This fun Christmas higher or lower trivia game will have people trying to guess whether a number of higher or lower than the actual number for a chance to win prizes! It’s a change from normal Christmas trivia and so fun!
It’s a really fun Christmas game you can play on its own or combine it with a gift exchange for a really fun variation on the traditional gift exchange games! First person to answer a certain number correct gets to pick out their gift first!
One of my most viral Christmas games by far is this Christmas kisses trivia game. People love it because it’s different than your traditional Christmas party games and works for any age!
I thought it’d be fun to do something similar with this Christmas higher or lower trivia game! In this game instead of people answering true or false questions (like they do in the Christmas kisses game), they’re trying to guess if a number provided is higher or lower than the actual game!
It’s the same chance of getting the question right (50/50) so it works great for anyone regardless of if you know anything about Christmas or not!
It’s also a fun way to give out gift exchange gifts or favorite things at a Christmas party so that people actually get to pick out what they want!
Why people love this game
- Fun for everyone – The higher and lower version of the trivia questions gives everyone a fair chance at getting the trivia questions right even if they’re not huge into Christmas movie trivia (or any trivia).
- No setup – all you have to do to play is print out the list of questions you can download at the bottom of this post (or get in my shop here) and explain the game to everyone!
- Low-key – this is a pretty low-key game. I know some people don’t want crazy games like our candy cane games or reindeer games, so this a great option for a low-key holiday!
Supplies
You don’t need a lot to play this game, which is why it should work for pretty much any group. Here’s what you do need.
- Higher/lower Christmas trivia questions – we’ve created 100 of these for you that you can download at the bottom of this post or get in my shop here.
- A higher and lower card for everyone playing – I have these included in the file at the bottom of this post but you just need people to be able to show if they’re choosing higher or lower for each question. You could also do thumbs up or thumbs down but that’s hard to track.
- 10 markers per person playing – we used Duplos but any sort of blocks, LEGOs, coins, chips, etc. that you can stack or be able to visually show that you’re getting closer to winning works.
Tip!
You could also just create a chart on a big piece of poster board with everyone’s names and graphs of ten blocks. As they answer questions, mark them off so that people can see the race to the top. This takes longer, so we did the Duplos instead but it’s a fun visual for everyone to see the competition!
How to play Christmas Higher or Lower
As I mentioned before, there’s really nothing to do to setup this game other than printing out the questions beforehand and getting your markers or blocks together.
When you’re ready to play, have everyone playing sit in one area together so they can see each other. This is a fun element so you know who is getting close to finishing – it’s kind of like having people stand up when they’re one away in Christmas bingo (or Christmas music bingo).
Ask your first question from the list of questions. Count to three and have everyone put out a higher or lower card based on if they think the number you said in the statement is higher or lower than the actual number.
Here’s an example. The host would read this statement – White Christmas crooner Bing Crosby recorded 66 Christmas songs – then let people vote. (One of the best Christmas songs, by the way!)
If people think the actual number of songs Bing Crosby has recorded is higher than 66, they would put out their higher card. If they think the number is lower than 66, they would put out their lower card.
Note!
Some of the questions include dates as their number. Make sure people know that for a dates LOWER means the actual date is before the listed date and HIGHER means the actual date is after the listed date.
Tell everyone the answer to the question and anyone who gets it correct adds one block, marker, etc. to their stack.
Move onto the next question and do the same thing. Keep asking questions until someone gets ten blocks on their stack to finish the game.
Ways to Keep Score
I’ve mentioned a handful of ways to keep score in this post, but I thought I’d put them all in one place to give you ideas. The general idea is that you want people to be able to see as people get close to finishing to put the pressure on and make it more fun!
Here are a few ways that would be fun ways to keep track:
- Everyone gets 10 Legos or Duplos and makes an actual stack of blocks
- Everyone stands 10 spots away and moves forward each correct answer
- Everyone moves their marker up a big chart you make on a posterboard
- Everyone grabs a coin or a marker from a pile and places them (easily visible) in front of them
- Everyone holds up their fingers (a little tricky because you have to hold up the higher or lower cards but still doable).
How to Win the Game
The first person to reach ten blocks in their stack wins the game. If you’re doing one single prize, they win the prize and the game is over. Or you can keep playing until a couple of people (or everyone if you really want) has won a prize.
I have some fun Christmas prize ideas here if you need them. Or there are some really good ideas in this Christmas scavenger hunt post too!
What if there’s a tie?
If there’s a tie in either the regular game or the gift exchange version of this game, ask the next question on the list to just the people who tied. They each have to guess an actual number answer to the question and whoever is closest wins and the other person takes second. (We just had them put it on their phone so you don’t have to get out paper and pen).
How to Play as a gift exchange
One of the biggest problems with gift exchanges is often people not really having a say in what they end up with. It happens a lot in games like left right Christmas games and even our Grinch gift exchange. It’s often random or you just don’t get a chance to steal what you want.
This Christmas higher or lower game makes a really fun gift exchange because people get to choose something they actually want and the order is determined by who gets their stack to the top first!
Here’s how we used this for our gift exchange.
- Everyone brings an unwrapped gift. Make it fun by using one of these gift exchange themes or you could do something like a mug exchange too! We asked people to bring items with a pop culture theme.
- Put those gifts on a table in the front of the room then setup the game in the exact same way as above (everyone gets blocks + a higher and lower card).
- Play the game just like you would above except in this version the first person to finish their stack chooses an unwrapped gift from the table and is out of the game.
- The next person to finishes picks their gift, the next person finishes their stack and picks a gift, and so on.
- Keep playing until everyone has finished their stack (or everyone but the last person finishes) and picked out a gift.
- If anyone wants to swap (just like with any gift exchange, well except our dice gift exchange), they can always swap at the end but because people are choosing their own gifts, they tend to like what they end up with more!
Tips
- Use visual markers – I highly recommend getting markers that can stick together in some way so that people aren’t having to deal with things falling off or rolling away. We used Duplos like these that were perfect but totally not necessary. Or if you have people sitting at tables, you could just use something like these bingo markers we used for our Thanksgiving wishes game.
- Avoid confusion – give people an example of a very specific question and answer set before you get started to make sure people understand that higher means the actual answer is HIGHER than what was in the statement and lower means the actual answer is LOWER than what was in the statement. Sometimes people get confused.
Game FAQs
How do I get higher and lower Christmas trivia questions?
We’ve created a document with 100 higher/lower Christmas questions you can use for this game! You can download them at the bottom of this post or get them in my shop here. That should get you through at least one (but most likely more) games!
How many people can play?
The beauty of this game, like Christmas movie bingo, is that everyone can play – literally everyone! The questions are designed in a way that you can use deductive logic on some of them but people aren’t going to know all of them to give everyone a fair shot. As long as you have enough markers for people, they can play!
Do we have to stack blocks?
We stacked blocks because we liked the visual so that everyone could see who was getting close. That being said, you can really do this in any way you want. You could just have people hold up fingers, you could have them mark tallies on a board, you could have them physically move forward in a room. It’s totally up to you – you just want people to be able to see who is getting close to make it more fun! (Or don’t, the game itself is still fun).
What age can play this game?
If someone can choose hold out a higher or lower answer, they can play this game. It’s great for any age. Just make sure if you’re doing prizes or a gift exchange with this that there are gifts for all ages!
More Printable Christmas Games
If you like this Christmas game, make sure to check out these other fun printable games!
- Saran wrap game – a different version than you’ve probably ever played before, this one’s so fun!
- Christmas Jeopardy – another trivia game inspired by the classic game show!
- Christmas price is right game – this fun price guessing game is another one inspired by a classic gameshow!
- Christmas name that tune – who can guess Christmas songs first in this fun game!
- Christmas outburst – who can guess all of the items in one category? A fun Christmas version of one of our favorite board games!
want more fun Christmas Games?
Download the Higher or Lower Christmas Game
Enter your first name and email address in the form below to get the printable PDF. You will receive a link to download the PDF to your email within minutes.
If you do not see the form below, click here to get to it.
If you would not fill out the form, you can get a copy in my shop here.
The PDF will include:
- Instructions
- Higher or lower cards (there are colored options and black ones for printing on colored paper)
- 100 Christmas higher or lower trivia questions (and answers)
- Use policy – everything is for personal use only, no commercial or for profit use
If you do not immediately receive the email, make sure to check your promotions, spam, and junk folders!
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