Do you host an annual holiday party and are searching for the best way to keep your guests entertained and having a great time? If so, keep reading! You’ve come to the right place for the best ugly Christmas sweater party games and activities.
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‘Tis the season to round up your friends, family, and the most outrageous, cringe-worthy ugly Christmas sweaters for an unforgettable holiday party.
There’s something so festive about ditching all fashion sense in favor of bold colors, Christmas lights, and tacky Christmas jumpers that showcase everything from reindeer to Santa Claus himself.
An ugly sweater party theme is a great way to kick off the holiday season with a night full of holiday cheer, where the ugliest Christmas sweater takes center stage.
But if you want to make this ugly sweater Christmas party truly memorable, the easiest way is to add some popular games and activities into the mix.
Imagine a sweater contest to crown the ugly sweater contest winner, a festive photo booth for capturing memories, and even a fun game like holiday trivia or charades inspired by National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
This type of party is all about the fun activity ideas and the laughs – giving everyone a good time while showing off their holiday spirit.
So, are you ready to decorate the Christmas tree, deck the halls, jingle all the way, and bring your guests into the festive spirit?
Great! Let’s get into the best ugly sweater party games and activities to make this a holiday bash your guests won’t soon forget.
1. Host an Ugly Sweater Contest
A must-have for any ugly sweater party, the contest is a great way to celebrate everyone’s fashionably tacky looks.
Set up categories like “Most Creative,” “Ugliest Sweater,” and “Most Festive,” so every guest has a chance to win something.
Have everyone cast votes with small ballots or designate a few “judges” to announce the winners.
To make it extra fun, give away a trophy or ugly Christmas sweater medals as well as festive small prizes like mugs, hot chocolate kits, or jingle bells for each category.
This contest will definitely be the night’s highlight and is the perfect way to encourage everyone to go all-out with their sweater choices.
2. Set Up a DIY Sweater Station
Add a crafty touch by setting up a station where guests can create or add to their own sweater.
Lay out supplies like fabric glue, glitter, pom-poms, bells, mini garlands, and even tinsel to let everyone design their own ugly sweaters.
This DIY setup is not only fun but also a creative way for everyone to personalize their look if they arrive without a sweater.
Plus, it’s a fantastic icebreaker that’ll have people bonding over their design choices and laughing about the tackiness.
3. Host an Ugly Sweater Theme Fashion Show
Once everyone is decked out in their tackiest attire, hold a fashion show to showcase their creativity.
Play some holiday tunes and let each guest walk the holiday runway, showing off their sweater creations.
You could add a silly commentary as each person walks, describing their “design choices” and highlighting any unique touches like battery-powered lights or extra tinsel.
A fashion show brings a competitive spirit and guarantees lots of laughs, making it an ideal ugly sweater party idea.
4. Play a Jingle Bells Relay Race
Get the energy up with a jingle bell relay.
Divide guests into teams and provide each team with a handful of jingle bells and a spoon.
The goal is to transfer the bells from one bowl to another without dropping them, using only the spoon.
It’s a fun game that’ll get everyone up and moving, adding a little friendly competition to the festivities.
5. Create an Ugly Sweater Voting Booth
Create a voting box and provide inexpensive printable ugly sweater voting ballots, where guests can vote for various sweater categories throughout the evening.
This adds excitement to the party as everyone casts their votes, eagerly waiting to see who wins the title of “Ugliest Sweater.”
6. Play Funny Games Like Christmas Charades
Holiday-themed charades are a classic and the perfect game to get everyone involved.
Write down prompts such as “wrapping presents,” “sledding,” or “decorating the tree,” then let guests act them out.
Watching people mime their way through holiday-themed activities is hilarious and provides a light-hearted touch during the evening’s friendly competitions.
7. Create an Ugly Sweater Photo Booth
Set up a photo booth area with props like Santa hats, reindeer antlers, oversized candy canes, and silly signs.
Add a holiday backdrop with Christmas lights or a faux snow scene, giving everyone a perfect spot to capture memories in their fabulous tacky Christmas jumper or top sweater.
This activity encourages guests to take home fun photos, and the booth can double as a place to capture photos for the contest categories, too.
Be sure to set up a tripod and printer so guests can take home their ugly sweater pictures.
8. Host a Christmas Trivia Contest
Test everyone’s holiday knowledge with a round of trivia focused on Christmas movies, music, and traditions.
Divide guests into teams for added competition and hand out small prizes for the winning group.
Holiday trivia is always a good idea to keep the festive spirit alive and is an easy way to keep the party flowing with friendly laughs and challenges.
9. Play the Christmas Movie Emoji Quiz
Play the Christmas emoji quiz game for a fun holiday party idea.
Create a list of popular Christmas movie titles but represent them using only emojis.
Guests try to decipher each title, and the person who guesses the most correctly wins.
This game is both challenging and fun, perfect for holiday movie lovers.
10. Enjoy an Ornament Guessing Game
Fill a clear container with various holiday ornaments, but don’t let anyone count them.
Each guest writes down their best guess on how many ornaments are inside.
The person with the closest estimate wins.
It’s a simple game that’s easy to set up and gets everyone guessing.
11. Create a DIY Ornament Station
Encourage guests to DIY holiday ornaments with a crafting station full of ornaments, glitter, paint pens, and ribbons.
This simple setup allows everyone to create a unique keepsake they can take home, giving them a fun activity that doubles as a party favor.
Ornaments are one of the best things to add to your holiday decor, and this DIY station brings a personal touch to each guest’s creations.
12. Play Ugly Sweater Bingo
Grab some bingo cards with items specific to ugly sweater parties, such as “sweater with lights,” “animal sweater,” or “jingle bells sweater.”
Guests mark off squares as they spot each item, making it a low-key game that’s perfect for mingling and watching the party unfold.
Have small prizes ready for those who get Bingo first.
13. Create a Holiday Scavenger Hunt
Grab a printable ugly Christmas scavenger hunt game for a fun party idea.
Give out clues, or make it competitive by timing each team.
The hunt keeps guests on their toes and moving, offering a lighthearted challenge that works for guests of all ages.
14. Sing it with Christmas Carol Karaoke
For a lively, musical activity, set up karaoke with holiday classics and let guests take turns belting out their favorite carols.
From “Jingle Bells” to “Frosty the Snowman,” this is a crowd-pleaser that adds cheer and gets everyone involved.
Karaoke is the better way to end the night on a high note, leaving everyone feeling merry and bright.
15. Name That Tune and Guess That Christmas Song
Play a few seconds of popular Christmas songs and let guests guess the title.
You can also grab a Name That Tune Christmas Printable Game for a fun activity.
Songs can range from classics to modern hits to keep everyone on their toes.
This is one of those popular games that get everyone singing, laughing, and having oh-so much fun.
16. Secret Santa Gift Exchange Game
Add a twist to a traditional Secret Santa by asking guests to bring small, humorous gifts.
Grab some gift exchange games to play for plenty of laughs and keep everyone in a festive mood.
17. Christmas Cookie Decorating Contest
Supply plain cookies, frosting, and sprinkles, and let guests decorate their own ugly sweater cookies.
Award prizes for the funniest, most creative, and ugliest cookies.
This ugly sweater party idea keeps everyone’s hands busy and adds a tasty treat to the evening.
18. Play Holiday Pictionary
Play Pictionary with Christmas-themed prompts, like “decorating the tree” or “opening presents.”
It’s a simple, fun game that gets everyone laughing and guessing.
19. Gift Wrap Relay Race
Split guests into teams and challenge them to wrap gifts using one hand each or while wearing holiday mittens.
The first team to wrap their “gift” wins.
It’s a hilarious game to watch and participate in.
20. Host a Holiday Limbo Contest
Play holiday music while guests compete to see who can go the lowest under a limbo stick decorated as a candy cane.
It’s a lively game that adds a lot of laughs to the mix.
21. Create a Christmas Trivia Game
Test everyone’s knowledge of classic Christmas films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation or Christmas songs.
These holiday trivia games are great for movie buffs and add a bit of holiday spirit to your trivia lineup.
22. Have Fun with an Ugly Sweater Dance-Off
Clear a dance floor and let guests show off their moves in their tackiest outfits.
Offer prizes for the best dancer or the funniest moves to keep everyone on their feet and having fun.
23. Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties Gift Guessing Game
Wrap random objects in gift bags or boxes and let guests guess what’s inside based solely on the shape or weight.
This game gets everyone laughing and curious, especially if the objects are unusual.
24. Name That Holiday Scent Ugly Christmas Sweater Game
Use candles or essential oils with holiday scents and challenge guests to guess the smell.
Scents like Christmas wreath, gingerbread, and candy cane make it a sensory game with a festive twist.
25. Play the Reindeer Ring Toss
Grab a reindeer headband and plastic rings, then let guests try to toss the rings onto the antlers.
It’s a silly game that brings out everyone’s competitive side.
26. Hand Out Holiday Puzzles for Fun Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Games
Grab some cheap instant download printable holiday-themed puzzles for guests to solve individually or in teams.
These are a quick last-minute game idea that your guests will adore!
27. Play Christmas True and False
Test your guests’ holiday knowledge with a fun Christmas True or False game.
Prepare statements about Christmas traditions, songs, and movies, and let guests decide if each one is true or false.
For example, “In Norway, it’s a tradition to hide brooms on Christmas Eve.”
The person with the most correct answers wins a prize, and you’ll enjoy watching friends and family learn quirky holiday facts.
28. Host a Christmas Feud Game
Inspired by the game show Family Feud, Christmas Feud is a team-based game where guests guess the most popular answers to holiday-related questions, like “Name a popular Christmas cookie flavor” or “What do people do first on Christmas morning?”
Divide players into teams, and let them compete to guess the top answers.
This fast-paced game brings out friendly competition and is bound to spark some laughs.
29. Play Pass the Gift Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Games
The Pass the Christmas Gift game is a fun and interactive way to share holiday cheer with friends and family!
Players sit in a circle, and one person reads aloud from a game card, which gives playful instructions for passing a gift around, such as “pass to someone wearing red” or “pass to the left.”
Each turn brings a new twist as the gift makes its way around the circle until the final instruction determines the lucky recipient.
It’s a lively and laughter-filled game that’s perfect for holiday gatherings.
30. Enjoy a Holiday Escape Room Game
Set up a Christmas-themed escape room by creating puzzles, riddles, and challenges for guests to solve to “escape” within a time limit.
Decorate the space with holiday clues and themes, like finding Santa’s missing list or unlocking the door to the North Pole.
It’s a fun way for guests to work together, solve puzzles, and feel like holiday detectives.
This game works well for smaller groups and adds an adventurous twist to your gathering.
31. The Christmas Taboo Game is a Fun Activity
In this Christmas-themed version of Taboo, players must get their team to guess holiday words like “snowman,” “mistletoe,” or “stocking” without using specific “taboo” words.
For example, for “reindeer,” they might not be allowed to say “Santa” or “antlers.”
The time pressure and forbidden words make it a fun, fast-paced game that challenges players’ creativity and vocabulary, all while celebrating the season.
32. Play Christmas Jeopardy
Bring the excitement of Christmas Jeopardy! to your holiday party.
Set up a game board with categories like “Holiday Movies,” “Christmas Carols,” “Winter Traditions,” and “Santa’s Workshop,” each containing questions worth different point values.
Divide players into teams and let them select categories, answering trivia questions to earn points.
Questions can range from easy, like “What color is Rudolph’s nose?” to tricky, like “In what year was A Christmas Carol Published?”
The team with the most points at the end wins a festive prize.
This game combines friendly competition and holiday knowledge, perfect for sparking a bit of seasonal rivalry and a lot of laughs.
33. Host an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Games Award Ceremony
End the evening with an award ceremony to announce the winners in each contest category.
From “Most Creative” to “Ugliest Sweater,” each award gives guests a chance to be recognized for their unique style.
Hand out a trophy and celebrate everyone’s creativity and effort.
This ceremony wraps up the night perfectly and gives each guest a special holiday memory to take home.
Final thoughts
As your ugly sweater party winds down, you’ll know it’s been a success if the room is filled with laughter, fun memories, and, of course, the vibrant colors of everyone’s tackiest holiday attire.
From creative contests to festive crafts and light-hearted games, you’ve created a space where guests could let loose, embrace their inner holiday spirit, and bond over their love for all things wonderfully tacky and merry.
Whether your guests leave with prizes, handmade ornaments, or just a collection of funny photos from the photo booth, the true prize is the joy and holiday cheer you’ve shared.
So here’s to the bold, glittery sweaters, the jingle bells that echoed, and the unforgettable memories made.
An ugly sweater party is more than just a theme – it’s a celebration of the season in the most spirited way possible.
Until next year, keep those sweaters safe and keep the holiday cheer alive.
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Your turn
Are you hosting a holiday party this year? Which of these ugly Christmas sweater party games and activities are you adding to your bash? Let me know in the comments.
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I love your ideas for ugly sweater party games and activities! The bingo would be hilarious! Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post! I love Bingo, too!
Thank you for all of these ugly Christmas sweater party games and activity ideas. Love the ugly Christmas sweater medals! I appreciate all of the creative ugly Christmas sweater party inspiration.
I’m so glad you found some holiday party inspiration from the post. I think the Ugly Christmas sweater medals are so much fun, too!
I’m laughing while reading this post at how much fun these ugly sweater games would be to play with my family this Christmas! Thanks for sharing such great ideas!
You are so welcome, Karen! I’m so glad you enjoyed the post and I hope you’re able to play some of the Christmas games with your family!
Thanks for sharing, great ideas for Christmas fun!
You are most welcome, Alana! Thank you for reading!
Love these best ugly Christmas sweater party game ideas. Hosting an ugly sweater contest will be a lot of fun in my opinion.