The Christmas season is a great time for some friendly competition! There are so many fun games to choose from that your tweens and their friends will love.

For big groups, energetic classics like charades, Pictionary, and light trivia games can really get everyone in the festive spirit. But if you’re looking for something a bit more, shall we say, subdued, there are plenty of other options as well.

Board games like Settlers of Catan or Bananagrams offer easy-to-learn mechanics but tons of replay value; they’re perfect for celebrating with a group of close friends on Christmas night.

For younger tweens and those who don’t want to play store-bought board games, then classic card games like Go Fish or War can be a lot of fun too. However you decide to celebrate the holidays, bringing people together with classic playful activities can help your whole family create lasting memories this holiday season!

If you’re looking for some unique Christmas games to play with your tween this holiday season, look no further. Here are some of our favorites:

The Elf On The Shelf Scavenger Hunt

Hide your Elf on the Shelf around the house or neighborhood and see how long it takes your tween to find him. Bonus points if you leave behind a few clues to help them on their way!

Create Christmas Themed Mad Libs

Put together several fill-in-the blank stories about Santa, his elves, and Rudolph and see who can come up with the funniest stories.

Have A Christmas Karaoke Night

Break out your favorite holiday songs, put on some Santa hats, and have a singing competition! Who knows you may discover a hidden karaoke star in your family.

Set Up An Obstacle Course

Create an obstacle course in your living room or backyard, with Christmas-themed obstacles like wrapping paper mazes and candy cane crawls. Time each person as they go through the course to see who can make it to the end fastest!

Decorate Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread houses are a staple of the holiday season and can make for some great decoration—and lots of sugary fun. Get your tween to help you decorate a few and see who can come up with the most creative design.

Candy Cane Hunt

Hide candy canes around the house and then send your tween on a mission to find them all. This is great for any sized group and can get everyone into the holiday spirit.

Christmas Saran Wrap Game

Wrap a variety of Christmas goodies in layers of saran wrap, then slowly wrap it up into a ball. The ball gets passed around and the goal is to unwrap the layers and collect as many Christmas goodies as possible.

Christmas Minute to Win It Games

Set up a variety of Christmas-themed minute to win it games, like balancing Christmas cookies on your forehead to stacking presents. Time each person as they go through the course to see who can finish in record time!

Draw a Snowman

Just as the name suggests, the aim of this game is to draw a snowman. Sounds easy? Well the catch is that you have to draw the snowman on a paper plate that you are holding on your head. The results are hilarious!

Christmas Charades

This classic game never gets old at family gatherings. Make it more interesting by incorporating Christmas-themed cards into the mix, such as Santa Claus, Gingerbread Man, etc.

Name That Christmas Song

Grab some holiday tunes and see who can name the most songs in a set amount of time! Pro tip: add an extra twist by making them name the artist as well.

Christmas Movie Trivia

Test your tween’s knowledge about their favorite Christmas moviesv. Give them a list of questions to answer and see who can get the most right!

Create a Festive Drink

Give each person or team a list of ingredients and see who can create the tastiest (and most creative) holiday drink. Or set up a Hot Chocolate Bar with all sorts of mix-ins and toppings and let everyone create their own masterpiece.

Christmas Gift Exchange

It would not be a Christmas party without a fun gift exchange. Put a twist on the classic game by setting up a Secret Santa exchange or have a white elephant gift exchange.

Fast Kisses

For this fun game, players have to see how many Hershey’s kisses they can unwrap in 30 seconds while wearing oven mitts! It’s a great way to get your tween laughing and having fun.

Indoor Snowball Fight

Tweens love a good snowball fight and this one lets them do it inside! Simply crumple up some pieces of paper, divide into two teams, and have at it. The team with the most snowballs at the end wins.

Guess That Tune

Hum, whistle, or sing popular holiday songs and see if your tween can guess the title and/or artist. You can also play this game with movies or TV shows – just hum the theme song and see if they can name the show.

Christmas Marshmallow Beard Relay Race

Divide the group into teams and arm them with mini marshmallows and petroleum jelly. Each team chooses one person to be the Santa and using the petroleum jelly has to stick as many marshmallows on their Santa’s face as they can in one minute. The team with the most wins!

Decorate Christmas Cookies

Baking is always a fun activity for tweens and decorating Christmas cookies is no exception. Break out the icing, sprinkles and candy canes and let everyone unleash their creativity!

Pin the Nose on Rudolph

For this classic game, draw a large Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on a piece of paper. Then blindfold each player and have them try to stick a carrot nose in the right place. The one who gets closest wins!

No matter which game you choose, your tween is sure to have a blast this Christmas season. So don’t wait gather up your family and friends, break out the snacks, and get ready for some holiday cheer!