Office Christmas party games

The best office Christmas party games are short, need no rehearsal, and let people opt out without it being obvious. Anything that involves standing on a chair in front of the whole company is a game for a different office.

These are sorted by length, so you can pick two five-minute ones for a lunch or run a full hour if you've got the room booked.

Prizes matter more than the games. A badge, a card or something small and specific beats a bottle of wine everyone forgets to take home.

Five-minute games

• Christmas song intros - first three seconds, teams shout the title.
• Guess the baby photo, collected from the team in advance.
• Two truths and a Christmas lie.
• Name that festive film from one still image.
• Christmas emoji quiz on one printed sheet.
• Guess the number of sprouts in the jar.
• Pass the parcel with one small prize in every layer.
• Festive charades, one word only.

Games for a long lunch

• Christmas quiz: five rounds of eight, teams of four, an hour flat.
• Office bake-off with a topper for the winner.
• Desk decorating competition judged after lunch.
• Christmas jumper contest with categories, not one winner.
• The gift wrap challenge - wrap an awkward object one-handed.
• Beat the intro on a shared playlist.
• Festive Pictionary on the whiteboard.
• Guess the colleague from their childhood Christmas photo.

Secret Santa games

• Steal the gift: each person can open a new gift or take an unwrapped one, two steals maximum.
• Dice roll swap - even numbers swap, odds keep.
• Guess your Santa, one guess each, badge for the correct ones.
• Themed Secret Santa: everything must be edible, or under a fiver, or genuinely useful.
• Left-right story: pass gifts as the story says left or right.
• Anonymous compliment cards drawn alongside the gifts.

Games for big teams and remote teams

• Christmas bingo with squares based on office in-jokes.
• Scavenger hunt with photo evidence, teams of five.
• Online quiz with a shared scoreboard for remote staff.
• Show and tell: one Christmas decoration from home each.
• Team playlist - one song per person, played across the afternoon.
• Predictions for next year, sealed and opened in December.
• Virtual escape room, one hour, mixed teams.
• Photo caption contest using pictures from last year's party.

Prize ideas that don't feel like tat

• An enamel pin badge with something specific to the winner.
• A card everyone signs, which lasts longer than chocolate.
• A cake with a topper for the winning team to share.
• A coffee voucher - small, used, never re-gifted.
• An extra hour on the lunch break in January.
• First pick of the leave calendar for one date.

Shop pin badges

Banners, toppers and confetti for the office

Decorations that take ten minutes to put up and photograph well.

How to write it so it lands

• Two games maximum for a lunch, four for a full evening.
• Let people opt out quietly - never call on someone by name.
• Print the quiz sheets; phones kill the mood.
• Have the prizes visible from the start.

Where to shop next

• Work party ideas hub
• Work party invite wording
• Office party themes and decorations
• Leaving do ideas
• Office birthday ideas
• Team building ideas
• Work Christmas party ideas
• Work Christmas party planning guide
• Office Christmas party games
• Leaving card messages for a colleague
• Work colleague leaving gift ideas
• Office party ideas
• Work party games
• Christening party ideas
• Communion quiz questions
• Naming ceremony themes
• Religious milestones hub
• Congratulations messages
• Congratulations on your promotion
• Work anniversary messages
• Thank you messages for your boss
• New job card messages
• New job gift ideas
• New job cards
• Promotion cards
• Secret Santa gift ideas
• Secret Santa rules
• Buy party supplies
• Bunting & banners
• Table confetti
• Cake toppers
• Pin badges
• Retirement cards
• Christmas cards
• Celebration ideas
• Planning the party? Birthday party ideas
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas

Frequently asked questions

What are good office Christmas party games?

Short ones. Christmas song intros, an emoji quiz, guess the baby photo and a five-round quiz all work in any office. Secret Santa steal-the-gift is the most reliable big-group game.

What games can you play at a work party with a big team?

Bingo, a photo scavenger hunt and a team quiz all scale past fifty people because everyone plays at once. Avoid anything where one person performs while the rest watch.

What are good prizes for office party games?

Something small and specific: a pin badge, a signed card, a cake with a topper, a coffee voucher or an extra hour at lunch in January. Big prizes make the game feel competitive in the wrong way.