A Fun Christmas Party Game for Kids & Families

Looking for a Christmas game that's easy to set up, gets everyone involved and comes with the added incentive of winning sweets? You've found it.

The Christmas Candy Challenge Game is a festive party game where players draw cards, complete challenges, collect treats, swap sweets and occasionally find themselves dealing with a rather unfortunate twist. Because there's one very important rule of the game: Just because you've collected the sweets doesn't mean you're going to keep them.

It's a simple, silly and slightly unpredictable game that's ideal for Christmas parties, family gatherings, Christmas Eve, classroom celebrations or a festive afternoon when everyone needs something to do.

And because the game is printable, there's no waiting for a parcel to arrive. Just download, print and grab some Christmas treats.

What Is the Christmas Candy Challenge Game?

Imagine putting a bowl of Christmas sweets in the middle of the table and telling everyone they're going to compete to collect as many as possible. Sounds simple, right? Except the cards have other ideas.

Players take turns drawing a card and following its instructions. Some cards let you collect a treat. Others ask you to give a treat away or swap sweets with another player. Then there are challenge cards, team challenges and trick cards that can completely change what's happening around the table.

So one minute you're sitting there proudly admiring your growing pile of Christmas chocolate. The next, you're doing jumping jacks because someone drew a Trick card. Christmas has officially descended into chaos. And that's rather the point.

The current game includes 96 unique cards, so there's plenty of variety and every game can unfold a little differently. It's designed for 2+ players and all ages, making it particularly handy when you're trying to find something that children, parents and grandparents can all join in with.

How To Play The Christmas Candy Challenge

The rules are deliberately simple, which means you don't need to spend half an hour explaining the game before anyone can actually start playing.

1. Get your Christmas treats ready

First, you'll need a selection of small, individually wrapped sweets or chocolates. You could use Christmas chocolates, mini sweets, candy canes or any other treats that work for your group.

Put all the treats somewhere everyone can reach.

2. Put the cards in a bowl

Shuffle the cards and place them in a bowl, Santa hat or another festive container. A Santa hat is particularly good for this.

3. Take turns drawing cards

Players take turns drawing a card and reading the instructions aloud. There are different types of cards, including:

⭐ Treat cards
Collect a Christmas treat and add it to your growing stash.

⭐ Give cards
You may have to hand one of your treats to another player.

⭐ Swap cards
Time to negotiate! You may have to swap sweets with someone else.

⭐ Challenge cards
Complete the Christmas challenge to earn your reward.

⭐ Team Challenge cards
Get someone else involved and tackle the challenge together.

⭐ Trick cards
These are the ones that can cause a little trouble. A Trick card gives you an action or rule that continues during the game, and the card can potentially be passed to another player.

The original game instructions explain that play can continue until all the cards have been used, or you can decide on a fixed number of turns.

Christmas Challenges That Could Get Everyone Laughing

The challenge cards are where things can get particularly silly. And that's exactly what you want from a Christmas party game. Some of the challenges might include things such as:

🎄 Do your best impression of a Christmas tree
See how many things you can balance or hang from your arms.

🎤 Rap the 12 Days of Christmas
Which sounds considerably easier before you actually have to do it.

🎁 Pretend you're trying to wrap an animal that won't keep still
No real animals required. Probably for the best.

🔔 Sing a verse of Jingle Bells backwards

❤️ Find ten red things in 45 seconds

🎅 Say a Christmas-related word for every letter in your name

☃️ Pretend to be a snowman melting

These are exactly the sort of challenges that can turn a fairly ordinary family gathering into one of those moments everyone ends up talking about later.

And because you're playing for sweets, even the quieter members of the family suddenly become surprisingly competitive.

Watch Out For The Trick Cards!

The Trick cards are one of the things that make this more than just a collection of Christmas challenges. Once a Trick card is played, its instruction can stay in effect for the rest of the game.

For example, a player might have to do five jumping jacks whenever a Treat card is drawn, say a particular response whenever someone says "Santa", or perform a little dance after completing a challenge.

The important thing is remembering that you're still under the rule. Which sounds easy. Until everyone gets caught up in the game and completely forgets. Then someone draws another card. And someone else starts shouting. And suddenly you're wondering why Uncle Dave is doing jumping jacks in the corner. Christmas, eh?

Why It's Such A Good Family Christmas Game

There are loads of Christmas games out there, but this one has a few things going for it that make it particularly useful for family gatherings.

The basic idea is simply draw a card and do what it says. There's no complicated scoring system or enormous rulebook to work through before you can start.

You're not simply sitting around answering questions. Players have to perform challenges, interact with each other, make decisions and occasionally surrender their precious sweets.

Because the game is suitable for all ages, it can be played by children, parents and grandparents together. Customer feedback also specifically mentions enjoying the game across generations, from young children through to grandparents. 

It's screen-free

Sometimes everyone has spent quite enough time looking at screens by December. This gives you something silly to do together without needing a television, tablet or phone.

Want A Christmas Game Without All The Preparation?

This is probably the biggest advantage of using a ready-made printable game. You could absolutely create your own Christmas challenge game from scratch.

You could spend an evening thinking up challenges, writing them onto little pieces of paper, deciding how many Treat cards you need, coming up with Trick cards and then trying to keep track of everything.

Or...

You could just print the game.

The Christmas Candy Challenge Game includes 96 unique cards, the game rules and everything you need to run the game apart from the treats themselves. It's an instant PDF download, so you can access it straight after purchase and print it at home whenever you need it.  So if you're already juggling Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, school events, food shopping and approximately seventeen other things... We'll happily take the card-making off your list.

More Christmas Games For Family Fun

If you're planning a bigger Christmas game night, the Candy Challenge doesn't have to be the only game on the table.

You could mix it up with a Christmas quiz, a Christmas word game or a team-based game so there's something for different ages and personalities.