8 New Year’s Eve Party Games for Adults

Photo: Wall display of weather posters, with traceable text.

Free Weather Games and Activities for the ESL English Classroom

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The Games

• 1 Strange Weather

  How To play

  Not so much a game per se, more a way to wake up apathetic kindy kids.

• Extension

  How To play

  Not so much a game per se, more a way to wake up apathetic kindy kids. When you are reviewing the weather and your students are not paying attention slip in a scary card, like the ghost, to wake them up. Briefly chase them around the room, then sit down and continue reviewing the weather FC like nothing happened. They will be happy for no reason.

Weather Resources

• 2. Weather Bingo

  How To play

  Review flashcards. Choose weather appropriate for the day. Write S U N N Y up on the board making sure to underline each letter.
  Sing using actions as modeled at meeting-

• Column

  There was a day and it was ?hot?
  And ?sunny? was the weather
  S U N N Y
  S U N N Y
  S U N N Y
  And sunny was the weather.

  Erase one letter yourself or get a child to do it. This will help aid as a prize for big voices when singing. Repeat above but clap on the letter that has been erased instead of saying it. Finally after erasing all 5 letters you will just clap 5 times.

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Photo: Mr. Tim / Halloween Costume.

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The Games

Firstly, What is Halloween?

• If you, like ourselves, are teaching English as a foreign language many of your students will have little or no idea other than they get to eat as many sweets as they like.

  October 31st (Halloween), started as an Irish festival celebrating the end of summer and their calendar year. They believed the spirit world was allowed to intermingle with the living on this day, similar to the Buddhist Obon festival. However, the Irish thought that only the souls of those who had died the previous year would return to look for bodies to inhabit for their afterlife.

  While the Obon spirits are guided home, the Halloween spirits are scared away by the living dressed up in frightening costumes. Over time, different cultures and religions have added their own traditions to Halloween, making it what we celebrate today.

• A day of fun and imagination — you can dress up and be whoever you want to for a day! A day of games and community – everyone gets together to celebrate, and neighbours are with children going door-to-door “Trick-or-Treating” for goodies ) candy, toys, food)! A day to play pranks and have a laugh giving people a scare!

  Think Ghosts, Spiders, Witches, Black Cats, Skeletons, Jack-o-Lanterns, and Vampires!

  Trick-or-Treat and Happy Halloween!

  Note: Anything involving food needs to be checked with the kindergarten well in advance.

• 1. What’s In The Box?

• How to play

  Paint a cardboard box black with a hole cut out to put hands into. All sorts of things can be placed in the box and the Ss have to put their hands in the box and try to guess what the object is. Great fun! If done in kagai, kids could draw Halloween pictures to decorate the box too.

Halloween Resources

Looking for English Halloween-themed teaching resources for your ESL or EFL class? Our digital downloads include originals songs, crafts, flashcards, and posters to make your lessons spooktacular! Easy to print and use in the classroom or online.

• 2. Peaches Apples Pumpkin Pie

  • Halloween Flash Cards — Witch, Ghost, Vampire

  How to play

  Class size: Whole class
  Set up: This game is like the santa claus janken game.
  .There are three poses for each of the monsters.
  Witch — put hands above head to form a pointy hat shape.
  Vampire — bare teeth and hold out hands like claws.
  Ghost — pull face into ghostly visage (showing the red bits of your eyeballs, like the japanese «akan-be!»).
  Start with the chant «Scary, scary Halloween!» then do one of the poses. If the kid has the same and the teacher, they lose. If different they remain in the game. When down to the last 5 or 6 then bring the kids up to front and play until 1/2 kids remain. They are the champions and they win the privilege of being put into your peaches apples pumpkin pie.

• 3. Ghost Game

  • Halloween Flash Cards
  • Numbers Flash Cards

  How to play

  This game is fun and easy if you set it up right. First clear a clean path to a wall, making sure there are no chairs or whatever in the way. Also ensure the wall you are going to run to is flat and free of anything kids could impale themselves on.
  Next, with the children sitting in front of you, introduce the scary ghost. Show them that when you reveal the ghost they are to stand up and run to the wall. Once they get to the wall they should duck down and cower in fear as the ghost card slowly (and menacingly) flies towards them. Duck down with them the first time, then practice revealing the card in front of them until they can all move to the wall as a group.
  Next, review counting 1-10. After a couple of times slip the ghost card in the back and reveal after counting the last number. Play several times. For a variation put the ghost card after different numbers.

• 4. Snarl Chirp Rev

  • Halloween Flash Cards.Witch, Vampire, Skeleton, plus some random extras

  How to play

  The witch, vampire and skeleton are the scary cards. The main point of this game is to teach the children «Scary!» or «I’m scared!». After shuffling the flashcards, ask the children «Are you scared?» and get them to answer «Yes/No». If no, then pull a random card off the pile. If yes, pull the scary card out then everyone has to run and hide together, including the teacher. After you run and hide, you say «I’m scared», then count to 20.

• 5. Relay Race

  How to play

  Class size: whole class
  To play:
  Divide into 2 teams. Each team-member gets a straw (like a drinking straw). At the front of the line there is a bowl with the small pieces of paper in it. Each team member needs to pick up a piece of paper using only the straw (ie sucking the straw to keep the paper in place) and run to the other end of the room and deposit the paper in a bowl. Each team member must finish successfully and be sitting down in a line again for the team to win. You can’t use your hands, if you drop the paper you have to start again. *Make sure there is no possible way the paper can actually get up the straw*

• 6. Halloween Hats

  How to play

  Have tubes of black cardboard that can be rolled and stapled (or sellotaped) into a cone shape. Decorate with brightly coloured paper shapes, foam shapes from Summer School, or Halloween pictures that the kids can colour in. Certificates/awards/prizes – lollies – could be given for the most imaginative/scary/colourful etc, making enough categories so that everyone gets a prize. A last-day of Halloween activity perhaps, then they can wear their hats home.

• 7. Design-A-Monster

  • Halloween Flash Cards
  • Halloween Construction Paper (Amazon #Ad)

  How to play

ESL English Books for Halloween

• 

  Meg and Mog

  Meg the witch and Mog her cat go off to a wild Hallowe’en party with all the other witches.

  Meg & Mog (Amazon #Ad) 
  

• 

• 8. Bob For Apples

  • Bucket (Amazon)
  • Apples (Amazon)

• How to play

  You need to prepare 1 apple per child. You can either use the sink at the school, or buy a 100 yen bucket. Children must try to pick up the apple using only their mouth (hands on head or behind back).

Resources — Amazon

• 

• 

  Dandies Vegan Marshmallows

  Ingredients (All Vegan) Tapioca Syrup, Cane Sugar, Filtered Water, Tapioca Starch Carrageenan, Soy Protein, Natu

  Marshmellows (Amazon #Ad) 
  

• 19 Touch the Vampire/Ghost/Monster

  • Halloween Flash Cards

  How to play

  Kids start at one end of the classroom. The teacher is at the opposite end of the room, with their backs to the children, holding a card – Vampire, Ghost, Witch etc. The object of the game is for the children to sneak up and touch the teacher before they turn around.

• If the teacher turns, everyone has to freeze exactly as they are. If the teacher catches anyone moving, they get to chase him or her back to the start shouting “Vampire! Vampire!” or “Ghost! Ghost!”. The child who touches the teacher first is the winner. For Chos (or smart Chu classes), it could then be their turn to be the Vampire or the Ghost, and to turn around at certain times to try and catch people moving.

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Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to play —

Wait, what? To play?

Yes! To play! Oh, what fun it is to play these Christmas song-themed party games! So, gather the kids and revel in the joys of singing those favorite carols at your holiday celebration.

These games would, of course, also be a great addition to a Christmas caroling event.

Name That Carol

To play this game, start by writing three lines of lyrics from a favorite Christmas song on a small piece of paper. Then write the actual song title on the back. Make several of these slips of paper, fold them, and place them in a bowl.

Divide players into two teams. Have them take turns pulling a song out of the bowl. One member pulls out the paper and reads the first line listed (without singing it). The team has 10 seconds to guess the title. If they guess before time is up, they win five points, and play turns to the next team. If they can’t guess within 10 seconds, the player reads the next line, and they have another 10 seconds to guess. If they are correct on the second try, they win three points, and it becomes the next team’s turn. If they still can’t get it, the third line is read aloud and five seconds are given to guess. If they are successful, they earn two points. If they are unsuccessful, the reading player must sing the song. If they are able to get the answer, they get one point.

The other team takes a turn doing the same. When all of the Christmas carol prompts have been used, add up the scores. The team with the most points wins.

Name That Christmas Tune, Classic Version

For this game, you will play like they did on the old game show, where players predict who can name the tune in the least amount of notes. For instance, one player will say they can name the Christmas song in 10 notes, the opposing player might then say they can name it in nine notes. Another may predict that five notes are all they need. When players stop challenging one another, the one who last made the prediction listens to the allotted amount of notes. If they can guess correctly, they win a point. If not, additional notes are played until someone guesses the tune. That person wins the point.

Backwards Christmas Carol

You don’t need one for this game, but having some kind of buzzer makes it more fun. Divide guests into two teams. Leave one person out to be the host. Have the host call up one member from each team to stand on either side of the buzzer. The host will then sing a line from a Christmas Carol, but the trick is that they will sing it backward. For instance, instead of singing, “We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” they will sing it as “Year New Happy a and Christmas Merry a you wish we.” (Print these backward lyrics ahead of time to the host can have an easier time reading them to the contestants.)

As soon as a player thinks they know the song, they hit the buzzer and call out the lyric. (Another fun option is to have the guessing player sing the lyric). If they are correct, they earn a point for their team. New players are then called up from each team. Play continues for as many rounds as you have players. At the end, the team with the most points wins.

Christmas Carol Pictionary

This is a fun party game where kids get to flex their drawing muscles. Write the titles of several holiday songs on slips of paper. Fold them and place them in a Christmas stocking. Provide a drawing board that everyone will be able to see (use an easel or hang a chalkboard on a wall). Divide the players into two teams. Players from each team take turns pulling a song title from the stocking and trying to draw pictures that demonstrate the words of the title. If their team members are able to guess before time runs out, they earn a point. The team that scores the most points wins the game.

Christmas Carol Mad Libs

This is a fun game that can be played at any Christmas party. Before the event, print the lyrics to a few different Christmas carols. Remove a word from each line and replace it with a blank space. In that space, indicate if the word was a noun, verb, or adjective. Count how many of each type of word needs to be filled in.

Pass out blank pieces of paper and ask the kids to list however many random nouns, verbs, and adjectives you counted. Then, pass out the lyric sheets and have them fill in the corresponding blanks with the words they just listed. Go around the room and have each player read their new, funnier version of the song aloud. There is no scoring in this game, as the object is simply to create laughter among friends.

Christmas Song Buzz Words

To play this game, give each kid a pen and a piece of paper, set a timer for 30 seconds (you can adjust the time depending on the age group), and call out a word that is commonly found in Christmas Carols. Once you’re called out the word, players have until the timer buzzes to list as many holiday songs as they can think of that contain that word. Tally one point per correct song listed. Play several rounds (for as long as the children are having fun) and award a prize to the player who scored the most total points.

Some suggestions for buzz words include: merry, Santa, bells, happy, jolly, sled, snow, Christmas, Christmas tree, bright, snowman.

Christmas Carol Bingo

This is just like traditional bingo where players have to fill in five spots in a row, but instead of numbers, the bingo cards have song titles printed inside the boxes. You can make these ahead of time, varying the placement of song titles for each “card” you print (cards will actually be sheets of paper). Instead of writing the word Bingo across the tops of the columns, write the word carol. For every Christmas song you used in the creation of the bingo sheets, make a slip of paper that contains the title. Fold the slips and place them into a bowl. Have the bingo caller shake up the bowl, pull out a slip, and call out the song title. Instead of just reading the words, however, have them sing a line from the song. Players mark off the spot where that song title is. When a player gets five in a row, instead of yelling “Bingo!” they will call out, “Carol!”

Christmas Song Mash-Up

Here’s a fun, karaoke-style activity that allows kids to get creative and even perform for other party guests. Break your players up into teams and challenge them each to come up with a Christmas carol mash-up. Each team will combine two popular Christmas songs into one song, where the lyrics switch back and forth from one song to the other. Give them a good amount of time to come up with their mash-up, including a few minutes to rehearse before they sing their mash-up for the rest of the party guests. Once both teams have presented their song to the crowd, the audience will vote for the winner.

Christmas Carol Dress-Up

For kids to play this game, you will need to supply them with plenty of props. Think about the titles of several songs and what kind of items can be used to dress up like a Christmas Carol. For instance, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer can be as simple as providing a red clown nose and a pair of antlers. White Christmas, on the other hand, might require an outfit completely made of white with white, Christmas-themed accessories.

Once you have gathered plenty of possible combinations of wardrobe props, divide kids into teams and challenge them to dress up one of their players as a Christmas carol. The dressed-up player is then presented to a group of judges. If the judges can guess the Christmas carol the player is supposed to represent, the team earns a point. Continue to play and keep score for as long as it makes sense for your age group and amount of props.

Christmas Lyric Balloon Pop Race

To play this game, you will need two poster boards hung on a wall. You will also need to write each word from a Christmas song lyric on a separate piece of paper, fold it up, place it into a balloon and then inflate and tie off the balloon. You will need to do this twice, so you have one set of balloon lyrics for each team. Use different colored balloons for each team (such as red balloons for team one and white balloons for team two).

Scatter the balloons (mix up the two colors) on the floor of the party space. Divide guests into two teams. Give each team a roll of tape. On go, teams must race to gather all of their colored balloons. They must sit on them until they pop, revealing the slip of paper. When a team has all of its paper slips, they can start to arrange the words until they figure out the song lyric. The first team to tape its song lyric in the correct order of words up onto their poster board wins the game.

If you’re planning on spending New Year’s Eve as a family this year, (i.e. you couldn’t find a babysitter either?) we’ve got your covered!

Enjoy these 30 Awesome New Year’s Eve Games for the family – #3 is my favorite!

1. Countdown Bags by The Idea Room

2.  Mini-Marshmallow Popper by Real Simple

3. Year in Review Photo Scavenger Hunt by No Time for Flashcards

4. New Year’s Eve Bingo by Hip Hip Hooray!

5.  New Years Eve Countdown by Craftibilities

6.  New Years Ball Game by Sparkly Polliwog

7. M&M Straw Game by Fun on a Dime

8. Balloon Stomp by My Joy-Filled Life

9.  Fun Fizz Countdown by Inspired by Familia

10. Make Your Own Ice Skating Rink by Soule Mama

11. Bubble Jump by Martha Stewart

12. Donut on a String by My Joy-Filled Life

13. Rolling Around the Clock by The Idea Room

14. DIY Balloon Drop by Mom’s Choice Matters

15.  Musical New Year’s Eve Game by Let’s Play Music

16.  Dress Up Game by eHow

17. Balloon Countdown by How Does She?

18.  New Years Eve Scavenger Hunt by No Time for Flashcards

19. Marshmallow Game by Kids Creative Chaos

20. New Years Tree by Our Best Bites

21. Family Guess Who? by Crafts Ideas

22.  Under the Broom by Mommy Lessons 101

23. Minute it to Win it Games by Happy Home Fairy

24.   Dining Table Tennis by Martha Stewart

25. Punch Out Board by Celebrate the Big and Small

26.  Dime in the Flour by Mommy Lessons 101

27. Photo Memory Game by No Time for Flashcards

28. New Year’s Sensory Tub by Momtastic Life

29. Free New Year’s Eve Coloring Pages and Puzzles by Squishy-Cute Designs

30. Baby New Year Balloons Game by Momtastic Life

Once the New Year is here, be sure to check out these great tips to get every room in your house organized!

I always look forward to Christmas.

Now that I have kids in school, I feel like half of my December is spent figuring out what games to play at the school Christmas parties. So I’ve compiled all of my research into one place so that you can quickly and easily find inspiration, instructions and supply lists in one place.

Watch the video below for inspiration and then keep reading to see game instructions and supply lists.

30 AWESOME CHRISTMAS GAMES FOR KIDS (AND ADULTS)

If you’re in charge of planning the Christmas or Winter party for school, you’ll love these 30 DIY Christmas games for kids and for adults. Whether you are planning a preschool party or need something for tweens and tweens, these games are perfect for all ages. (And I included Christmas Minute to Win It games too!)

Snowman Mummies

I’ve played a version of this game in every class Christmas party I’ve ever hosted. The kids love it, it’s super interactive, and the supplies are pretty simple.

Hint: rolls of toilet paper. Single ply works great!

Simply have the kids choose a partner. When you say go, they have one roll of toilet paper to wrap their partner from head to toe to become a Snowman. First one finished wins.

I think you’ll quickly find that the kids don’t care a single bit about who wins, it’s just fun to dress each other up with toilet paper.

If you want to get really fancy, cut some buttons and a carrot nosee out of constrution paper, or simply bring in a scarf and hat to finish their snowman.

Shake Your Booty

You will need:

• Cake box or tissue box – with a hole cut out
• Belt (softball and baseball belts work really well!)
• Ping pong balls

Cut slits in the side of the box and weave your belt through the box. Fill the box with ping pong balls and give your kids 60 seconds to shake them all out. No hands!

For older kids, use a tissue box. For my younger kids, the larger cake box and larger hole made it a little easier for them.

Make this more “Christmasy” by using green and red ping pong balls.

SNOWMAN SLAM

Your younger kids are going to love playing Snowman Slam. And your slightly older kids will love helping you create the game and set it up.

PUNCH A PRESENT

This could be a really fun idea to use in a classroom. Let each kid “punch” one hole to win a prize.

See the full tutorial at The Craft Patch.

PIN THE NOSE ON THE REINDEER

This is such a cute idea, and the kids in your classroom will love it. If you don’t have a spare bulletin board, just draw a reindeer on a piece of posterboard (or on the smart board) and have kids use tape and construction paper to pin on that red nose. Adorable.

See the full tutorial here.

ELF ON THE SHELF GAMES FOR THE WIN!

These fun Elf on the Shelf games will keep your kiddos entertained and having a blast at their Christmas party (or while you’re trying to sneak away to do a little last-minute wrapping!)

ELf on the Shelf Mad Libs

Elf on the Shelf Charades

Elf on the Shelf Coloring Pages

Decorate a Tree for your Elf on the Shelf

Elf on the Shelf Photo Props

GOING ON A CANDY CANE HUNT

CHRISTMAS BINGO

If your classroom party is anything like the ones I’ve attended, sometimes it’s nice to play a quieter game. Christmas bingo to the rescue.

SILVER BELLS MEMORY GAME

This is pure genius, and I am going to have my kids play it all winter break long. That is all.

ADORABLE SNOWMAN GAMES FOR THE WIN

My kids go to public school, so I usually need to keep things winter-themed versus Christmas themed. These Snowman games are PERFECT for public schools!

Snowman Tissue Box Bowling

DIY Snowball Fight

Sight Word Snowball Fight

SNOWBLOWER GAME

Is there anything better than kids pretending to be snowblowers? Pretty much no.

MITTEN MATCH UP

They’ll be learning AND having a blast playing this mitten match up game.

FISHING FOR CANDY CANES

This is adorable. The end.

BALANCING ORNAMENTS

This is a game you don’t see too often, but clearly this family had a blast. See if you can incorporate it into your next classroom, church or family gathering.

Full instructions are here.

NORTH POLE GAME

This is one of those games that you will create once and then pull out for every classroom party ever. It’s simple, interactive and festive.

MINUTE TO WIN IT GAMES

While these are not necessarily specific to Christmas, you could easily modify them to make them more festive for the season. For example, use red and green cups, marshmallows instead of candy, etc.

They’re perfect for parties of ANY age – even adults!

30 MORE CHRISTMAS GAMES

LOOKING FOR MORE FUN MINUTE TO WIN IT GAMES?

We have games for every holiday, including Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and even Earth Day. Click on the links below to see them all.

New Year’s Eve Games

Valentine’s Day Games

Earth Day Games