Inspiration for creating a DIY Christmas-Themed Jeopardy Party Game for fun & festive holiday parties!

I have a feeling you really like game nights. 

Me too! If you happen to like trivia, especially Jeopardy-style trivia, then you’re in really good company! 

This post is full of tips to help you brainstorm how to create your own DIY Christmas-themed Jeopardy game, but if you’re short on time, or if you just really want a high-quality, Jeopardy-esque game for a Christmas party and don’t want to spend the energy creating it yourself, I am sooooo excited to give you this option: 

My husband and I are huge fans of playing group games, and we know how much fun we have with friends and family when we gather together to play! We spent several hours coming up with legit, Jeopardy-style categories and clues for this game…I cannot WAIT for people to gather together to play it! We’re talking SUPER fun Christmas party, people! (And YES, you can VERY easily adapt this for virtual Christmas parties if you’re hosting one via Zoom this year!)

What comes with the Complete Christmas-Themed Jeopardy Game Kit: 

• A complete Christmas-themed Jeopardy-style board with 2 rounds (Jeopardy & Double Jeopardy), Daily Doubles, and Final Jeopardy
• 12 Jeopardy-Style categories & clues that will entertain, make your guests think, and some might even give you & your group some belly laughs!
• Detailed, easy-to-understand instructions for hosting the game
• Score card to keep track of points
•  

Other things to know about the Complete Christmas-Themed Jeopardy Game Kit: 

• You can easily set the game up so that people can play as individuals or teams
• It’s designed for Christmas-lovers and somewhat Scrooges alike – while every category is Christmas-themed, there are some twists in there that help make this a fun TRIVIA game that anyone would enjoy playing
• It’s very much modeled after the nuances of the game show with the types of categories, the way the clues are given, and game play, so it makes it even more fun and entertaining to play 
• Use it again and again with different groups of people each Christmas!

Creating your own Christmas Jeopardy Game

But, if you’re here because you’ve got some creative juices you’re craving to use to create your own Jeopardy game for that fun Christmas party you’re going to throw, then let’s chat! I’ve got a bunch of ideas for you! 

We’ll chat category and clue ideas in a moment. First let’s talk about things you’ll want to think about as you create the game: 

• How many people are going to be at your party playing the game? If you only have a handful, do you want them to just play as individuals? If you’re going to have a big group, you’ll want to figure out how you want to split them up into teams. 
• How are you going to make your game board? Are you going to make it on posterboard? Big easel paper? Get super techy and create it on the computer to display on the TV? 
• How are you going to have people answer the clues? Taking turns? Buzzing in? Raising hands?

If you want more tips for actual set-up, you can head over here to my DIY Jeopardy Game post to get more specific ideas. I talk you through some options there. (I’d just like to pause and take a moment to say, I am soooo excited for you to play a Jeopardy game at a Christmas party!)

Let’s move onto the fun part! 

Category Ideas for DIY Christmas-Themed Jeopardy Game

Use these category ideas as inspiration as you’re thinking through what kinds of categories and clues you want to offer:

• CHRISTMAS MOVIES
  • Famous lines from popular Christmas movies
  • Famous scenes from popular Christmas movies
  • Nuanced trivia (fun facts) from popular Christmas movies (where they were filmed, cameos, bloopers, etc.) 

• CHRISTMAS SONGS
  • Brief lines from common Christmas songs
  • Trivia from Christmas songs (the background of how it was created, who was the first person to sing it, when was it first debuted, etc.)
  • Trivia about Christmas songs (most commonly-played Christmas songs, most-requested Christmas songs, etc.)

• CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS
  • Trivia about common Christmas traditions
  • Traditions in other parts of the world
  • Misnomers of Christmas traditions
  • Funny/interesting Christmas traditions

• HOLIDAY PARTIES
  • Common types of Christmas parties (fun trivia about Ugly Christmas Sweater parties, White Elephant parties, gift exchange parties)
  • Popular Christmas foods
  • Popular Christmas drinks

• CHRISTMAS BY NUMBER
  • Trivia about how much money is spent on certain items during the holiday season
  • How many average miles people travel for Christmas
  • How many Christmas lights the average person displays on their house
  • The average amount of money donated during the holiday season

• CHRISTMAS BIBLE/CHRISTIAN TRIVIA
  • Facts about the Christmas story in Scripture
  • Trivia about Christmas hymns

• ON THIS DAY
  • Pick the date of your Christmas party (or Christmas Eve or Christmas Day) and make a category of trivia about historical events that happened on that date. Use these links for reference: 
    • http://www.onthisday.com/events-by-year.php
    • http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
    • http://www.onthisday.com/

• PERSONAL CHRISTMAS TRIVIA
  • If you’re playing with family, have a category of clues related to your own family’s Christmas traditions and fun things you remember about Christmas through the years

• CHRISTMAS IN YOUR OWN STATE/COUNTRY
  • Create a category of trivia about common customs, foods, and traditions that your state might often do during the holiday season 

 

Are you having fun yet?! I’m a big fan of games, not just because they’re fun, but because they’re such a great way to connect with others – to build conversation, relationships, and just to help each other enjoy each other’s company!

Tips for Creating your Own Jeopardy Game: 

Here are some tips to help you think about when you’re creating your categories and clues: 

• Get “punny”
  • Jeopardy categories and clues are often so punny – they do a play on words and get creative with ways to present the clue. Once you get the general idea of the categories and clues you want to include, you can start figuring out how you want to get creative with how you share some of the clues. 
• Think of common Jeopardy categories
  • Jeopardy often has the same kind of categories in its games – categories like “Before & After,” a series of letters within a word (such as “Hol”iday and every correct response has to have “h-o-l” in it or Fes”tive” and every correct response has to have “t-i-v-e” in it), and “Potpourri” 
• Write the clues in such a way that people would need to respond with a question
  • You don’t have to do this, but if you want to create your game to be more Jeopardy-esque, make sure you word your categories so that it makes sense for people to respond with a question. 
• Don’t forget the Daily Doubles and the Final Jeopardy
  • Again, this isn’t a must, but if you want to make it more like the game show, remember to include some Daily Doubles in there, as well as a Final Jeopardy category, all where the players/teams have to make a wager
• Think outside the box
  • If you’re having trouble coming up with all Christmas-y trivia, work on your more Christmas-ish categories first, and then figure out how you can create categories that are Christmas-like but don’t necessarily have to contain Christmas trivia (such as “Cold Destinations” and have the clues in that category be winter destination spots or “Holiday Travels” and have the clues in that category be about different types of transportation).
• Have fun with personalized trivia
  • If you’re creating this game for a gathering with people who are all really familiar with each other – maybe close family members or a close group of friends – think of a category or two that you could create that would be personalized to your group (i.e. “Moms favorites” and have the clues be about food your mom always makes during Christmas or “Merry ‘Kiss’Mas” and have the clues be about couples in your family or friend group)

Yay! This is going to be so fun! I can’t wait for you to play this fun game with your family and friends! 

But, if you’re thinking you’d rather have someone else do all the work and you have all the fun playing it, then just know you can snag this complete kit that comes with everything you need for a super fun, legit Jeopardy-style Christmas party game.