20 Best Adult Christmas Party Ideas Your Guests Will Love
Holiday parties are a great way to bring friends and family together. But, Sometimes they need a specific theme to get the party started. Here are a list of 20 adult Christmas party ideas that will bring joy to your holiday season. Some include fun Christmas games and some include a night of creativity.
1. Christmas Cocktail Theme
A Christmas cocktail party is a great way to kick off a holiday party with friends and family. Have happy hour and serve some party favors to your cheerful guests.
You can even kick the party up a notch by having mix offs. Have each person come up with their own cocktail or follow recipes to see who has the better tasting drink.
As far as adult Christmas party ideas go, this is one of the oldest in the books!
2. Christmas Costume Theme
Just because you are an adult, doesn’t mean you can’t play dress up. Host a party where everyone can come dressed as their favorite Christmas character. Not only will you have fun now, you are sure to get many fun pictures to remember the night for years to come.
3. Christmas Tree Decorating Theme
Trimming the tree is an activity loved by people of all ages. Take the first half of your party decorating the tree, to spruce it up, pick a theme for the tree and invite friends to bring coordinating decorations to match.
Throw on some Christmas music and let the tree decorating festivities bring the holiday cheer.
4. Christmas Caroling Theme
Singing Christmas carols is probably one of the oldest traditions surrounding Christmas. It is an activity that is better done in large groups even though small groups work also.
Gather your group of friends and spread the Christmas spirit with a joyful rendition of Jingle Bells. You can choose to take your show on the road from house to house, or stay in and enjoy the songs together.
5. Winter Games Night Theme
Many people enjoy a fun game night. Add Christmastime into the mix and it’s a whole new level of extra fun!
There are so many games to choose from. There are the classic games such as Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit, but there are also fun Christmas games such as antler ring toss.
If you want to keep it super simple for the party guests, you can always play an old school game like beer pong, just give it a festive name like egg nog pong.
6. Santa Hat Craft Night Theme
Santa hats are a staple when it comes to all things Christmas, but why not design one a little different. Have the type of party where your guests will use their great ideas to design something even Santa Claus himself would be proud to wear.
Once the guests are done with their hats, make sure to get lots of photos. A thoughtful gift for each guest would be to make a Christmas card out of a group photo. What a fun way to remember the times spent at your party as a keepsake.
Grab the cotton balls, glitter, and glue, and head on over to the North Pole for some crafting fun with your whole gang!
7. Pot Luck Christmas Eve Brunch Theme
Not everyone is free around the holidays for a night Christmas party, so have a pot luck Christmas Eve brunch instead. This will allow your guest list to keep any prior engagements they have with family, but still get to spend time with friends.
Have each guest bring their own favorite dish to share with the party. Having a helping hand with the food preparation will give you a little extra time to host the party and still get ready for other holiday celebrations. Plus, with a pot luck brunch, you get to try all of the yummy recipes your friends and family cook up. You just might have a gourmet chef in your circle of friends.
8. Gingerbread Decorating Competition Theme
Gingerbread houses are sometimes a thing of art, that also happens to taste good too! Invite your guests to design and construct a gingerbread house of their choosing. You can have fun with this event and even make it a friendly competition.
Whoever wins the vote on best house can leave in on display during Christmas dinner for the entire family to see.
9. Christmas Scavenger Hunt Theme
Having a Christmas scavenger hunt can be the perfect game for a small groups to play together. Simply come up with set of clues and hide items throughout the house or even outside if it’s not too cold. The first person or team to find all of the items wins.
Scavenger hunts can be as simple or as difficult as you want. The more clues there are, the longer the game will go. Have fun and make it interesting! You and your party guests will have a fun time for sure.
10. White Elephant Gift Exchange Theme
White elephant gift exchanges bring a little variety to the normal gift exchange experience. In this fun game, the first player picks the present they want out of a variety of options. All of the presents are wrapped, so the player just picks based on the outside packaging. Once they open the package, everyone in the room can see what they received.
When the next player has a chance to pick a gift, they can either pick from the pile of unopened gifts or take what the first player picked. If they choose the already opened gift, the first player picks again. This goes on with every person until all of the presents are gone or until everyone has had a turn.
The white elephant gift exchange has become a very popular game at parties because it’s fun and the gifts are usually very low in price giving everyone the chance to participate.
11. Secret Santa Gift Exchange Theme
Secret Santa gift exchanges are a great way for everyone at a party to get a gift without breaking the bank in the process. The host will need to get a definitive guest list at least a couple of weeks ahead of time. This will work for a small group of friends or a larger group as well.
Everybody who is attending the party will be given a name to buy for including some of the things on the recipients wish list. The recipient will not know who got assigned their name.
To keep things from getting out of hand, a spending limit is usually assigned to the purchased gift. Once the day of the party arrives everyone will grab their gift and open them.
It is completely up to the party host whether or not the gift giver is allowed to tell who they bought for. Sometimes not knowing is part of the fun of this Christmas time gift exchange.
12. Christmas Lights Excursion Theme
There are neighborhoods all across this nation who just love to put out beautiful Christmas decorations. This holiday season take your guests on a Christmas light excursion to check out the scenery around you.
This is a fun way to get everyone together and share the beauty of Christmas. Many people in the group might have different recommendations on where to go or who has the best lights. There are also local churches and businesses that decorate for this specific reason.
Grab some hot cocoa, a mode of transportation, and have a great time with your friends and family taking in all of the twinkling lights.
13. Christmas Office Party Charades Theme
Getting together with co-workers for the holidays is a nice thing to do. It lets people really be themselves instead of the hustle and bustle of everyday work tasks. And what a better way to get people to let their hair down than playing a holiday game? How about Christmas Charades?
Charades is a one of those classic games that mostly everyone loves to play or at least be around people playing it. The rules are pretty simple to follow. The group is split into two teams (if there is a larger group, there can be more than two teams).
One team member on each team is given a phrase written on a piece of paper. The rest of the team is unaware of the phrase. The first team member must act out what is written on the paper without speaking.
The team members can make guesses for a certain amount of time. If no correct guesses are made, the other team can guess based on what they witnessed from the other team.
This process goes on until all of the members on the each team has had a chance to act out a phrase. Whoever has the most points wins the game.
Have fun at your next Christmas office party and make Charades a fun filled Christmas themed game that everyone can enjoy playing together.
14. Winter Wonderland Theme
Take your Christmas party outdoors this holiday season. Going outside is a great way to get everyone on the guest list involved in something fun.
If you are experiencing a white Christmas, start the party off with a good old fashioned snowball fight. Split the guests up into remote teams, draw boundaries, and start throwing the snow. This activity will take you back to childhood and make people realize you are never too old to have so much fun.
How about building a snowman? Grab some of that white powdery stuff, and a few supplies to have a snowman building competition. Give Frosty some character with different items you can find laying around the house.
Another beloved Christmas party games is sledding. If you have the right amount of hills by your party headquarters, take to the hills and have a good time. There are many sled options at your local big box retailer to choose from.
No matter what the outdoor activity you choose to do at your next Christmas party, remember to bundle up, grab the hot chocolate and the candy canes, and have a good time.
15. A Christmas Story Party Theme
A Christmas Story is many people’s favorite Christmas movie. It’s one of those holiday movies that has such a massive following. There is a ton of merchandise available revolving around this movie which makes it perfect for throwing a themed party.
Have your guest dress up as a favorite character from the movie (bunny costume anyone) or just grab a nice leg lamp sweater to show how much you love the movie.
Just remember to not shoot your eye out while attending the party because you, like the leg lamp, are fragile.
16. Classic Christmas Movie Night Theme
Christmas movies are a staple go to for many holiday gatherings. Some of the best are the classics. Give your guests a chance to watch some of the best of the best to put them in the holiday spirit.
Here are some of my favorites
It’s a Wonderful Life
White Christmas
A Christmas Carol
Christmas in Connecticut
So start popping the corn, heat up the hot chocolate, and get the blankets ready for your guests to enjoy the show or shows!
17. Write Your Own Christmas Song Competition Theme
Christmas songs are something most people know the words too, at least a few songs. There are always new Christmas songs that come out every year, but what about making up your own new songs. This is something fun to do as a new game at your next holiday party.
Split your guests into a couple of teams and give them a Christmas song to use as the music for brand new lyrics. Let them be creative with the process. The songs can be funny, serious, or a combination of both.
Assign a panel of judges to judge which team did the best job with their new song. You can give some gifts to the winning team or just make them a funny plaque as a gag award.
You just might be the person who had the best Christmas party game at their gathering this year!
18. Virtual Christmas Party Theme
There are a lot of people who can’t make it home to celebrate the Christmas holiday with friends and family whether it be location issues or medical issues. Because they so desperately want be with loved ones, many people have turned to technology as a way to make it happen as much as possible.
Virtual Christmas parties are the next best thing to being there in person. With the use of a phone, tablet, or even a computer, you can host a party with people from all over the world. There are many video conferencing platforms to choose from. Some will hold many people so it doesn’t have to just be one on one.
Some virtual holiday party ideas are hosting a dinner where each person cooks and you place the computer at a seat as if the person were sitting there with you. Another way to use technology for virtual holiday parties is games. There are many games you can play in front of a computer screen like Pictionary or Charades.
Don’t let someones physical location stop you from celebrating with them this year. Show them you care by letting them know you are just a simple phone call, Skype, or video chat away! There are many virtual Christmas party ideas for everyone, just find the one that works best for you.
19. Christmas Card Decoration Theme
Christmas cards are one of the most thoughtful things you can give someone this Christmas season. One way to make them even more special is by giving a handmade card to someone who has meant something to you this past year.
Let your guests have fun coming up with one of a kind hand handmade cards for everyone on their list. They can make somethings as simple as a handwritten card to spread some holiday spirit or get really intricate and hand paint a holiday scene with watercolors.
With just a few supplies such as card blanks, markers, paint, and stamps and ink, your party can turn into a crafting wonderland.
Make your holiday celebrations something memorable by giving your guests something to take with them and give to someone they care about.
20. Ice Skating Party Theme
Ice skating is an activity that goes hand in hand with the holiday season and cold weather. Although it’s not a typical Christmas party theme, it is one of those fun ideas that will have your partygoers excited to join in on the fun.
It’s also one of the perfect times to give people the chance to try something they might not do otherwise. Even a complete beginner can get out on the ice and play around for a bit. They can grab onto someone who is more experienced at ice skating and go for a spin around the rink. The best part is that they just might find a new favorite winter activity thanks to you!
Some towns have indoor ice skating rinks that you can use all year long, but sometimes around the holidays, there are manmade ice skating rinks built until the new year comes. They are usually pretty inexpensive per person, but you might be able to contact the owner and get a group discount rate based on how many guest you have coming.
On a Final Note…
No matter what you pick for this years Christmas party themes, just remember to have a good time with friends and family. Whether you are eating, playing reindeer games, or watching movies, spread the holiday cheer with the ones you love.
These are only a few of the many adult Christmas party ideas you could use for your next adult Christmas party. Have fun with your imagination and get creative. Merry Christmas!
If you loved these adult Christmas party ideas, check out what to serve for appetizers on New Years Eve!