If you’re looking for family-friendly virtual games to play this Christmas, you need not go anywhere else!
I have rounded up 6 amazing games for you to play at Christmas with all the family on Zoom / Facetime / Portal / your chosen video-calling-app-of-choice.
Here Are 6 Ideas For Virtual Family-Friendly Games
1. Fancy Dress Guessing Game
If you’re looking for family-friendly virtual games, this is really fun.
Beforehand, you should decide on a specific theme. For example:
- A-list movie stars
- Cartoon characters
- Things beginning with a certain letter
- An era (for example, the eighties, or the twenties)
- Popstars
- Each other
All participants have to plan a fancy dress outfit in advance of the video call.
The aim of this game is to guess what you’ve all ‘come’ as.
Each participant on the call has a piece of paper and a pen, and you get a few minutes (you decide how long, depending on how many people you have to guess) to write down as many of the costumes you can guess.
This is where it gets a bit tricky, because you have to mark your own scores, but providing noone cheats, the one with the most points, wins!
2. Family-Friendly Secret Santa
This one takes a little bit of planning, but a Christmas celebration wouldn’t be the same without a bit of gift-giving and receiving, would it?
Ahead of time (give people a few weeks at least) find a secret Santa app.
Choose one that takes all the participant’s details and orchestrates the entire Secret Santa shenanigans (I use this every year) for you so you don’t have to lift a finger.
Next, choose a spend limit, and a send limit.
Make sure you all send your gifts by the send limit and make sure everyone confirmed their gift arrived.
On the video call, each person takes it in turns to open their gift, does the usual oooohhhhs and ahhhhs, and tries to guess who bought them the gift.
3. Virtual Scavenger Hunt Games
I love this game.
One person writes a list of a bunch of items that pretty much everyone has hanging around their house.
The participants between each screen get a piece of paper and draw a big X on it.
When everyone is poised and ready, the person with the list shouts out the first item that everyone has to find.
They have 1 minute to bring the item back and show it on the screen.
If they can’t find the item, they must put the paper X up to the screen.
The person with the list scores each person 1 point if they found the item, 0 points if they held the X up.
The person with the most points wins!
4. Truth Or Dare – Yes, You Can Make This A Family Friendly Virtual Game!
My son and his friends love playing this, but their version is a bit outrageous. It goes a bit like this:
“Truth or dare?”
“Dare.”
“Throw your mattress out of the window with your sister sitting on it.”
“OK, I’ll do it.”
So in a less dangerous family version of truth or dare, you could start with the following truths:
- Have you ever eaten chocolate in secret?
- What would you do if you won the lottery?
- What are you most scared of?
- Have you ever weed in a swimming pool?
- Have you ever lied?
And the following dares:
- Do 10 press-ups
- Dance for 20 seconds to the first track on your music player
- Eat a spoonful of marmite
- Put an ice cube down your pants
- Sing really loud for 30 seconds
You take it in turns to tell the truth or do a dare until everyone is out of truths and dares!
5. Would You Rather
Now, this is a really funny game that most humans know already.
But it’s likely that a family friendly version is not the one you’ve played? Am I right? Ok.
Here are some family-friendly options to consider:
- Would you rather be Harry Potter or Hermione Granger?
- Would you rather have a horse-sized head or an ant-sized head?
- Would you rather be Superman or Spiderman?
- Would you rather eat your sibling’s puke or your dog’s puke?
- Would you rather always smell like a bin, or always smell like rotten meat?
- Would you rather be good at sports or be good at maths?
- Would you rather be sat in a bath of spiders or a bed of snakes?
- Would you rather be constantly sniffing or constantly blinking
Can’t be bothered to make up your own games? Read on…
Consider Getting Someone Else To Host Your Virtual Family Christmas Games
Yes! This is now a thing!
From virtual cocktail making classes to flower arranging and singing lessons, there is a virtual host to create virtual fun and games for you.
A simple search will suggest some amazingly creative options to suit any group size and budget.
Before You Go, Don’t Forget These Ideas For Virtual Prizes
Up the stakes a bit, and gather a little stock of virtual gifts that act as prizes for winners of the games.
Think prizes that the winner can redeem immediately after the call for near-instant gratification.
Here are a few e-gifts you could consider:
- Free coffee voucher
- Marketplace gift code
- Audiobook voucher
- iTunes voucher
- Gift subscription
- Takeaway voucher
So there you have it, a 5 fun, family-friendly virtual games to play at Christmas.
Feel free to follow this entirely, or use these ideas to create games that suit your group.
Make sure you tag Real Parent on facebook to share the fun with me!
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Last Updated on November 30, 2020 by Lucy Clarke
