Raise your hand if you find yourself in need of a drink during the holiday season. I’ll be honest, I love my family, but sometimes I really understand the phrase “absence makes the heart grow fonder”. If you, like me, find that a little social lubrication can help make the holiday season a little more merry, here are 5 of our favorite Christmas drinking games*.
Reindeer Games
Start the Christmas drinking games off right with some Reindeer Games! At the beginning of the festivities, assign everyone a reindeer name that they must go by for the rest of the night. Forget to use their reindeer name? Take a drink! All players are encouraged to call out the rule-breaker anytime a human name is used. While the obvious 9 reindeer names of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph are the easiest to remember, you can always make up your own!
Festive Flip Cup & Tree Pong
Flip cup and beer pong are popular drinking games for a reason: they’re fabulous! To put a festive twist on these two favorites, swap the beer for mulled wine, eggnog, or your holiday cocktail of choice. If you’re feeling extra festive, put your beer pong cups in the shape of a tree instead of a triangle. Ta-Da! Christmas drinking games that everyone will enjoy.
Jingle Shots
Put your repertoire of Christmas songs to the test with a game of Jingle Shots. The game is simple: each round, a player selects a Christmas song and sings the first line. The player next to them sings the next line, and so on and so forth. Forget the line? Mess up a word? Take a shot! Would your group be considered vocally inclined? Make it extra challenging by also requiring that the tempo and tone be correct!
Holiday Movies & Chug
If your holiday vibe is more along the lines of Christmas movies and chill, why not drink your way through some of your holiday favorites? Pick a Christmas movie, lay out the rules, and enjoy! For example, if you decided to watch Elf, you would drink every time Buddy says Santa. If National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is more your style, take a drink every time you see an ugly Christmas sweater, or every time Clark’s Christmas bonus and/or the swimming pool is mentioned. (This is one of my favorite Christmas drinking games because you can play by yourself and your family doesn’t even have to know!)
Grinch & Glug
Sick of moving that stupid elf? Family getting under your skin? Do you just hate all the noise noise noise NOISE!? Let your inner grinch out with a round (or two or more…we don’t judge) of Grinch and Glug. The game is simple: players sit in a circle, and go around naming things they don’t like about Christmas. If you agree, take a sip of your drink. If you don’t agree, you don’t. But be careful: complaints can only be named once! If you can’t think of an answer within 5 seconds, time to finish your drink.
*Look, I get it. The holidays are stressful. But it is SO important to make sure that you drink responsibly. Do not overindulge, and always use caution. We do not recommend binge drinking. And, as always, NEVER drink and drive. Take an Uber. Or a Lyft. Or a taxi. Just don’t drink and drive!