Office Christmas party games: 15 ideas that work at work
From five-minute icebreakers to a murder mystery over dinner: games everyone can join in, with group sizes, timings and a running order.
The best office Christmas party games have three things in common: anyone can join in without performing, they work with or without a drink in hand, and they fit around food rather than replacing it. Here are 15 that do, sorted roughly from five-minute icebreakers to the main event, with the group size and time each one needs.
Before you pick: three questions
- How many people? Under 16, everyone can play the same game. Over 20, use teams (quiz, bingo, charades) so nobody waits long for a turn.
- Who is in the room? Mixed ages, people who don't drink, people who hate being the centre of attention. Pick games where joining in quietly still counts.
- How long have you got? A two-hour lunch fits one main game and two short ones. A whole evening can take a murder mystery.
15 office Christmas party games that work at work
1. Christmas quiz in teams
Group: 8 to 60, teams of 4 to 6 · Time: 45 to 60 minutes
The safest bet there is. Mix general Christmas knowledge with a picture round and a dingbats round so the people who never win a trivia question still score. Let each table name their team; the names are half the fun.
2. Christmas bingo
Group: 6 to 100 · Time: 20 to 30 minutes per game
Needs no knowledge, no talking and no confidence, which is exactly why it works for big mixed groups. Picture cards keep it quick. For a large office, make sure every card is different so you don’t get ten winners at once. 100 different printable picture cards (£1.79)
3. Who Am I?
Group: 6 to 30 · Time: 15 minutes
Everyone gets a character card on their back or forehead and asks yes-or-no questions to work out who they are. Brilliant during drinks because people have to talk to colleagues they don’t usually sit near.
4. Would You Rather
Group: Any size · Time: 10 minutes
Read a question, everyone moves to one side of the room. No wrong answers, lots of debate. Keep the questions light and Christmassy rather than personal.
5. Christmas jumper awards
Group: Any size · Time: 10 minutes (voting runs all evening)
Hand out voting slips at the start and announce winners before pudding: best jumper, most festive, most homemade, most likely to be worn again next year. Certificates make it feel official.
6. One-minute challenges
Group: 6 to 40, in pairs or teams · Time: 20 to 30 minutes
One-minute challenges with things you already have: stack plastic cups, move sweets with a straw, unwrap a parcel in oven gloves. Short, silly and easy to watch.
7. Charades and draw and guess
Group: 8 to 30, two teams · Time: 20 minutes
Christmas films, songs and traditions. Offer an easy and a hard card each turn so nobody gets stuck.
8. The Left Right story
Group: 8 to 25, in a circle · Time: 10 minutes
Someone reads a short Christmas story aloud; every time they say LEFT or RIGHT, a wrapped prize moves that way. Whoever holds it at the end keeps it. A gentle way to hand out a spare Secret Santa gift.
9. Secret Santa with a steal
Group: 8 to 30 · Time: 30 minutes
Gifts in a pile, numbers drawn from a hat. Each person can open a new gift or steal one already opened. Set a budget and a three-steal limit per gift to keep it friendly.
10. Guess the baby photo
Group: 10 to 40 · Time: Runs all evening
Collect baby photos a week before (opt in only), number them on a board and let people guess. Reveal at the end. Always popular, never awkward if it’s voluntary.
11. Two truths and a lie
Group: 6 to 20 · Time: 15 minutes
Each person shares three facts; the room guesses the lie. Best in smaller teams who think they already know each other.
12. Christmas cracker joke-off
Group: Any size · Time: 5 minutes
Everyone reads their cracker joke; the table votes for the worst. Costs nothing and fits between courses.
13. Desk or door decorating contest
Group: Teams or departments · Time: Set up the week before
Judged on the day of the party. Works for hybrid teams too: remote staff can enter a decorated background or home desk.
14. A scavenger hunt round the office
Group: 8 to 40, in teams · Time: 30 minutes
Rhyming clues hidden around the building, ending at the prize. Good for an afternoon party before the drinks start.
15. A Christmas murder mystery
Group: 8 to 16 (one game) or several tables · Time: 1.5 to 3 hours
The main event if you have an evening and a dinner. Each guest plays a suspect with a short booklet, clues are revealed between courses, and everyone accuses someone at the end. No acting needed: reading the booklet out is enough. Murder at Holly Hall, our printable office murder mystery (£8.99)
25 Christmas party games in one download (£3.59)Christmas murder mystery (£8.99)
A two-hour running order
- Arrival (20 minutes): Who Am I? cards and jumper-award voting slips handed out at the door.
- Starter: cracker joke-off.
- Between courses (45 minutes): the Christmas quiz in table teams.
- Pudding: bingo, then the jumper awards.
- To finish: the Left Right story with one last prize.
Running an evening instead? Swap the quiz for the murder mystery: one round of clues per course. We can personalise it with your company name and every guest’s name (£25).
Want something free first? Our printable Christmas word search works as a five-minute warm-up for any table.
Questions
What are good office Christmas party games for large groups?
Team games scale best: a Christmas quiz in tables of four to six, picture bingo with a different card for everyone, charades in two teams and one-minute challenges. Everyone plays at once, so nobody waits long for a turn.
Which party games work for colleagues who don't like performing?
Bingo, a team quiz, Would You Rather and voting for the Christmas jumper awards. All of them let people join in quietly, and none needs anyone to stand up alone.
How long should games last at an office party?
Plan one main game of 45 to 60 minutes (a quiz or a murder mystery) and two or three short ones of 5 to 20 minutes around the food. Two hours of games in an evening is plenty.
Are these games suitable for a work party?
Yes. Everything on this list is clean, needs no drinking and works for mixed ages. Keep Would You Rather and Two Truths and a Lie light rather than personal, and make baby-photo games opt-in.
Can we play a murder mystery at an office Christmas party?
Yes, if you have an evening and around 8 to 16 guests per game. Each person gets a short booklet to read from, so nobody has to act, and the clues fit between the courses of a dinner.
Written with AI tools (Claude) and checked by us. Prices are Etsy UK prices including VAT on 3 October 2026. Product photos: the table backgrounds are AI-generated (Midjourney); every printable page shown is the real file.