Holiday Word Games: 12 Spelling and Word Games for Family Gatherings

Holiday word games are the easiest way to get every generation at the table playing together. You need nothing more than paper, pens and a few ideas: spelling relays, Ghost, Categories, a family spelling bee and quick anagram rounds work for kids, teens and grandparents alike. Below are 12 games that need little or no prep, with rules, the best ages for each and tips for keeping a mixed group happy from Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve.

Most of these games are classic parlor games that families have played for generations. A few use a board game you may already own. None need a screen, which is part of the fun.

Quick picks by group

No-prep word games for the dinner table

1. Ghost

Players take turns adding one letter to a growing word fragment. The goal is to avoid being the person who completes a real word of four or more letters. If you add a letter and someone thinks no real word starts that way, they can challenge you; if you cannot name a word, you lose the round. Each loss earns a letter of G-H-O-S-T, and five letters means you are out. It is quick, clever and works well with teens and adults.

2. Word chain

The first player says a holiday word, such as "turkey." The next player must say a word that starts with the last letter, such as "yams," then "sweater," then "reindeer." No repeats. Make it harder by requiring every word to fit the holiday.

3. Twenty Questions: holiday edition

One person thinks of a holiday object, food or character. Everyone else has 20 yes-or-no questions to guess it. Young children love being the one who knows the answer.

4. Alphabet thanks

At Thanksgiving, go around the table naming something you are thankful for, in alphabetical order: A for "aunts," B for "board games," and so on. It is a gentle game for all ages and a nice way to start a meal.

Pen-and-paper games

5. Holiday Categories

Choose a random letter. Everyone has two minutes to write one word for each category, all starting with that letter: a food, a gift, a song, a place, something cold. Score a point for every answer nobody else wrote. Holiday categories keep the game on theme.

6. Anagram race

Pick a long holiday word, such as THANKSGIVING, DECORATIONS or SNOWFLAKES. Set a timer for three minutes and see who can make the most real words from its letters. Words must be at least three letters long. Compare lists and cross out any word two players share.

Players who enjoy this kind of puzzle may also like our free spelling bee game, which uses the same idea of building words from a fixed set of letters. Spelling Bee Hub is an independent site and is not affiliated with The New York Times.

7. Hangman with a theme

Classic hangman, but every answer is a holiday phrase: "pumpkin pie," "eight nights," "auld lang syne." Let kids pick the phrases so they get a turn leading.

8. Holiday crossword swap

Each player writes five clues for holiday words, with the number of letters in brackets, and hands them to a neighbor. For example, "Round dessert often made with pumpkin (3)" is "pie," and "Eight-night festival of lights (8)" is "Hanukkah." The neighbor has three minutes to solve them. Check your own letter counts before you pass the sheet on; a wrong count is the most common mistake.

Spelling games for mixed ages

9. Family spelling bee

Set up a relaxed spelling bee in the living room. Give younger children easier words and adults harder ones from the same theme, so everyone has a fair chance. Our seasonal lists make this easy: try Thanksgiving spelling words, Hanukkah spelling words, Christmas spelling words, winter spelling words and New Year's spelling words. Each has lists from kindergarten level to bee level.

For a more formal version, with a pronouncer and rounds, see how to host an adult spelling bee.

10. Spelling relay

Split into two teams in two lines. Call out a word. The first player on each team says the first letter, the next says the second letter and so on. A wrong letter means the other team gets a chance to finish the word. It is loud, fast and great for cousins.

11. Backward spelling

Players spell a holiday word backwards: "eggnog" becomes g-o-n-g-g-e. Simple words become surprisingly hard. Give younger players short words like "pie" or "star."

Board games with letter tiles

12. Letter-tile games

If you own a letter-tile game, holiday gatherings are the perfect time to bring it out. Scrabble dates back to 1938, when Alfred Mosher Butts invented it as Criss-Crosswords; Boggle was introduced by Parker Brothers in 1972; and Bananagrams, created by Abraham Nathanson, launched in 2006. Each suits a different crowd:

• Crossword-style board games reward strategy and patience; good for an after-dinner game with adults.
• Shake-and-find letter grids reward speed; great for teens and quick rounds.
• Fast tile-race games need no board and suit big, noisy groups.

For a house rule that includes everyone, let younger players use a dictionary or let them team up with an adult.

Keep our Q without U words list handy for family game night.

A ready-made Holiday Categories sheet

Copy these categories onto a sheet of paper for each player, leaving space for answers. They work for any letter and any December holiday.

1. A holiday food or dessert
2. Something you might give as a gift
3. A word that describes winter weather
4. A song, movie or book title
5. Something you see on a decorated street
6. A place you might travel to for the holidays
7. Something warm to wear
8. A word with a double letter

Good starting letters for mixed ages are S, C, B, P, M and T, because they begin lots of everyday words. Avoid Q, X and Z unless your group loves a challenge; they make great tiebreaker rounds instead.

To score, read answers aloud one category at a time. Any answer that two or more players share scores zero, and unique answers score one point each. Give a bonus point for a clever answer the group agrees is funny or surprising. Over five rounds, the scores usually stay close, so even the youngest players stay in the game.

Tips for a mixed-age group

• Handicap fairly. Give adults longer words or less time.
• Use teams. Pair a child with a grandparent so both are involved.
• Keep rounds short. Five to ten minutes keeps everyone's attention.
• Rotate the leader. Let different people choose the word, letter or category.
• Celebrate funny answers. The best word games end with laughter, not a scoreboard.
• Have a referee and a dictionary. Agree up front which dictionary settles arguments.

A sample game night plan

For a two-hour family evening:

1. Warm-up (10 minutes): Alphabet thanks or Word chain at the table.
2. Team game (20 minutes): Spelling relay or Holiday Categories.
3. Break for dessert.
4. Main event (30 minutes): a family spelling bee with mixed-level lists.
5. Quiet finish (20 minutes): Ghost or a tile game for those who want to keep playing.

Print the word lists and some blank Categories sheets in advance, and you are ready.

Making it work at a classroom party

Many of these games also work for school holiday parties. Teachers can turn the spelling relay or the anagram race into a festive review; our guide to running a classroom spelling bee explains how to set one up in a class period.

Frequently Asked Questions