The best Christmas fair games are quick to play, cheap to set up and easy to run with one volunteer: hook-a-present, a snowball throw, reindeer ring toss, guess the weight of the Christmas cake and a candy cane hunt. Give every game a festive name, keep the prizes small, and let players pay with token cards instead of cash so each game runs without a float.
In This Guide
Games for younger children
- Hook-a-present. The hook-a-duck idea with wrapped boxes instead of ducks. Tie a curtain ring to each box and give players a garden cane with a hook on the end.
- Pin the nose on Rudolph. A large reindeer drawn on card, a red nose with a sticky back and a blindfold. Mark each attempt with the player's name and award a prize at the end of the day.
- Candy cane hunt. Hide candy canes around a corner of the playground or a classroom, and let each child keep what they find in a set time.
- Snowman skittles. Skittles made from plastic bottles, dressed as snowmen, knocked down with a soft ball.
- Christmas colouring table. A quiet table with festive colouring sheets, handy for a break between the busier games.
Games for older children and grown-ups
- Snowball throw. Bean bags or soft balls thrown through the holes of a painted Christmas scene. A board with holes of different sizes gives players a reason to have another go.
- Reindeer ring toss. Hoopla with rope rings thrown over the antlers of a cardboard reindeer.
- Guess the weight of the Christmas cake. A game of judgement rather than luck: the closest guess wins the cake. Weigh it before the fair and seal the answer in an envelope.
- Guess how many sweets in the jar. The same idea with a jar of festive sweets, counted before the fair.
- Beat the buzzer. A wire loop game with a Christmas look. It takes some making, but it draws a crowd of all ages.
- Christmas quiz trail. Festive questions pinned around the hall, answered on a sheet and handed in for a small prize.
Running games on token cards
At a busy fair, every game that takes cash needs its own float, its own tin and someone to count it at the end. Token cards remove that. Families buy a card at the door, and each game takes a token or a stamp from the card instead of coins. Queues move faster, volunteers on the games only need to look after the game, and the money is counted once, at the door.
You can make your own token cards in the Stubbs design studio and print them at school, or order printed token cards from us.
Prizes for fair games
Fair games work best with small, instant prizes: a sweet, a sticker, a pencil or a small toy for having a go, with a bigger prize for the top score of the day. Ask families to donate sweets and small toys in the weeks before the fair. For bigger prizes, and ideas for the tombola table, see our guide to Christmas tombola and prize ideas.
Put a small sign on each game with its name and what it costs to play. A stall sign from the design studio keeps every game looking like part of the same fair, and the same look on a Christmas fair poster tells families the games are coming. For more ideas for the whole day, see our Christmas fundraising ideas.