The Holly Jolly Christmas Activity Book

By HarperCollins UK

From crafting ideas to scavenger hunts, ridiculous party games to sing-a-thons and hilarious quizzes, keep friends and family entertained through the whole festive period with The Holly Jolly Christmas Activity Book! Ho ho ho!

From crafting ideas to scavenger hunts, ridiculous party games to sing-a-thons and hilarious quizzes, keep friends and family entertained through the whole festive period with The Holly Jolly Christmas Activity Book! Ho ho ho!

Ah, the Christmas holidays… isn’t it wonderful being together with the whole family? But when you’ve watched all the Christmassy movies and the troops are getting restless, there’s only one way to change the dreaded ‘I’m booorrred’ into ‘Let’s play that game again!’…

So what are you waiting for? Pull a cracker, put on a silly hat, grab your nearest and dearest, and have a very Holly Jolly Christmas!

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Oct 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9780008498399

Book preview

introduction opener

What’s that song I can hear playing on my radio? ‘Last Christmas, I watched some TV, and the very next day, I watched more TV …’ But Christmas doesn’t have to be like this!

In actual fact, even when you’re stuck at home, and you can’t get away from your family, and there’s nothing on TV except a back-to-back broadcast of old James Bond movies, and you’ve watched every festive option on every streaming service, you can still have fun – it’s true!

The long, slow Christmas holidays, when everything seems to be shut and staying at home is the order of the day, are full of opportunities for you to have fun and celebrate the best of the festive season with your fellow cellmates – I mean, your fellow family members. With a little preparation and the spirit of playfulness, you can enjoy silly games and crafty goings-on, and you’re likely to discover that the people you live with are actually a lot of fun to be around.

The Holly Jolly Christmas Activity Book is here to guide you on this exciting journey of Christmassy discovery. With activities covering subjects ranging from music, panto and the natural world to crafts, quizzes and the most ridiculous of party games, there’s something here to make everyone smile this Christmas. And there’s even a chapter of games for adults only, right at the back.

So what are you waiting for? Pull a cracker, put on a silly hat and prepare to get extremely festive with your nearest and dearest. Happy Christmas!

chapter 1 opener

GET THE WHOLE HOUSEHOLD READY FOR A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER WITH THESE PLAYFUL AND COSY ACTIVITIES. HO-HO-HO!

A Letter to Santa

In this activity, players help each other to compile a letter to Santa – the twist is that they won’t know what they’re getting until the end, and it might not be what anybody expects!

YOU WILL NEED:

A blank letter template for everyone

Pens or pencils

HOW TO PLAY:

Before the game begins, create a template letter for everyone, following. It doesn’t have to be printed out – a handwritten version is fine. The only important thing you need to do is fold over the left-hand side, so that only the spaces that need to be filled in are showing.

Hand out the letter templates to all the players. The players now take it in turns to ask each other for a word to fill in each gap. The type of word required is listed in brackets on the template, e.g. an adjective, noun, a person’s name or verb.

When all the spaces have been filled in, ask the players to unfold their papers so the whole letter is showing. As each person reads out their letter, you’ll be amazed at the Christmases that lie in store for everyone!

Tip: If you’re playing this in a family setting, remind the players not to go too X-rated or the results might be a little shocking.

Letter template

letter template

Swap My Secret Santa

Have you ever endured a school or work Secret Santa and discovered that one of the people you see every day thinks of ‘bath salts’ or ‘comedy back-scratcher’ when they think of you? This gamified variation of the Christmas gift-giving classic is a lot more fun and takes Secret Santa to a whole new level, through the introduction of (perfectly legal) swapping!

YOU WILL NEED:

A small, wrapped present for each player, ideally provided by the players themselves. Presents should be suitable for anyone to receive, and not tailored to a specific person in the group. NB: These don’t have to be flashy gifts. They could all be low budget!

HOW TO PLAY:

Everyone places their wrapped presents in the centre of the room, on a table or under the Christmas tree.

The first person chooses a gift at random and opens it.

This is where the fun starts! The second person has two choices: they can take and unwrap a present of their own from the pile, or they can decide to swap their still-wrapped present with the first person’s, if they like it. Note: The second person has to decide whether or not to take the first person’s present before they open a new present.

If the first person had their present taken, they now open the present the second person swapped to them.

The third person now takes a fresh present from the pile, and either opens it or swaps it with one of the previously opened presents from the first two players.

The fourth person has three other presents to choose from – and so play continues until everyone has had the chance to choose a present from the pile or swap their wrapped present with somebody else’s opened one.

Variation: Sometimes one gift is particularly desirable, and each person steals it from the person before, which makes the game a bit too predictable. To avoid this, you can set up a rule that each gift can only be stolen a maximum of two times – this means the second ‘stealer’ gets to keep it and it can’t be stolen from them.

Warning: When playing this game with children, there’s a risk that having a present taken away can result in tears, which is certain to dampen everyone’s Christmas spirit. To avoid this, make sure to explain the rules of the game carefully, and to remind everyone that this is just for fun – and everyone’s Christmas Day presents from actual Santa are not in danger!