We can’t wait for Christmas. The tree is up, the gifts are wrapped and ready (most of them anyway!), and now is the time to plan the family fun.
People – especially kids – aren’t going to remember the food or even most of the gifts they were given, in years to come, but they will remember the time spent with family and friends and the fun games that were played, so make as many happy memories as you can.
If you haven’t played Christmas Pictionary before, this year is the year to do it. See more family game suggestions here.
How to Play Christmas Pictionary
Pictionary is one of our favorite games. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are at drawing, you don’t have to get up there and paint The Mona Lisa, a stick figure will do just fine.
As long as your teammates can guess what your clues mean, that’s all that matters.
All you need is a timer, a list of Christmas words, four or more players, some pens, or markers, crayons, chalk, whatever you have! And a drawing board large enough for everyone to see – a dry erase board, plain paper, or chalkboard will work.
Ou Halloween Pictionary might give you some more ideas too.
Christmas Pictionary is quite similar to Christmas charades.
The players divide into two teams, and each team takes turns sending one player up to take a word from the Santa hat or Christmas bowl. The player then has one minute to draw clues for their team to guess, without speaking, acting, or using signals.
Teams get one point for each correct answer, and the team with the most points when all the words are gone wins the game. Don’t forget to give someone the job of keeping score, and a pen and paper to keep track!
What are Christmas Pictionary Words?
They can be anything! We have a list of Christmas Pictionary ideas below, but it is easy to come up with your own words too. You can ask each player to come up with a few and put them in the hat, or just work on a list yourself so that nobody else knows what they are.
As long as they are Christmas-themed you can use them in Christmas Pictionary! Christmas movies, Christmas songs, characters, animals, and food are all ideas that you can use to come up with words for Christmas Pictionary.
You might need to use some easier words if there are younger kids playing, we don’t want to make things too difficult for them! You can get an idea of easier words for kids here – charade words for kids – and perhaps even tweak some of them a little to come up with a kids Christmas Pictionary list.
Our Pictionary Christmas Word List
Christmas characters are a good source of words, there are so many characters associated with Christmas, with festive movies and songs and traditions being full of memorable characters like The Grinch and that little cutie from Home Alone.
| Santa Claus | Mrs. Claus | Santa’s elves |
| Krampus | Kevin McCallister (Home Alone) | Ebenezer Scrooge |
| Frosty the Snowman | Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer | Jack Skellington |
| Jack Frost | The Grinch | Buddy the Elf |
| John McClane (Die Hard) | Charlie Brown |
Christmas movies and songs are also a great source of words, but try not to use movies that are too obscure or nobody will guess them!
| Home Alone | Die Hard | The Nightmare Before Christmas |
| A Christmas Prince | A Christmas Carol | Love Actually |
| Deck the Halls | The Polar Express | How the Grinch Stole Christmas |
| Elf | The Grinch | Jingle Bells |
| White Christmas | Silent Night | Last Christmas |
| Driving Home for Christmas | Let it Snow | Santa Baby |
| Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree | I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause | Fairytale of New York |
Of course, food and drink are some of the best things about Christmas, so what would Christmas Pictionary be without some food-related words!
| Cheeseboard | Turkey | Stuffing |
| Sweet potato | Mashed potato | Cranberry sauce |
| Pumpkin pie | Apple pie | Christmas pudding |
| Chocolate | Cheese and crackers | Mulled wine |
| Mulled cider | Eggnog | Christmas dinner |
| Gingerbread man | Gingerbread house | Candy cane |
| Sugar cookies | Hot chocolate | Pumpkin Spice Latte |
And we couldn’t let you play Christmas Pictionary without the decorations!
| Wreath | Christmas tree | Baubles |
| Tree topper | Star | Angel |
| Mistletoe | Advent Calendar | Reindeer |
| Tree ornaments | Tree skirt | Garland |
| Christmas candles | Nutcracker |
Some more Christmas-themed words you could use are the lines from the 12 days of Christmas song – five gold rings, eight maids milking, etc. really anything that reminds you of Christmas is fair game! Like…
| Polar bear | Penguin | Santa’s sleigh |
| Reindeer | Snowman | Snow angel |
| Igloo | Snow day | Santa hat |
| Snow globe | Christmas gift | Christmas morning |
| Christmas eve | Chimney | Ribbon |
| Coal | Christmas card | Christmas carolers |
We hope you have lots of festive fun with our list. To get our printable click here.
If you liked it and you’re looking for some more Christmas-themed activities for your family, check out Christmas Family Feud, Christmas Minute to Win It Games, and 14 Christmas Scavenger Hunt Ideas.
Our 50 Christmas Crafts for Kids ideas are great for school holidays to keep the little ones entertained when the weather is bad.
Happy Holidays!
