Are you wondering how to make Christmas fun for your teens? Get them excited about the holiday season with these fun Christmas activities for teens. Festive things to do at Christmas that your teenagers will actually say yes to!
It can be tricky getting in family time once you have teens but there is something about Christmas time that can get your whole family enjoying time together.
This year mix your time between old family traditions and new Christmas traditions with these fun Christmas activities. Enjoy singing Christmas carols on Tik Tok, building gingerbread houses, decorating the Christmas tree, watching Christmas movies, playing holiday board games, and more.
Use these holiday games and activites to coax them out of their bedrooms and off their phones to create some happy Christmas memories together.
It’s a great way to get your teens engaged and having fun with friends and family all Christmas season long.
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40 Fun Christmas Activities for Teens
Let’s get you inspired to spend more quality time with your teenagers during the Christmas season with some new ideas.
Look through the list of Christmas activities for teens and find new traditions you want to start this year. You’ll find a mix of games and activities to play in small groups, on family game nights, spending time with their friends, or as entertainment at Christmas parties.
These Christmas activities for teens should keep you busy all season long!
Make sure to check out 40 Christmas Activities for Families to find even more ways to spend the holidays together.
Sing Christmas Carols
This Christmas tradition is a great way to spend time with family members over the holidays. You don’t have to go out and sing to neighbors you could just put on some Christmas music and sing at home or at holiday parties.
Your teens would probably love to update this tradition by singing Christmas Carols on Tik Tok with some fun dance moves. Get dressed up in your holiday clothing or Ugly Sweaters and belt out some holiday music together.
Make Gingerbread Houses
Update this holiday tradition by turning it into a Gingerbread House contest and see who can build the best house. Older kids will be more engaged with the addition of a little competition.
This could be a really fun game at Christmas parties or teen get-togethers over winter break too.
Go Ice Skating
Get bundled up and go ice skating either at your local indoor ice rink or an outdoor rink. End it with some hot cocoa and time for your teens to chat with friends or family afterward.
Have a Candy Cane Scavenger Hunt
Hide candy canes around your house for the kids to find. Set a time limit and then send the kids off on the scavenger hunt. The first person to come back with the most candy canes when the time is up will be the winner.
This is a fun game to play on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
Go on a Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt
Head out to find a neighborhood decorated with great Christmas lights or a Christmas festival with lights. Use this free printable Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt and see who can find the most items on the list.
Make it a party game by breaking everyone up into smaller groups. Give each team the Scavenger Hunt List and a time they need to be back with the list. When they return whichever team has the most items checked off wins.
Make it a Selfie Hunt – Send the teens out with the list to walk around your neighborhood and take selfies with the items on the list.
If you’re in the Chicago area here are our favorite Christmas Light Displays in Chicago to use for the scavenger hunt.
Decorate for Christmas
Enlist your teen in helping you decorate for Christmas this year. Pick out new Christmas ornaments or holiday knick nacks to go around the house.
They’ll love adding their input to the Christmas decorations. Plus you’ll have a fun time shopping and putting up all the decorations together.
Get inspired with our easy DIY Christmas Decorations with Dollar Tree Items or learn how to decorate your house with Christmas Card Displays.
Watch Christmas Movies
Plan a Christmas Movie Marathon for a group of teens to watch or a fun family night at home over the holiday break.
Here are a few Christmas Movie Night ideas:
Christmas Vacation
Bad Santa
Home Alone
The Grinch Stole Christmas
Noelle – Netflix
Tim Burton’s The Night Before Christmas
It’s A Wonderful Life
Elf
Santa Claus
Make Christmas Card
Get your teens to help you create your Christmas cards this year. Let them help you plan a fun family photo shoot or look through pictures you have taken throughout the year to use.
Tip: Use all those great Christmas cards you receive as Christmas Card displays for decoration.
Create Holiday Social Media Posts
Create fun family Christmas pictures to show off on social media or a Holiday dance you can all do on TikTok. Don’t forget to make Christmas backgrounds to give your pictures the holiday feel.
Plan an Ugly Sweater Party
Thrown an Ugly Sweater party for your teens. Let them invite friends over and show off their craziest Holiday sweaters. Then play some entertaining Christmas party games you’ll find below.
Throw a White Elephant Party
A White elephant gift exchange is a great party idea for teens. They’ll love that everyone leaves with a small gift.
To play each guest brings a gift based on a price range you set and wraps it. At the party, everyone put the presents on the table. Then they take turns either picking a gift off the table or a gift someone else has already unwrapped.
I would suggest doing a lower price point and encouraging silly Christmas gifts.
Get fun ideas for the party in Hilarious White Elephant Gift Ideas Under $20
Bake Christmas Cookies
This is a perfect time for the entire family to bake together. You could plan a cookie exchange with friends or just eat the cookies on Christmas Eve or Christmas day.
It’s a great time to pull out an old family recipe to try to recreate too!
If you don’t like to bake try these amazing No Bake Oreo Balls you can decorate for Christmas.
Make a Hot Chocolate Bar
To go along with your Christmas cookies create a fun Hot Chocolate Bar.
Add to your bar – whip cream, candy canes, marshmallows, chocolate sauce, chocolate-covered pretzels, toffee bites, cinnamon sticks, and caramel flavoring.
Fun Christmas Games to Play
There are so many fun Christmas activities for teens to play at holiday parties, with friends, or on family game nights over Christmas break.
You could even start new holiday traditions of playing Christmas games together. It’s a great way to add some Christmas spirit and get your teen off their phone (:
Here are some of our favorite Christmas games for teenagers.
Christmas Minute to Win It Games
These Christmas Minute to Win It Games are quick and hilarious 1-minute games with a holiday theme. They’re super easy to throw together and will get everyone laughing and having fun.
Christmas Board Games
Break out some Christmas-themed board games for your teen to play with friends or family. Pick a board game that you can play every year together and make it a tradition. You’d be surprised by the games they’ll look forward to playing every year.
Here are some of our favorite Christmas Board Games by age group.
Or if they don’t want a Christmas-themed game check out our Best Board Games for Teens They’ll Actually Play. Both of these make fun Christmas presents too!
Christmas Gift 2 Truths & a Lie
This is just like the original game where each child tells 2 truths and 1 lie and the other players need to guess which is the lie. But the Christmas twist is to tell the 2 worst gifts they have ever received and 1 they didn’t receive (the lie).
You can have the kids write these down and pull them out of a bag to guess. Or go around the room letting each teen go.
Escape Room Games
Get your teens thinking over winter break with a fun escape room game. We love to use printable escape room games that you can easily do at home or in a classroom.
All you need to do is print out the game and you can be ready to play in 15 minutes. The perfect game for a teen gathering. They can even break up into teams and see who can escape the room first.
We like to use printable games from Escape Room Geeks or Lock Paper Scissors. If you need more information read our review of printable escape room games to get a better idea of which game will work best for your teenagers.
Name That Christmas Tune
Create a holiday playlist of songs. Then play the first little bit of the Christmas song and see if the kids can name the song. They can either call it out or write it down.
Wrapping Paper Race
To play this fun game break the kids up into teams. Give each team a few empty boxes and wrapping paper. Set a timer and see which team can wrap all the gifts the fastest.
You could also do this with individuals racing against each other.
Free Printable Christmas Games
Save some money playing these fun Christmas games with free printables. They’re great Christmas party ideas, classroom games, and just fun Christmas activities for Teens.
Christmas Trivia Questions
Test your teen’s holiday knowledge with a fun Christmas Quiz. Teens can compete to see who knows the most correct answers.
Free Printable Christmas Trivia Questions
Christmas Charades
Fun holiday words your teens need to act out and see if their fellow teammates can guess the word before the timer goes off. This is great because all you need is the free printable Christmas Charades Word List.
Christmas Pictionary
Instead of acting out the words players need to draw the holiday word. Hopefully, their teammates will get the correct answer before the timer goes off.
For this game, you will need a large pad of paper to draw on and the free printable Christmas Pictionary word list.
Christmas Would You Rather Questions
Hilarious questions to ask your teens about Christmas. You’ll have so much fun hearing their answers.
Free Printable Christmas Would You Rather Questions
Also, try this Free Printable Teen Would You Rather Questions
Christmas Bingo
Playing Christmas Bingo is a fun game when the kids just want to hang out. They can do it while chatting and enjoying some Christmas treats.
Free Printable Christmas Bingo Game Cards
Sing Christmas Karaoke
Break out the Karaoke Machine and sing Christmas music together. It’s a fun Christmas activity even your teens will enjoy.
Go to Local Holiday Events
Visit a local Christmas event in your area. Teens may not want to visit Santa but they would enjoy the holiday festivities at Six Flags. Just google Christmas events near me and see what your area has to offer.
If you’re in the Chicago area – check out Best Chicago Christmas light displays, shows, and drive-thrus.
Shopping for Christmas Gifts
Take your teen out shopping for people on your gift list. Make the day about finding things for your friends and family and not about shopping for them. They may surprise you with the good ideas they have for gifts.
Use our list of the Coolest Gifts for Boys, fun Gifts for Fortnite Gamers, Hottest Gifts for Girls, and best gifts for Teachers to help you think of the perfect gift ideas.
Volunteer Together
Over the holidays volunteer together at a local food bank or nonprofit in your area. It’s a good reminder of what the Christmas season is really about.
Organize a Holiday Drive
Another way to volunteer is to organize a holiday drive for a local charity. Talk with your kids about what nonprofit you’d like to support and then see what that agency needs.
Some ideas are – socks and toiletries for the homeless, winter coats for kids or Christmas present for kids in need.
Do a Christmas Sock Exchange
Have your teen plan a Christmas sock exchange with their friends. It’s a cheap and silly gift they’ll all enjoy. Check out all these funny socks for teens.
Host a Christmas Wrapping Party
Have a Christmas wrapping party. Your teen’s friends can bring over the presents they need to wrap and wrapping paper to your house. They’ll have a great time chatting and hanging out while wrapping presents together.
Make sure to put out some Christmas cookies and snacks too. Or that fun Hot Chocolate Bar.
Do a Christmas Tik Tok Challenge
Challenge a group of teens to see who can make the best holiday Tik Toc. It could be a dance, singing a Christmas song, or teaching how to make homemade gifts for Christmas.
Visit a Christmas Tree Farm
Go out as a family to a Christmas Tree farm and find the perfect Christmas tree for your house.
Go Sledding
If you live in a snowy climate get your teens out sledding. Find a bigger hill at the local parks so it’s more fun for older children. They’ll have a blast racing each other down the hill.
Have a Snow Ball Fight
Have the kids build a fort and build up an arsenal of snowballs. Then have an epic snowball fight outside.
Live in a Warm Climate? Have an indoor snowball fight. Kids can ball up paper or use this bag of 100 soft indoor fake snowballs.
Make a Snowman with Snow Paint
No, they are not too old to build a snowman. They’ll just make it bigger and better than when they were little kids.
Build your snowman and then add some easy DIY snow paint, hat, and gloves and you’ll have a cool snowman in your yard.
Make a Christmas Wreath
If your teenagers are crafty have them create a pretty Christmas Wreath to hang in their room or on your front door.
Learn how to make a Christmas wreath with dollar tree items.
Paint Christmas Ornaments Craft
Another easy holiday craft is painting Christmas Ornaments. Buy a box of solid-colored ornaments. Then let the kids paint the ornaments.
Tip: Put the ornaments in an egg container to stand up and dry.
Visit a Local Theater
See if your local theater has a holiday show your whole family can go see together. Make it a family night out by getting dressed up and enjoying dinner out afterward.
Christmas Advent Calendar
Your teens will still enjoy counting down to Christmas with an Advent Calendar. Especially if it has a piece of candy to open each day like this one.
New Year’s Eve
Don’t forget to plan a fun New Year’s Eve too. You can have your teens help make DIY Confetti Poppers to go off at Midnight. Or create a cool balloon countdown they can pop every hour.
Get more ideas in our fun New Year’s Eve Ideas for Kids.
I hope you’ve found some fun Christmas activites for teens your kids will enjoy. It’s a great time of the year to spend more time with family and friends. Even those tough to please Teenagers should have fun.
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It’s the Ultimate Parenting hack for the Holidays!
Need More Holiday Ideas?
If you need more Christmas Ideas make sure to visit our Holiday Page. We are constantly updating new and fun ideas. You can also visit our Teen & Tween page for lots of age-appropriate activities.
DIY Christmas Decorations & Hostess Gifts at Dollar Tree – No one will know you only spent $1
How to Display all Your Christmas Cards – Turn Your Holiday Cards into Christmas Decorations
Hottest Gifts for Tween Girls in 2022 – The Gifts Tween & Teen Girls are hoping for this year
What Boys Really Want in 2022 – Coolest Gift Ideas for Boys this year
Hilarious White Elephant Gift Ideas – The Perfect White Elephant Gift Idea under $20 for Kids & Adults
The Gifts Teachers Really Want this Year – Fun Gifts Teachers Love
Unique Subscription Box Gift Ideas for Kids – Monthly Gifts with toys, STEM activites, sports, books & more
Free Printable Christmas Party Games for Families – 7 Free printable games for kids and adults.
Cute Free Printable Gift Tags – For Christmas, Birthdays, Thank You, Teacher Appreciation & more.
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