Icebreakers are quick and fun ways of enabling people to get to know each other during any social or festive gathering. This helps people to relax and open up. This is particularly important when people of different age groups and mindset come together for a common gathering. Christmas being a festival of merriment and get-togethers is a prime occasion to organize icebreaker party games. These games are a great way to boost the enthusiasm and excitement of the crowd and add some spice to the party.
Although icebreakers attempt to add an element of fun to celebrations, proper planning and organizing is equally important if you want your party to be a success. Hence, it is always better to start planning in advance and not leave preparations for the last minute. An effective Christmas icebreaker game can help to get people acquainted in minutes and help the party run smoothly. However, there are certain guidelines to follow while panning for an icebreaker. The first and foremost among these is examining the group who will be attending the party. This is very important as organizing the games will be possible only after you get an idea of the beliefs, interests, age, sex, and nationality of the people involved.
After deciding on the group, another important factor that has to be taken into consideration is the play space or location. Always try to avoid areas where there are chances for any mishaps and injuries. If the space allotted for the game is small, try not to involve any physical activities like running, hopping etc. Finally, after looking into these aspects, pick appropriate games which are simple to understand and easy to carry out. Read on to know some simple and elegant ice-breaking games.
Popular Christmas Icebreaker Games
Christmas Carols
This is a very popular icebreaker game used during Christmas parties. As soon as the guests checks in, a slip of paper with a Christmas carol written on it is handed to them. This is mainly done to form groups. If, for instance, you want to form 5 groups, there will be 5 sets of paper slips, each containing one carol written on it. Then, once everybody has gathered in a room, you will have to walk around the room singing your carol until you find everyone in your group.
What Is In The Stocking
All the guests are divided in pairs and stockings containing different gift items and with the mouth tied with satin ribbons are given to each pair. Care should be taken to fill different gift items in the stockings. This being done, ask them to make a guess of what is in the stocking and write it down in a piece of paper. This has to be done when the music starts and has to stop when the music is turned off. Then, each pair has to read out aloud what they have written on the paper. This has to be done before emptying the contents on the table. If any of them matches with the articles inside the stocking, they can pick them up.
Christmas Tree
This is meant only for young children below the age of 7. All the participants sit in a ring with the host or the leader in the centre. Then all children are labeled with either with Star, Bauble, Tinsel, Angel, and Snowflake. There should be at least a minimum of two people under each group. Now, when the leader calls out the name of any one of the groups, say for example, tinsel, then all the tinsels should jump up and interchange positions with each other. If the leader calls out ‘Christmas Tree', then all the children have to jump and interchange positions with one another. This game is very effective in breaking the ice as all the children are mixed up and made to sit near new people.
Question And Answers
Each of the guests is given a chit of paper with either a question or an answer written on it. The guest who gets a question has to read out aloud until he comes across the person who has the answer to that particular question. The person who has the chit with the answer written on it has to stand up and introduce himself or herself to the crowd.
Turkey
This is a very funny icebreaker game that can be played during Christmas time in corporate gatherings. All the ingredients of making a particular Turkey dish are written down on slips of paper. Each of these slips is then stuck to the back of each of the participants. They then have to arrange themselves in the order in which the dish is made. This game can be further modified to improve the skills of teamwork by arranging the participants in three or more teams.
Icebreakers are a must if you want to open up the people in your Christmas party. A list of some of the most popular icebreaker games are given below in this article.