-themed games. Here are some inclusive game ideas for teams to enjoy during their holiday party. 

10. Kwanzaa Word Scramble

From Kinara to Seven principles, find out if your team can identify various Kwanzaa-themed terms in a word scramble game. Team members will receive multiple words or short phrases related to the holiday in jumbled form. They just need to rearrange the letters to reveal the target word within a set time. To fuel healthy competition, award bonus points for completing a round without making any mistakes. 

Here are a few ready-to-use prompts for your game: 

• AUMOJ – Umoja (Unity)
• ARNIAK – Kinara (Traditional Candleholder)
• ZOAAM – Mazao (Crops)
• WADAZI- Zawadi (Kwanzaa Gifts)
• IIMAN – Imani (Faith)

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11. Kwanzaa Mini Games

Looking for game ideas to host an engaging Kwanzaa celebration for your team? Then a mini games event should definitely be on your list. Teams will participate in various mini games that highlight African American culture and score points. These games require minimal preparation and can be played by both remote and onsite teams, making them truly inclusive. For an engaging experience, you can hire a host to explain the rules, track scores, and cheer on participants throughout the event.

Here are a few game ideas that your team can enjoy: 

• Kwanzaa Trivia: Test your knowledge about the holiday by answering interesting questions on topics like popular figures, seven principles, food, traditions, and more.
• Cultural Hunt: Scavenge for items like candles, checkered items, coffee beans, and more in your immediate surroundings within a limited time.
• Bingo Bash: Mark off squares filled with prompts like ‘Knows about Kinara’ or ‘Can name the seven principles’, create a winning combo, and shout Bingo! to win the game. 

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12. Kwanzaa Five Second Rule

Test your team’s quick thinking skills with a Kwanzaa five-second rule game. Just like the popular party game, team members will have five seconds to name three things related to a themed prompt. These could include Kwanzaa principles, traditional foods, prominent personalities, cultural symbols, and more. The player who shares the correct responses before time runs out scores the maximum points. 

Here are a few prompt ideas for your team to explore:

• Name three of the seven Kwanzaa principles.
• Name three colors associated with Kwanzaa.
• Name three traditional foods enjoyed during the holiday.
• Name three popular gifts given during the celebrations. 
• Name three prominent African American figures.

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Office Holiday Games for the New Year

Whether you are counting down in the office or virtually, holiday games are perfect for bringing everyone together and kicking off the new year on a festive note. Here are a few office holiday games you can enjoy with your team.  

13. Two Resolutions and a Lie

Two resolutions and a lie is a hilarious game for teams to fish out each other’s real resolutions for the year from a pool of options. Team members submit three resolutions to a designated host, out of which one is a lie. The others need to read between the lines to identify which is the lie.  It’s a fun way to share personal goals and discover surprising ambitions your coworkers have for the year ahead.   

Here are a few examples of how you can submit your prompts:

• Run half a marathon, Learn Italian, stop drinking coffee.
• Travel to three new countries, start journaling daily, and buy fewer shoes.
• Learn to play the ukulele, go 30 days without sugar, and take swimming lessons.
• Wake up at 5 AM every day, learn to solve a Rubik’s Cube, and take pottery classes.
• Start a podcast, run a 10K, and join a meditation class. 

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14. Year-End Charades

New Year-themed Charades is a quirky way to recap moments from the past year with your team before stepping into a new one. You and your team will take turns to act out various pop culture moments, headlines, blockbuster movies, viral reels, and more. The others need to decode the non-verbal clues and guess the target prompt correctly to score points. To make it more fun, include a segment called ‘office highlights’ to relive funny meeting mishaps, achievements, and memorable incidents for a personalized experience.

Here are a few viral moments from this year to take inspiration from for your prompts: 

• Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance.
• Katy Perry in Space.
• Labubu Dolls Craze.
• Viral Kiss Cam moment from Coldplay concert.
• The rise of matcha obsession.

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15. Balloon Pop Showdown

Balloon Pop Showdown is perfect to amp up the excitement during a New Year’s Eve party. Inflate a few balloons (depending on the number of participants), mark them with numbers, and place a small note with challenges inside each one. As you get close to midnight, have team members pop their chosen balloons and complete the activity mentioned on the paper. 

Remote Teams can appoint a designated host to prepare for the game and display the balloons on screen. Team members can then take turns selecting balloons by calling out the numbers on them. Once done, the host can pop each of them and reveal the challenge for the participants to perform. We recommend using the ‘Spotlight’ feature on your video conferencing platform during everyone’s turn for maximum engagement and fun. 

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are holiday party games for the office? 

Games for office holiday party are festive, competitive events meant to bond team members during the holiday season. These can include themed trivia, bingo, scavenger hunts, icebreakers, and more. Most of these events are hosted by experts who lead the game, track scores, and keep the energy high throughout the event. 

What are some fun office holiday party games to play with coworkers? 

Some popular office holiday party games include Secret Santa Gift Exchange, Holiday Bingo, and “Guess the Ornament.”If your team works remotely, explore virtual office holiday party ideas such as online escape rooms, digital holiday scavenger hunts, or themed trivia nights.

How to plan and host office holiday games? 

To plan and host office holiday games, start by choosing a theme that fits your celebration, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, or New Year’s. Next, decide whether your event will be in-person, virtual, or hybrid, and pick games that suit your format and team size. Include a mix of icebreakers, trivia, and team challenges to keep everyone engaged.

Make sure to set a clear schedule, assign a host or facilitator to guide the fun, and prepare any materials or digital tools (like Zoom, Kahoot, or virtual escape rooms) in advance. Finally, don’t forget to add festive touches like music, decorations, and prizes to create a warm, celebratory vibe your team will remember.

What are the best virtual holiday games for teams? 

Some of the best virtual holiday games for teams include Online Holiday Trivia, Holiday Bingo, and Festive Escape Rooms that get everyone thinking and laughing together. 

How to throw a virtual office holiday party?

To host a virtual office holiday party, select a video conferencing platform that suits your team’s size. Create a list of fun games for virtual office holiday party, like trivia, bingo, or experiences like cookie decorating, or cocktail mixing. If you are hosting a hands-on activity, deliver curated kits to the participants’ addresses or ensure that they source the required supplies in advance. Send out meeting invites with all the necessary details and assign a host to lead the event. Alternatively, opt for virtual team building platforms like Hooray Teams to enjoy a fully hosted experience with kits delivered in advance.

What are some good office holiday party games for large groups?

Trivia, Minute to Win It Games, and scavenger hunts are great holiday office party games for large groups. 

How to host games for office holiday party virtually? 

To host office holiday party games virtually, select an online video conferencing platform like Zoom or Google Meet. Create a list of games and hire a host to lead the event. Send out meeting invites with all the necessary details so everyone can join the session. Alternatively, opt for a virtual team building company to enjoy a fully hosted experience.