Creative joy

Christmas Party Games for People Who Love Self-Discovery

It’s party season, (woo!) which means it’s the perfect time to introduce a few personal development-related party games to the usual frivolities.

Here are three Christmas party games that are awesome for finding out more about friends or acquaintances (and yourself!). They encourage authenticity, self-expression, and, most importantly, fun.

1. Reflections

This game is similar to “Consequences”, except you know who you’re writing about and it’s about expressing what you value about the person concerned, rather than creating funny situations.

What you need:
A sheet of paper and pen per person

How it works:
1. Each person (person A) starts with their own sheet of paper and writes their name on the back at the bottom.
2. They pass the sheet of paper to the next person (person B), who writes down three positive adjectives describing what they value about person A’s personality and character traits.
3. When person B has written their three adjectives, they fold the paper over and pass it onto the next person (person C).
4. Person C writes down three adjectives about person A, then passes it on, and so on, until the paper has gone all the way around the circle.
5. Optional: Person A reads out the adjectives that people value about them.

Tips:
** Focus on Person A’s personality and who they are, rather than what they look like, their career, etc.
** This works best in small groups of 5-7 people. At this size, you can all pass around your papers at the same time, with everyone in the group writing down adjectives for one person after another until the papers come full circle back to their original owners.

2. The Life List

This is a fun way of finding out other people’s big dreams and sharing your own.

What you need:
A sheet of paper and pen per person

How it works:
1. Everyone in the group writes down five items from their life list (also known as a bucket list: a list of things you want to do or achieve before you die) and puts them in a pile in the middle.
2. The group pulls out each life list one by one and tries to guess which life list belongs to whom.
3. They decide on a “final guess” and the person then reveals whether they’re right or wrong (if wrong, the real owner comes forward)

Tips:

** The aim of this game is to include items that are genuinely on your bucket list, not think of items that will fool people! Be real and take a risk: at the very least you’ll have a group of people with which you can share your experiences when you check each item off your list.

3. Truth and Lies

This is a fun game that is full of surprises!

What you need:
A sheet of paper and pen per person

How it works:
1. Everyone writes down one true fact about themselves and one false fact on a piece of paper.
2. Each person takes turns to read their two facts out to the rest of the group.
3. After each individual has read out their facts, the rest of the group takes a guess at which one they think is true, and which one they think is false.
4.  Once everyone has read their facts and the group have guessed for each person, go back around the circle so that everyone can reveal which was true and which was false.

Do you have any personal development-related Christmas party game suggestions? Leave a comment and let me know!

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash