Hey friends, sorry I missed the last few Friday Favorites! As you know, I’ve been working on writing a book and it’s taken up a lot of time. But today I’m switching gears for a moment to share with you my favorite games! I know many of us will be hanging out inside with our family over the holidays, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll get bored in about 2 days. I’m hoping these games will bring some fun and entertainment to you while you’re home!

1. Santa Cookie Elf Candy Snowman

This game is the Christmas version of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, a fun card game that was a Christmas present from one of our friends! It’s a simple, fast-moving game where the goal is to get rid of all your cards. Players will take turns saying “santa”, “cookie”, “elf”, “candy”, “snowman”, etc. while playing the top card in their hand until the picture on the card matches the word being said. Everyone slaps the deck, and the last person to do so keeps it. There are also a few special action cards sprinkled in.

2. The Game

This has been a recent favorite of ours because you can play it with as few as two players! It’s a collaborative card game where you try to get through the whole deck without getting stuck. There are four playable card stacks, two starting at 1 that are played in ascending order, and two starting at 100 playing in descending order. Everyone tries to play their numbers in order, the catch is that you can’t tell the other players what cards are in your hand. You can also make it more challenging by having less cards or playing more cards per turn once you become familiar with the game.

3. Hogwarts Battle

As a Harry Potter fan, I’m sad that I only learned about this game recently! It’s a bit spendy, but it’s a robust game that’s worth the money if you’re a fan. It can be played with 2-4 people and has 7 games within it. The goal is to defeat the villains despite dark arts events, using a combination of spells, allies, and items before you collect too many skulls. It’s a great game for long periods of time as you can leave and come back to it on another round. Would highly recommend for HP fans!

4. The Game of Things

“Things” is a favorite in our family. It’s similar to apples to apples, where the person who is “it” will read a card, such as “things you dream about.” The other players will write responses and submit them to “it”, who also writes a response. “It” then reads out the answers, and people take turns guessing who said what. If you’re sneaky, you can try to pin your answer on another person. This game is a hilarious one if you’re playing with a group of good friends or family members you know well.

5. Phase 10

Phase 10 is an oldie but goodie that we recently rediscovered when playing with some friends. It’s a rummy game where you try to get through 10 phases, each with different objectives, with the fewest points possible. You can play with 2-6 people and it’s fairly quick to learn!

I hope you got some good ideas for some games to play with your friends and family over the holidays! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!