Santa and his nine reindeers have always been a fascination, objects of wonder for kids all around the world since decades. The image of Santa riding on a flying sleigh pulled by his team of nine reindeers to deliver gifts to children has found place in thousands of books and novels all round. Many movies have been formed, fables have been told and the image have been so much popularized that mentioning Santa and his reindeers becomes inevitable when one talks about Christmas and of the winter season in general.
The origin of Santa's reindeers can be traced back to the famous poem ‘The Night Before Christmas' by Clement Clarke Moore.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and call'd them by name:
"Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer, and Vixen,
"On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Donner and Blitzen;
This is the phrase that gave rise to the legendary reindeers of Santa Claus, Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, and Dunder and Blixem. Dunder and Blixem were later changed to Donner and Blitzen. The origin of the last reindeer is traced to the popular Christmas song ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'.
A number of Christmas games have evolved based on these legendary creatures, which are very popular among the masses. People of all age groups and of different mindset can play these games. These games add to the excitement and enthusiasm of the crowd and are a great way to pep up a Christmas party. Three such popular games are given in the article below. All these games are very simple to understand and easy to carry out.
How To Play Reindeer Name Christmas Games
Guess The Reindeer
Reindeers have a great implication in Christmas events and fables. Some tips on how to play some interesting reindeer name Christmas games are given below in this article.
Reindeer Name Christmas Games
- Divide all the players in two groups and carefully explain the rules and regulations of playing the game to all the participants.
- Next, place a container containing chits of all the names of the reindeers in front of the players. One player from each group has to go forward and pick a chit from the container.
- Now, using only twenty questions, ask the other participants of the group to find out the name of the reindeer that is written on the piece of paper. These twenty questions should be such that the answer can be given only in ‘yes' or ‘no'. At the end of the questions, if the group is able to correctly guess the name of the reindeer, allot a point to the group.
- Thus, at the end of the game, the group, which scores the maximum number of points, wins the game.
One Minute
- This game is mostly played by young children (5+) and is a great way to improve their vocabulary and writing skills.
- Pass a sheet of paper and a pencil to each of the participants and ask them to write down the name of Santa's Reindeers on the paper at the count of three.
- Keep on checking the clock and at the end of a minute, ask all the players to keep down the pen and hand over the papers.
- The child who gets the maximum number of correct names wins the game. You can even give the winner an exciting prize like an amusing reindeer night suit set or a popular reindeer color book. Apart from this, you can even allot prizes for different categories like best handwriting, most amusing spellings etc.
Find Santa's Reindeer
- This game involves a lot of energy level and hence is a favorite with the kids and the young children. All you need are small reindeer toys (9 in number) which are easily available in any local departmental stores or gift shops and tag each of them with the names of Santa's reindeers.
- Next, at the location of the party, hide all the reindeer toys in different areas. See to it that some of the toys are easy to find and some others comparatively difficult to locate. You can keep one on top of the Christmas tree, another among the presents and so on.
- Once the guests start arriving, hand over a paper to each of them, and ask them to hunt down the different reindeers located in different corners of the room and write down the tagged names in the piece of paper given to them.
- The first 9 players to hunt the toys will receive a prize. To make this even more amusing, set a time limit for the participants. This will get them running as they will be in hurry to complete the game within the set time.