I have to say, my personal favourite was (what we are calling) “Christmas Movies”. We came up with the idea that we could assign a Christmas Movie to each person attending and provide “props” as “clues” to the movie. We put together packages of props (things that appeared in the assigned movie) for them to dress in. Everyone had to correctly guess the movie everyone else was representing. (Just an FYI – TELL them what movie they are representing. The younger attendees never saw -or heard of- some of our favourite movies!) If you guess correctly, you receive a jingle bell from the person. Whoever collects the most bells, wins the grand prize. Everyone also received a framed photo of themselves “starring” in their movie (sort of a consolation gift). Sounds easy, right? The hardest part was creating the “framed photos”; the rest was just fun.

If you’re considering skipping the ugly sweater party this year and giving “Christmas Movies” a try, you can get inspiration from our creations. See how many you can guess correctly!

Remember, the props are clues from the entire movie, and are not restricted to any one character. They can be made or purchased (We did a combination). Pick a few of your favourite Christmas movies if you’re creating them for everyone. Or have everyone do their own and be surprised.

If you choose to create photos of everyone starring in their movie, just look for an app that merges photos. We used Paint Shop Pro, but there are many, inexpensive, easy apps to choose from.

It was my favourite Christmas theme and there are so many movies to choose from. I can’t wait until we do this again and assign someone The Muppet Christmas!

For more great ideas, be sure to read The Enormous Surprise Ball.