Nobody wants the office party where someone with a microphone makes everyone play. What works is lighter: a game people can join with a drink in hand, that gets teams talking who never do, and that's over before anyone checks the time.
The 20 games below are sorted by group size. Pick two or three and you're done planning.
How to pick games for a work party
- Optional beats mandatory. Some colleagues love games, some came for the food. Choose games people can watch first and join later.
- Mix the teams. A game is the easiest excuse for finance to talk to the warehouse.
- Ten minutes, then stop. Anything that needs the whole room's attention should be short. Let one game run quietly for the rest of the night.
- Nobody gets roasted. Jokes about the boss land badly with the person who started last week. Keep it about Christmas, not about colleagues.
Quick games for any team size
- Christmas quiz in teams. Ten questions about Christmas films, songs and your own year at work. Teams of four to six, answers on paper, scores read out with dessert.
- Two truths and a Christmas lie. Everyone shares three facts about their holidays: two true, one invented. The table guesses which is the lie.
- Holiday bingo. A card with squares like someone in a Christmas jumper, a toast, a colleague from another floor. The first full row shouts.
- Guess the Christmas song. Five seconds of a carol or a pop hit; the fastest team names it. Phones face down.
- Christmas charades. Films and songs only, acted out in 30 seconds. It works across languages, which helps in international teams.
- The two-person gift wrap. Two colleagues, one hand each, wrap one box together. Over in two minutes, funnier than it sounds.
Games for large groups
Above about 40 people a game has to run itself, because nobody can explain rules to a room that size.
- A photo challenge. A QR code on a poster, or on every table. Each scan gives a colleague a photo task, like a selfie with someone from another team, and every photo lands in one shared gallery. It runs all night without a host. Ideas below.
- Table quiz. Like the team quiz, but each table is a team. Five minutes per round between courses.
- White elephant swap. Everyone brings one wrapped gift under a set price. Draw numbers; each person opens a new gift or steals one already opened. A gift can only be stolen twice.
- Find the colleague who… A card of facts: has worked here longest, speaks three languages, has never seen Home Alone. Find a person for each; first full card wins.
- Ugly jumper contest. The room votes by applause. Make the prize something silly.
- Christmas raffle. Everyone gets a ticket at the door, prizes are drawn between courses. Not quite a game, but nobody has to do anything to win.
A Christmas photo challenge: the game that runs itself
A photo challenge is a scavenger hunt for the camera everyone already carries. You print a QR code. Colleagues scan it with their phone camera, get a photo task and upload the shot from the browser: no app, no account, no name unless you ask for one. By the end of the night every photo is in one gallery you can download as a ZIP, which is the best material your year-in-review slides will ever get.
- Pick the tasksTap the ideas below, or write your own.
- Print one codeA poster by the bar, or a small card on every table.
- Everyone playsScan, snap, upload. Every photo lands in one gallery.
Tap the tasks you like and we'll put them on your board.
Get the teams mixing
- A selfie with someone from another team
- The longest-serving and the newest colleague together
- Someone you only know from video calls, in person
- Five colleagues who have never been in a photo together
- Your team recreating a famous Christmas film scene
Christmas spirit
- The best Christmas jumper in the room
- A toast to the year
- The most festive table
- Someone mid-laugh
- Your best reindeer impression
These are a start. You can type your own on the next screen: the year's inside jokes, the office plant, the coffee machine that finally works.
Small teams, remote colleagues and outings
- Themed Secret Santa. A theme makes shopping easier and the unwrapping funnier: something for your desk, something homemade, something under five.
- Cookie ranking. Everyone brings a batch, the tasting is blind, the vote is secret.
- Mulled wine or eggnog tasting. Three unlabelled versions, one score card. Include an alcohol-free one.
- Year-in-review quiz. Questions about your own team's year: the biggest launch, the most quoted email, the week the heating broke.
- Who am I? A Christmas character on a sticky note on each forehead; yes-or-no questions only.
- A screen-share photo challenge. For a hybrid party, put the QR code on the shared screen. Colleagues at home scan it from their monitor and play along.
- A Christmas market photo hunt. Heading out? Split into teams and give each a list of photos to bring back: the biggest gingerbread heart, a stranger in a Santa hat.
- Ice skating or curling. Book a rink or a curling lane for an hour, then go for food. Easy to organise, and people talk on the way.
What a photo challenge costs
- Test run: free. 5 tasks, one photo each. Enough to try it on your own team first.
- Standard: €79, paid once. Up to 100 tasks, unlimited photos, and every photo in full resolution as one ZIP. No subscription.
- A full refund if it doesn't take off. If your colleagues upload fewer than 20 photos, email us within three months and we refund the whole amount. No form, no reason needed.
For comparison, a rented photo booth typically runs $400–1,500 for a few hours in the US. In Germany prices start around €100 for a digital box and reach about €500 with instant prints and an attendant. They do different jobs, and plenty of parties have both:
| Photo booth | Photo challenge | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the photos happen | One corner | The whole room |
| What you get | Posed shots with props | Candid photos from every phone |
| Setup | Delivery, power, floor space | One printed QR code |
| Prints on the night | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cost | Hundreds per evening | Free test, €79 once |
One honest note: the setup screens were written for weddings, so a few labels still say “wedding”. Name your event “Team Christmas Party” and everything works the same. The full terms are in our refund policy.
Frequently asked questions
What are good games for an office Christmas party?
A team quiz, two truths and a lie, holiday bingo, a white elephant swap and a photo challenge. Combine one game the whole room plays for ten minutes with one that runs in the background all evening.
Which Christmas party games work for a large group?
Games that run themselves: a photo challenge with a QR code on every table, a table quiz between courses, a find-the-colleague card and a raffle. Anything that needs one person to explain the rules to 100 people will stall.
How do you get colleagues to join in?
Keep every game optional, keep the prizes small and silly, and mix the teams so nobody is stuck with the people they sit next to all year. It helps when managers play first.
Do colleagues need an app for the photo challenge?
No. They scan the QR code with their phone camera and upload in the browser. There is no app, no account and no name, unless you switch on name collection, for instance to pick a winner.
What happens to the photos afterwards?
They stay in one private gallery, and you download them all as a ZIP. On Standard they are kept for six months. Ask colleagues before you post their photos anywhere public: not everyone wants to be on the company's social media.
What if nobody plays?
Then it costs you nothing. Try it free first, and if you upgrade and your colleagues upload fewer than 20 photos, email us within three months of the party for a full refund.
Make this year's party the one with the photos
Pick your tasks, print one QR code, and every photo of the night lands in one gallery. Free to try, and paid plans come with a full refund if fewer than 20 photos come in.
Start for free