The Best Christmas Family Board Games
Holiday family game night is the best family game night! It’s probably also safe to say that most people only play board games around the holidays - when they get together with extended family around Thanksgiving or Christmas. And that certainly gives holiday gaming that extra special dash of nostalgic family bonding.
But even for families with a regularly-scheduled family game night throughout the year, holidays are still a very special time for board games and card games. Admittedly, this has been an absolutely crazy year of quarantine, and, as a result, my family has spent more time in close proximity to each other than ever before. But during a normal year, the holidays are usually the time when the whole family gets to spend the most time together.
During a normal holiday season we always have a lot of time to play games with each other. Every year we usually have a new crop of games under the tree to work our way through, and plenty of opportunity to rediscover our old favorites. And it makes a lot of sense too. Winter is cold, it gets dark earlier, and it’s completely natural to gather around a table by the fire and just play all day long.
And, without a doubt, one of my favorite things about the holidays is playing themed games. I love to pull out the spooky games around Halloween and I love to pull out the festive games around Christmas. I’m not gonna lie, we’re big suckers for themes around here. A good theme goes a long way with us and our two young kids, currently ages 8 and 4, and a cheery Christmas theme is just what the doctor ordered this time of year.
So we’ve gathered together our family’s very favorite Christmas board games and card games. They run the gamut of appropriate ages - some can easily be played by both of our kids, some are best just for our 8-year-old, and a couple are even designed with older players in mind. But, they all do a great job at getting us into the Christmas spirit - and would make for an excellent Christmas family game night tradition.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. Clicking on these links will lead you to view the games’ listings on Amazon.com.
The 12 Best Christmas-Themed Family Board Games
12. Llama Drama: Holiday Edition
Published and Designed by the Yashar Brothers
Both of our kids absolutely fell in love with Llama Drama last year, and we must have played it hundreds of times by now. And the holiday edition is just a fantastic way to play during Christmastime. Now the game features Elf Llamas, Gingerbread Llamas, Frozen Llamas, and more.
The idea is to be the first one to get rid of all of your cards - but there are llama cards with special powers that you need to pay attention to as well. Officially it’s recommended for ages 7+, but our little one is able to play her cards just fine with a bit of help. Trust me, if you’re looking for a new simple-to-learn card game with the potential for the kids to get obsessed, check this one out.
11. The Santa Claus Game
Published by Zobmondo!!!
This is the one game on this list that is very much designed to include our 4-year-old the best. It includes 4 plastic sleighs to carry your toys in and a Christmas tree cutout that makes for a nice festive atmosphere. The goal of the game is to be the first Santa to deliver all of your toys. It’s a competitive game, but surprisingly it hasn’t caused any hurt feelings. It must be the Christmas spirit!
Essentially it’s a roll-and-move, but there are enough other elements to make it entertaining for the little ones. There is some singing, some ho-ho-ho-ing, and even some twirling like a snowflake - which our daughter is a very big fan of. If you’re looking for a Christmas-themed game for very small ones - definitely make sure to keep this one in mind.
10. Elf: Journey from the North Pole Game
Published by Funko and Designed by Prospero Hall
The Elf picture book just came out this year, and the kids just watched the movie for the first time (well they finally paid attention to it), so this was truly a great time for an Elf board game to be released. It was designed by one of our favorite designers, Prospero Hall, and it has an interesting and kind of wild pathway mechanic to it. You direct Buddy around the board with pathway cards, and it’s okay for the path to do loop-de-loops and even go off the game board.
The goal is ultimately to score the most points by getting Buddy to visit the destinations that you want him to visit - the narwhal friend, the world’s best cup of coffee, the candy cane forest, etc. When buddy makes it to New York City to see his dad, the winner is the one with the most points accumulated. Our 8-year-old is a big fan, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that he just watched the hilarious movie shortly before playing for the first time!
9. Merry Grinchmas!
Published and Designed by Funko Games
This is a great Christmas game with a fun, grinchy theme - and the whole family can join in independently because it’s cooperative and easy to learn. The Grinch is running around the board stealing presents from town (and from all the players), and it’s kind of a race to see if the players or the Grinch scores the most points. But for us one of the highlights is undoubtedly the art and the engaging theme itself.
Both the Grinch (who moves at the beginning of everybody’s turn) and the players are trying to spend their presents to purchase wishes, and each wish has a certain number of stars as its value. After the players purchase their 8th wish, the game is over and you see who won. That means there is a little strategy which says you might want to hold off buying wishes that aren’t worth as much, because you might end the game too soon.
8. Frosty the Snowman: Follow the Leader Card Game
Published and Designed by Funko Games
Frosty is one of several Funko card games on this list, and, because of their small boxes, several of them made our list of the best stocking-stuffers as well. I love this series of Christmas games a lot. They have great themes, they’re really inexpensive, and almost every single one of them are legitimately fun for our family. And Frosty is one of my personal favorites.
Follow the Leader is a personal favorite because it’s cooperative and because it’s designed to work with younger kids. In fact, it’s recommended for ages 4+. And (and this is vital) it’s legitimately very fun and challenging - making it check just about every box for me.
The gameplay is simple and interesting and allows for making it as challenging as you’d like. The kids from the movie are following Frosty around in a game of follow the leader, and you have to work together to get them in the right order. All you do is play your cards to move the kids around, and try to match the current goal lineup of kids. It’s great for little ones and a fun puzzle for us adults too.
7. Elf: Snowball Showdown Card Game
Published and Designed by Funko Games
Out of all the Funko Christmas card games, Snowball Showdown is the one our son is the most obsessed with. He wants to bring it to friends’ houses and he wants to bring it to holiday gatherings with family. It’s cute to see when he falls in love with a game like this, and it’s kind of a rarity as well, so that always speaks highly of a game in my opinion.
This card game is a snowball fight, and if you get hit 3 times you’re out. When it’s your turn, you place cards from your hand of the same color in front of an enemy - which is the equivalent of throwing a snowball that powerful at them. At that point they have to defend against your attack. They might dodge, they might block, and the snowball might even get sent back at you.
I think a lot of the fun is in the unpredictability. You might throw a snowball just to get hit right in the face yourself. The art is great too and it certainly adds to the charm. And the concept of having a snowball fight with your family and friends is probably appealing to. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly why my son fell so in love with it, but I must admit his exuberance adds to the fun too.
6. Grinch: Grow Your Heart Card Game
Published and Designed by Funko Games
I think if you twisted my arm behind my back, I would choose Grinch: Grow Your Heart as my very favorite Funko Christmas card game. There are so many great games in the series, but the design on this one is so fun, and I can see it being a game we return to again and again - maybe even just as a head to head battle between my wife and I.
The scoring and strategy of this game is very similar to Yahtzee - because there is a score card with different categories that you can only use 1 time each. There are multiple rounds, and during each round you have to decide if you’re going to collect green cards, blue cards, yellow cards, go for a straight, etc. And that also means each round you have less options to choose from, because, like Yahtzee you can’t repeat categories.
Each round one player is also the Grinch - giving them a slight advantage. Instead of drawing random cards from the draw stack to choose from each turn, the Grinch can also choose their cards from the cards in the face-up discard stacks of all the other players. This game truly hits the sweet spot of strategy and Dr. Seuss charm.
5. Animal Upon Animal: A Christmas Stacking Game
Published by HABA and Designed by Klaus Miltenberger
Animal Upon Animal is another game that the whole family can play, although adults might have the upper hand in the test of dexterity against very young competitors. All the same, it’s a spectacular test of motor skills for kids and always so much fun. And the Christmas-themed pieces featuring stars and sleighs and Christmas critters are all just spectacular.
This is a new special holiday edition of Animal Upon Animal, the simple and brilliant game of stacking wooden pieces without toppling them over. There’s no guarantee how long this edition will stay in print, but I certainly hope it makes a return every holiday season. We’ve always loved the original, but I honestly think we’ll be choosing this version a lot more often now.
4. Ghosts of Christmas
Published by Board Game Tables and Designed by Taiki Shinzawa
Ghosts of Christmas says it’s for ages 14+, but that’s an extreme overestimate. I would put 10+ on the box, and I think it’s a fantastic Christmas card game. It’s absolutely one of the first games I’d grab around Christmastime when we have 3 or 4 players - and especially if there’s someone new who we need to teach the rules to quickly.
Ghosts of Christmas is a Christmas Carol-themed board game, which is undoubtedly the best Christmas theme there is. The cards feature famous characters like Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit, and Scrooge, and it’s a trick-taking game that always works really well for holiday parties. The way they incorporate the ghosts of past, present and future is a novel design - and makes for very interesting spin on trick-taking.
Christmas games have a lot of competition now when it comes to which games actually make it to the table. There are only so many Christmas parties and so many days in December. And Ghosts of Christmas has very quickly risen to a prominent place on the top of the Christmas pile!
3. 12 Days
Published by Calliope Games and Designed by James Ernest & Mike Selinker
I am crazy about this card game. You might have seen the holiday episode of TableTop with Wil Wheaton where they played this game - one of the reasons it’s so very well known. And it’s popularity is extremely well-deserved. It’s one of my very favorite trick-taking and set-making games ever made.
I love the fact that it’s designed around the song “The 12 Days of Christmas”, and just how elegantly designed the game is. It’s also a very smooth and quick game to play, and easy to understand as well. But by no means does that mean that it lacks for strategy. Saving your best gift cards for just the right moment is reminiscent of playing other popular games like Spades, and I just find it fascinating. Plus, our son was able to go toe-to-toe with us as a 7-year-old, so it’s a true family favorite.
2. Holiday Fever
Published by Bullfrog Games and Designed by Evan Mark Shelline
Holiday Fever has a very appropriate tagline - A Family Tradition. We played it for the first time last Christmas Eve, and we certainly plan on continuing the tradition in our family. A great love for Christmas was poured into this game, and it features a lot of terrific festive details. The game features shopping, tree-decorating, gift and coal giving, singing, and more.
Last year we played with the whole family, and our 3-year-old beat us all in our inaugural game. But to be completely fair, we basically made all of her decisions for her. Our 7-year-old plays completely independently and is a big fan of drawing his own Christmas tree and adding ornaments and lights to it. And, for my part, I’m a huge fan of the Christmas spirit speeches that provide the opportunity for a little bit of sincere holiday spirit.
1. Santa’s Workshop
Published by Rio Grande Games and Designed by Keith Ferguson
Santa’s Workshop is a brilliant Christmas-themed worker-placement game that is recommended for ages 14+. I think that age is very high, because our son 8-year-old didn’t have any issues with the rules at all. He did, however, tire from the almost 2 hours that it took us to play through the first time. So make sure you set aside a lot of time and catch your kids when they aren’t feeling tired!
Everything about this game is so enjoyable. The theme is perfect. Everyone is controlling a team of elves trying to make as many toys for Santa as possible. And the choices you have during each turn are so much fun to manage. You can train your elves in the classroom, send them to the workshop to build, take care of reindeer, mine for coal, and more. As long as you have the patience to learn a new game, and an hour or two set aside to play, I assure you that you won’t regret trying this Christmas game at all.
As of right now in 2022 you would have to track down a copy the hard way and look to somewhere like eBay or the market on BoardGameGeek. But the fantastic news is that a second edition - including a simplified variation for families - is set to release by Christmas 2023!
More Christmas Board Games to Track Down
These board games appeared previously on this list of Christmas games, but might be out of print and harder to track down these days. But perhaps they’ll be reprinted one day, and it’s always worth it to keep an eye out for a used copy!
Home Alone
Published by Big G Creative and Designed by Prospero Hall
Previously our #1 Christmas game, but now sadly out of print, is the wonderful Home Alone. And I highly encourage you to track down a copy on eBay if you still can!
Home Alone simply has a special place in my heart. When the Home Alone picture book came out, our son was hooked on the booby-trap-filled story before he even saw the movie. And when the Home Alone Game came out, we didn’t know what was in store for us. It turns out it’s a tightly-designed 2-player game featuring press-your-luck and deception, and we’re in love with it.
You either play as the Wet Bandits or Kevin. Kevin uses his cards to set traps and hide the valuable items in his home, and the Wet Bandits try to sneak into the house, disarm the traps with their Christmas light cards, and get away with the goods. I love the strategy in this game so much, and the elements of bluffing that it includes. It’s also one of our very favorite 2-players games ever made, and something we’ll be playing for a very long time - whether it’s Christmastime or not!
A Christmas Story: The Party Game
Published by WizKids
Who doesn’t love A Christmas Story? It’s simply one of the most perfect Christmas movies out there, and quite a nostalgic work of art. This game is a celebration of the classic Christmas movie, but one very large caveat is that all of the players must truly be intimately familiar with the film. While there are a couple of other party game elements thrown in, a very big portion of the game is movie trivia.
The game also includes 4 great little miniatures of characters from the movie, including Ralphie and his dad. All in all it’s a blast for mega fans of the film, of which there are certainly plenty. But it’s certainly best suited for older kids - since we haven’t even shared this wonderful movie with the kids yet.
For even more Christmas game ideas, make sure to check out our article about the best stocking-stuffer games for kids!
Do you have any favorite Christmas board games? Have you tried any of the Christmasy games on our list? Let us know in the comments, and Happy Holidays!
