In my youth ministry, the Christmas party is one of the highlights of the year. It’s the perfect chance to have fun together and celebrate Christmas. That’s why I’ve put together a program from my “best of” collection, designed especially for teenagers up to age 16. It combines an exciting quiz with high-energy action games, inspired by the style of the popular German TV show “Schlag den Raab.” The name is German for “Beat Raab.” On ProSieben from 2006 to 2015, each episode pitted one contestant against Stefan Raab himself in up to 15 games.
Program for the Christmas Party
Materials needed:
• Quiz template
• Countdown timer
• Sound effects
• Background music
Materials needed:
• Chocolate Santas (one per player)
• Two tables
• Features of the space to use as obstacles
• High-energy Christmas song
Materials needed:
• 2 tables
• 2 teaspoons
• 2 bowls
• Mini chocolate Santas
• Stopwatch
Materials needed:
• Chocolate truffles
• Jar
Materials needed:
• Christmas carols (lyrics/music)
• Christmas story
Materials needed:
• Food
• Tables
• Chairs
The Games in Detail
🧩 Game 1: Christmas Quiz
Kick off the party with an interactive Christmas quiz. Put your group’s knowledge to the test in four exciting rounds, from song lyrics to tricky anagrams. With a countdown and sound effects, the quiz turns into a real adrenaline rush.
Before you start, decide whether you want to play all rounds with your group. You can simply skip the slides for any rounds you leave out.
- Download: Get the Christmas quiz here.
- Soundtrack ideas: Use the “Schlag den Raab” theme music or the intro soundtrack of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” to build tension.
- “Schlag den Raab” theme music (Spotify)
- “Schlag den Raab” intro soundtrack (YouTube)
- “Schlag den Raab” intro soundtrack, extended (YouTube)
- “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” intro soundtrack (Spotify)
- Countdown: A 30-second countdown (for example a Christmas clock or electronic music) provides the time pressure you need.
- Christmas clock
- Upbeat fun music
- Electronic music
- Sound effects
🏃 Game 2: “Santa Run”
The Santa Run really gets your participants sweating. In this relay race, chocolate Santas have to be carried from one point to another. There are no limits to your creativity when designing the course.
How to play:
- Divide the players into two teams.
- On the start signal, one player from each team runs to the start table, grabs a chocolate Santa and carries it through the building to the finish room.
- There it is set down, and the player runs back to tag the next teammate.
- End of the game: The first team to set all of its chocolate Santas on the finish table wins.
💡 Tip: Use stairs or narrow hallways as natural obstacles and play a rock, hip-hop or techno version of “Jingle Bells” as background music.
🥄 Bonus Game: “Catapult Tiebreaker”
If the score is tied after the run, this game decides it.
The challenge: The players have two minutes to get mini chocolate Santas into a bowl, using a teaspoon as a catapult. The handle of the spoon serves as the throwing arm. Whoever has scored the most hits when the timer runs out secures the win for their team.
Supporting Program
- Scoring system: Each team collects points in the games in the form of chocolate truffles, which are kept in a jar. At the end, the points are tallied up!
- Christmas carols and the Christmas story: Between the action blocks, traditional songs set the mood. The songs can be sung together as a group or played as background music. The Christmas story can be read aloud or acted out by the teenagers as improv theater.
- Take it up a notch: Turn singing into a game with “Christmas Name That Tune Extreme” from Bible Games Central. For this, it works best to use the popular song cards, so that everyone can sing along.
- Eating together: To finish, let the party wind down over a cozy meal.
Find more game ideas on the Games page.
