Christmas Minute To Win It Games

Minute to Win It Essentials

There are many ways to play these Christmas Minute To Win It Games:
1. Single Player (One player tries to complete the task in 60 seconds.)
2. Challenge (Two or more players play against each other at the same time; fastest player wins.)
3. Beat the Record (Players take turns to play and try to beat the best timing.)
4. Team Challenge (Divide into two or more teams; each team sends one representative for each game.)
5. Stations (Set up one game at each station. Players freely move around to play whichever games they like. You may like to prepare a score card for each player and award prizes at the end.)

Whether you are playing after your Christmas meal or planning a Christmas gathering, these Christmas-themed Minute to Win It Games are fun to play and entertaining to watch!

If you prefer a collection of games that incorporates the telling of the Biblical Christmas story, check out The Story of Christmas Minute To Win It Games.

1 Jingle Bell Rock

Players jump, shake, bend, wiggle and contort their bodies to try to get all 8 jingle bells out of a tissue box secured to their waist.

Supplies and Set-up:
Secure the bottom of 1 empty tissue box onto 1 belt.
Place 8 jingle bells in the empty tissue box.
During the game, players wear the belt around the waist with the tissue box at the back, just above the hips.

For Younger Players:
Use fewer jingle bells.
Cut a bigger hole in the tissue box.

This game is adapted from the Minute To Win It game: Junk in the Trunk.

2 Jingle Bells on a Roll

Players must roll jingle bells to knock 5 Christmas ball ornaments completely off the table.

Supplies and Set-up:
Place 5 non-breakable, light-weight Christmas ball ornaments near one edge of a table.
Players roll the bells from the opposite edge.
Some jingle bells.
(You may replace Christmas ball ornaments with marshmallows, and jingle bells with marbles)

For Younger Players:
Use fewer Christmas ball ornaments.

3 A Balancing Act

Holding a popsicle stick in their mouths, players must place 5 jingle bells on the stick and walk, with hands outstretched, across the room to deposit the bells in a bowl.
Once you place the bells on the popsicle stick and start walking, your hands cannot touch the bells or popsicle stick.
If you drop any bells, pick them up, return to the starting point and try again.

Supplies and Set-up:
Place a craft/popsicle stick on a table, next to 5 jingle bells.
Place an empty bowl on another table at the opposite end of the room.
If it is a small room, set up some obstacles in between the 2 tables.

For Younger Players:
Use fewer jingle bells or replace with marshmallows.
Reduce the distance between the 2 tables.
Remove the obstacles.
Use a large salad bowl.

4 Let It Snow!

Blow up a balloon and release the air to blow 15 marshmallows completely off the table.

Supplies and Set-up:
Place 15 marshmallows near one edge of a table.
Position them on their sides such that, when they are blown at, they will roll off the table.
1 balloon.

For Younger Players:
Use fewer marshmallows.
Some children may need an adult’s help to pump up the balloon using a balloon pump.

This game is adapted from the Minute To Win It game: This Blows.

5 Jingling Dumbbell

Gently and skillfully jiggle a dumbbell containing 20 tiny red and green jingle bells to separate the reds from the greens.

Supplies and Set-up:
2 identical empty 16.9oz water bottles. Discard the bottle caps.
20 tiny (¼ inch) jingle bells (10 red and 10 green) that are small enough to slide in and out the mouths of the water bottles.
Place the 20 tiny jingle bells in one empty bottle, and place the other empty bottle over it, mouth-to-mouth, such that it resembles a dumbbell. Tape both bottles securely together.

(Alternatively, if you do not have tiny jingle bells, use small beads or M&Ms.)

For Younger Players:
Use fewer jingle bells.

6 Christmas Separation Anxiety

Using only 1 hand, players separate a pile of 50 red, green and white jelly beans into 3 containers according to their color.

Supplies and Set-up:
1 bowl of 50 jelly beans (red, green and white)
3 bowls (red, green and white)

For Younger Players:
Use fewer jelly beans.

This game is adapted from the Minute To Win It game: Separation Anxiety.

7 Extreme Christmas Nutstacker

Players hold a candy cane in one hand and a plate with 8 hexagonal nuts in the other hand.
Thread the candy cane through the 8 nuts, then slide 1 nut at a time onto the plate, stacking the nuts on top of each other.

Supplies and Set-up:
Candy cane
Plate
8 nuts (think bolts and nuts!) from a hardware store

For Younger Players:
Place the plate on a table.
Use fewer nuts.

This game is adapted from the Minute To Win It game: Extreme Christmas Nutstacker.

8 Hanging Candy Canes

Standing behind a foul line, players toss 6 candy canes to hang on a string.

Supplies and Set-up:
Tie a string taut across 2 chairs placed 3 feet apart.
Mark a foul line 5 feet away.
6 candy canes.

For Younger Players:
Hang fewer candy canes.
Mark the foul line closer to the string.

9 Upside Down Christmas Tree

Players must build an upside-down Christmas tree by stacking 5 levels of empty soda cans, separating each level with a paper plate.
Start with 1 empty can at the bottom level, followed by 1 paper plate.
Next balance 2 cans on the paper plate and place another paper plate on top of the 2 cans, and so forth.

Supplies and Set-up:
15 empty green-colored soda cans
4 green paper plates

For Younger Players:
Build a right-side-up Christmas tree.

This game is adapted from the Minute To Win It game: Candelier.

10 Face the Gingerbread Man

Using only facial muscles, players must move a gingerbread man cookie from the forehead to the mouth.

Supplies and Set-up:
Gingerbread Man cookies

For Younger Players:
Allow up to 2 minutes.

This game is adapted from the Minute To Win It game: Face the Cookie.

11 Christmas Spoon Feeding

Holding a spoon in their mouths, players scoop 10 jingle bells, 1 at a time, from a large bowl and place them in a smaller bowl 8 feet away.

Supplies and Set-up:
Place 2 tables about 8 feet apart.
On one table, place a large bowl of jingle bells and a spoon next it.
On the other table, place a small empty bowl.

For Younger Players:
Scoop fewer jingle bells.
Use marshmallows instead of jingle bells.

This game is adapted from the Minute To Win It game: Spoon Feeding.

12 Snowman Stack

Players stack 3 golf balls to form a snowman.

Supplies and Set-up:
3 golf balls.

For Younger Players:
Stack 5 marshmallows instead of 3 golf balls.

This game is adapted from the Minute To Win It game: Caddy Stack.

13 It’s Snowing Marshmallows!

Players toss 10 marshmallows through a wreath into a large salad bowl.

Supplies and Set-up:
Hang a wreath from the ceiling or at a doorway.
Place a bowl of marshmallows on a table on one side of the wreath, and a large salad bowl on another table on the opposite side.

For Younger Players:
Toss through a hula hoop instead of a wreath.
Toss fewer marshmallows.

14 Marshmallow Nose Dive

Players dip the tip of their noses in a shallow dish of cranberry sauce, then move 5 marshmallows, one at a time, from one bowl to another using only their noses.

Supplies and Set-up:
On one end of a table, place a shallow dish of cranberry sauce (or any other sticky bread spread) next to a bowl of marshmallows.
(You may need to use small marshmallows, depending on the stickiness of your cranberry sauce or bread spread.)
Place another empty bowl on the other end of the table.

For Younger Players:
Move fewer marshmallows.
Place the 2 bowls close together.

This game is adapted from the Minute To Win It game: Nose Dive.

15 Christmas in the Balance

This game requires close coordination between 2 players.
Each player must hang 5 Christmas ornaments on either side of a yardstick that is placed precariously on top of a wrapping paper roll.

Supplies and Set-up:
Use sticky tack to secure a wrapping paper roll vertically on a table.
Balance a yardstick on top of the wrapping paper roll.
Place 10 Christmas ornaments on the table, 5 near each end of the yardstick.
(Each ornament should have a loop of string at least 2 inches in diameter.)

For Younger Players:
Hang only 1 Christmas ornament each.

This game is adapted from the Minute To Win It game: Christmas in the Balance.

16 Swing it!

Standing inside a circle, players must swing a Christmas ornament tied to a string around the waist, to knock down 10 empty soda cans.

Supplies and Set-up:
Tie a non-breakable Christmas ornament to a string and tie the string to the player’s waist.
The ornament should hang from the player’s back, slightly off the floor.
Arrange 10 empty soda cans (standing up) in a circle around the player.

For Younger Players:
Have players hold the string instead of having it tied to the waist.
Knock down fewer cans.

This game is adapted from the Minute To Win It game: Elephant March.

17 Holiday Hustle

Two players move their hips in tandem, to unspool a roll of ribbon from one player’s yardstick onto the other player’s yardstick.

Supplies and Set-up:
Secure one end of a yardstick to the back of each player’s waist; the yardstick should be in a horizontal position, parallel to the floor.
Slot the other end of Player 1’s yardstick into the center of a roll of ribbon.
Secure the center of the roll of ribbon to the yardstick with sticky tack or tape.
Tape the loose end of the ribbon to the end of Player 2’s yardstick.

For Younger Players:
Hold the yardsticks in their hands.
Use a shorter roll of ribbon.

This game is adapted from the Minute To Win It game: Holiday Hustle.

18 Life Savers!

Without using their hands, players must thread an uncooked spaghetti, held in their mouths, through 8 Life Saver candies.

Supplies and Set-up:
Place 8 Life Saver candies, standing on their sides, on a table.
Spread them out near the edges of a table; position the candies such that players can easily slot their spaghetti into their centers.
Players hold a piece of uncooked spaghetti in their mouths.

For Younger Players:
Pick up fewer Life Saver candies.

19 Hula Hoopa Gift

This game works well as a finale, and everyone gets to play and bring home a gift!
Players must roll a Hula hoop and try to get it to land around a gift. You get to bring home that gift!

Supplies and Set-up:
Prepare 1 gift-wrapped present for each guest.
Spread them all out around the room, leaving gaps in-between.
A Hula hoop.

For Younger Players:
Start rolling the Hula hoop closer to the gifts.

Bible Lessons

Refer to the following games for various Christmas Bible Lessons that you can use:

Angel Gabriel Appears to Mary (Luke 1:26-38; John 3:16) – Blanket Name Game

Birth of Jesus (Luke 2:1-7; John 3:16; Micah 5:2; Isaiah 9:6-7) – No More Room

Angels Appear to the Shepherds (Luke 2:8-20; John 3:16) – Do You Hear What I Hear

The Search for Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12; John 3:16) – Christmas Scavenger Hunt

The True Story of Christmas (Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-20; Matthew 2:1-12; John 3:16) – Christmas Bingo / Christmas Charades / Christmas Pictionary

The True Story of Christmas (For Younger Kids) (Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-20; Matthew 2:1-12; John 3:16) – Christmas Bingo / Christmas Charades / Christmas Pictionary

The True Story of Christmas (Condensed) (Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-20; Matthew 2:1-12; John 3:16) – The Story of Christmas Minute To Win It Games

Gospel Presentation – Pile Up the Presents