Good Morning!!! Only 352 more days until CHRISTMAS! Hehe, I do LOVE Christmas but considering we are still in the process of getting our front porch tree put away and all of the wreaths off of our exterior windows, I think we are ready for a little break. And I think all of our wallets are too right?!? Last Christmas I was laid up recovering from FOUR back to back kidney stone surgeries so this year I decided to make up for lost time and have a really big, fun week with the fam. We have my girls every year leading up to Christmas into Christmas Day and then the boys every other so between that and the fact that we have THREE high schoolers, I know these years are slipping by… and fast.

Our Matching Pajamas

Family Christmas Week!

Although the overall gist of this post is family game ideas, I wanted to include a little about our entire Holiday week to maybe give you some fun ideas for next year! At the start of the week, I gave each kiddo a cute little itinerary I made on Canva along with their matching pj’s, gingerbread houses I got at World Market that I felt fit each of their personalities and then slippers for the boys and cozy socks for the girls…

Gingerbread Houses / Slippers / PJ’s

First, let’s chat games! As you can see on my little itinerary, one night we had game night and it was SO SO SO FUN. Sometimes I don’t know how things will go with three teens… although they’re always such good sports about everything… but they kept wanting to play more! I ended up looking up even more Minute to Win It Games than I’d pre-planned because they didn’t want it to end! I will say that cash prizes do help the energy 😉 but it really was so fun. So much so that we are going to do it all over again in February when our exchange student is here! Here’s a detailed list of everything we played…

Quick Links to All the Game Supplies You’ll Need (Minus Prizes)…

Deal or No Deal…

How to Assemble… Label a “surface”… I used this standing whiteboard… with numbers 1-24. Attach an envelope, each with a gift (cash, gift card, etc.), under each number in a way that can be easily moved around after each round. I used a single piece of tape across the top of each envelope flap.

How to Play… Each player starts the round by choosing one numbered envelope as “their case”. Remove that envelope and set it aside without the player knowing what’s inside. We then gave each player eight chances to select a numbered envelope and decide if they wanted to “make a deal” and keep what was inside or “no deal” and give that one up to select another envelope. If all eight selections are deemed as “no deal”, the player then wins whatever is in their original “case” or envelope.

What You Need… A Display Surface (like a whiteboard), 24 Envelopes & 24 Gifts

Standing Whiteboard

Saran Wrap Gift Ball…

How to Assemble… Using 200-300 square feet of saran wrap, start by choosing one center gift and begin wrapping with Saran wrap. Continue wrapping and adding gifts as you begin to create a ball. To make it challenging, every so often cut the Saran wrap and start a new piece so that it won’t unwrap for someone in one continuous roll.

How to Play… Hand the large ball to one player and set a timer for 30 seconds, once the time begins the player must find the start to the Saran wrap (without cutting or ripping the wrap) and unroll as much as they can in under 30 seconds as the gifts fall out as they go. Everything that falls out of the ball during their turn wins those gifts.

What You Need… One Box of Saran Wrap & Lots of Little Gifts

Minute to Win It Games…

Christmas Ball

How to Play… A player must move a round ornament across the floor and into a target area by fanning the ornament using only the wind of a gift box. Points go to all players who successfully complete the challenge in under one minute!

What You Need… One Large Gift Box & One Round Ornament

Snowball Scoop

How to Play… Fill one bowl with nine cotton balls. Players must transfer all of the cotton balls from one bowl at one end of a table to another bowl at the other end of the table using only a plastic spoon in their mouth. Points go to all players who successfully complete the challenge in under one minute!

What You Need… Two Bowls, Cotton Balls & One Plastic Spoon

Snowball Fight

How to Play… One player stands at the end of a table with other players at the other end. Place a bowl at the end of the table opposite the player and give the other players a bunch of cotton balls. The player must try and bounced one ping pong bowl into the bowl while the other players try and knock the ping pong ball of course by throwing cotton balls. off the podiums with the ping pong balls. Points go to all players who successfully get one ping pong bowl into the bowl in under one minute!

What You Need… One Small Bowl, Several Ping Pong Balls & Lots of Cotton Balls

Cookie Face

How to Play… Player places a cookie (we used Oreos) on their forehead and must then get the cookie into their mouth using only your facial muscles – no hands allowed! Points go to all players who successfully complete the challenge in under one minute!

What You Need… Cookies!

Defying Gravity

How to Play… Give each player three balloons. Player must keep all three balloons up in the air for a minute. Points go to all players who successfully complete the challenge in one minute!

What You Need… Three Balloons

Paper Dragon

How to Play… Each player must unspool one streamer roll with one hand behind their back only using the hand holding the spool. If the streamer breaks, you have to pick it up and carry on unspooling. Points go to all players who successfully complete the challenge in under one minute!

What You Need… Rolls of Streamers

Christmas Tree Stack

How to Play… Players must stack up a pile of 28 cups and then place them back into a single stack in under a minute. Points go to all players who successfully complete the challenge in under one minute!

What You Need… 28 Solo Cups

Christmas Cliffhanger

How to Play… Place one greteting card standing upright in the center of a small table. Without touching the card, the player must blow the card so that one side of the card hangs over the edge of the table without it falling off. Points go to all players who successfully complete the challenge in under one minute!

What You Need… One Greeting Card

White Christmas

How to Play… One person stands still while the other wraps them in toilet paper. This game is best player head to head against another two player team. Points go to the player that successfully unrolls and wraps more of the toilet paper roll around their teammate than the other player without any of it falling to the floor in one minute! It paper falls to the floor it also must be wrapped around the teammate.

What You Need… Several Rolls of Toilet Paper

All Other Christmas Festivities…

The very first day we took everyone out to a nice lunch and then shopping for a sibling gift exchange. Rather than them each buying for each other, I had four envelopes and they each chose one that had a name and a $50 Target gift card. It’s funny because the boys each unknowingly selected a girl and vice versa which made their shopping trip even funnier…