Christmas Bingo— free printable UK cards and games for the family table, the office party and the classroom
Christmas bingo is the easiest party game of the season: a card of festive words, someone to call them and a bag of chocolate coins for prizes. Below is a Christmas bingo game ready to print, with 60 words to choose from, a Christmas Day version that plays itself, and a caller that draws the words for you on screen.
The one festive call among the traditional 90: it rhymes with the eight in thirty-eight.
How to play Christmas bingo
Christmas bingo follows the ordinary rules of the game, with festive words in place of numbers. Every player has a card, usually five squares by five, with a different selection of Christmas words on it and a FREE square in the middle. One person is the caller. They draw the words at random, one at a time, and read each one out. If the word is on your card, you mark it.
Christmas crackers, pulled at British Christmas tables for a paper hat, a joke and a small gift. Original by Cgros841, public domain.
Hand out the cards. One each, all different. A card for every player, with a couple of spares.
Agree the wins. Usually a line first, across, down or diagonal, then a full card. Say what each prize is before you start.
Call the words. Read each word twice, clearly, and put the called slips to one side in order.
Shout and check. The first player to complete the pattern shouts "Bingo!" and reads the marked words back. If they have all been called, they win.
Play on. After the line, carry on for the full card, then shuffle everything back and start again.
A Christmas bingo game with a 5 × 5 card and 60 words in the pot lasts about ten minutes to a line and around twenty to a full card. Use fewer words, 30 to 40, for a quicker game with young children.
Free printable Christmas bingo cards
The card maker below is set up for Christmas. Choose how many Christmas bingo cards you need, press Make cards and every card gets its own random selection of 24 words from the list, so nobody shares a card. Then press Print cards for two to a page, and Print call slips to cut up the words for the stocking. The Christmas bingo printable pages print as black lines on white, so they are kind to your ink.
Sample cards are shown. Set the theme and number of cards, then press Make cards.
You can edit the list before you make the cards. Take out anything that does not suit your family, add in-jokes and names, and the card maker will use your version. If you would rather have a Christmas bingo printable without the card maker, print this page's word list below and cut it into slips for the caller. For picture cards for small children, choose Pictures for children, or type short Christmas words into the list, one per line: tree, snowman, Santa, reindeer, present, star, bell, candle, mince pie, stocking.
The UK Christmas bingo word list
These are the 60 words the Christmas bingo cards are made from. They are British on purpose: sprouts and satsumas, panto and the King's speech, pigs in blankets and brandy butter. Every card uses 24 of them, so there is plenty of variety between cards and the calls do not hit everyone at once.
Crackers
Mince pie
Robin
Sprouts
Tinsel
Snowman
Stocking
Holly
Reindeer
Christmas pudding
Bauble
Star
Turkey
Sleigh
Paper hat
Candle
Carol singers
Mistletoe
Angel
Wreath
Elf
Presents
Chimney
Snowflake
Father Christmas
Advent calendar
Nativity
Gingerbread
Pigs in blankets
Yule log
Christmas jumper
Panto
King's speech
Boxing Day
Brandy butter
Cranberry sauce
Roast potatoes
Satsuma
Chocolate coins
Selection box
Fairy lights
Christmas tree
Wrapping paper
Sticky tape
Batteries
Board game
Christmas card
Snow globe
Ice skating
Polar bear
Penguin
Candy cane
Sleigh bells
Donkey
Shepherd
Three kings
Carrot for Rudolph
Mulled wine
Trifle
Stilton
Christmas Day bingo: the game that plays itself
Christmas Day bingo has no caller at all. Each square is something that happens in most houses on the day, and you mark it when it happens. Hand the cards out at breakfast and leave them by the plates: by the Queen's, now the King's, speech at three o'clock, somebody will be close to a line. Choose Christmas Day moments in the card maker for 4 × 4 cards from this list:
Someone falls asleep after dinner
The cracker joke is terrible
A present needs batteries
Paper hat worn all afternoon
The dog steals food
Someone mentions the weather
A gift is re-gifted
Gravy is spilled
Someone cries at the telly
A board game argument
Sprouts left on a plate
The King's speech is on
Someone says "that's me done"
A phone call from abroad
Wrong batteries in the house
A jumper that does not fit
Someone is still in pyjamas at noon
The oven timer goes off
A family photo nobody likes
Leftover turkey sandwich
Someone opens a present early
A cracker will not pull
Snow is mentioned, but none falls
Chocolate before breakfast
Someone asks "who wants a drink?"
A walk after lunch
Somebody sings along to the radio
A toy with no instructions
Make your own version by adding the things your family always does, from the uncle who carves to the argument over the board game. Keep the squares kind: the point is laughing together, not keeping score of people.
AI
AI-generated image. Christmas picture bingo, marked with chocolate coins, at the table after the pudding.
More Christmas bingo games
Christmas film bingo. For a film night, fill the squares with festive film moments: snow at exactly the right time, a character who hates Christmas and changes their mind, a run through an airport, a surprise visitor, a school nativity. Everyone marks the squares as they happen on screen.
Carol bingo. Put carol titles on the cards and play or hum the first line of each. It is music bingo for December, and it works for mixed ages because everyone knows at least a few.
Advent bingo. For the countdown, give each child a 5 × 5 card of things to spot or do between 1 and 24 December, such as seeing a robin, posting a card or hearing a brass band. Twenty-four squares and one free centre match the days of an advent calendar.
Number bingo with the calls. For a traditional game after dinner, print UK tickets from our bingo tickets page and use the free bingo caller, which reads out the old nicknames as it draws. Grandparents usually know them; 38 is Christmas cake.
Christmas bingo for adults and the office party
For the work party, write a list about the office: the photocopier breaking, someone wearing antlers, a reply-all email, the Christmas jumper day. Keep it good-natured, with no names attached to anything unkind. Human bingo, where the squares describe people and colleagues have to find someone who fits, is another good mixer for a team that does not often meet; the full rules and questions are on our human bingo page.
For a grown-up family game, Christmas Day bingo is the favourite. Some households play for a small kitty, which is fine among friends; a game where people pay to play and the stakes fund the prizes is gambling, and anything run as a fundraiser should follow the Gambling Commission's guidance. Our party bingo page has more on prizes.
Christmas bingo for children and schools
Christmas bingo is a classroom favourite in the last week of term. For reception and key stage 1, use 3 × 3 picture cards; for older children, word cards help with reading and spelling, and a Christmas vocabulary list works for French or Spanish lessons too. Let the children take turns as caller, since reading the word aloud to the class is half the fun. For a calmer game, play for stickers rather than sweets.
Playing Christmas bingo on a video call
For family spread across the country, send each player a card as a PDF a day before: print to PDF from the card maker, one file per person. On the call, the host shares their screen with the caller panel in full-screen mode, so everyone sees each word as it comes up. Allow a few seconds between calls for the delay on the line, ask people to stay muted until they win, and have winners hold their card up to the camera to be checked.
FAQ
How to play christmas bingo?
Give every player a different card of Christmas words or pictures, usually 5 by 5 with a free square in the middle. The caller draws the words one at a time from a hat or a stocking and reads each out. Players mark any word on their card, and the first to complete a line, then the first to fill the card, shouts "Bingo!" and wins a small prize.
What is christmas bingo?
It is ordinary bingo with the numbers swapped for festive words or pictures, such as crackers, robins and mince pies. It is played at family gatherings, office parties and in classrooms in the run-up to Christmas, usually for chocolate or small gifts rather than money.
How to make christmas bingo cards?
List 30 or more Christmas words, then fill each card with a different random selection of 24, leaving the centre square free. The card maker on this page does it for you: choose Christmas words, set the number of cards, press Make cards and print two to a page.
How to play christmas movie bingo?
Instead of calling, you watch. Each square describes something that happens in a lot of festive films, such as snow falling, a dash to the airport or a change of heart, and you mark it when it happens on screen. Put your own moments into the card maker, one per line, and give everyone a different card.
How to play christmas carol bingo?
It is music bingo with carols. Print cards with carol titles, play the first few bars of each carol in a random order, and let players mark the ones they recognise. Singing along is allowed, and usually unavoidable.
How to play christmas bingo for adults?
The same way, with a more grown-up list: office in-jokes, the moments of a work party, or Christmas Day bingo, where the squares are things that always happen in your family. Keep it kind, since everyone is in the room, and play for small prizes.
How to play christmas bingo on zoom?
Email each player a different card as a PDF before the call. The host shares a screen with the on-screen caller from this page in full-screen mode, or reads the words aloud. Players stay muted, unmute to shout "Bingo!", and read their card back to be checked.
How to play christmas bingo with prizes?
Decide the prizes before the first call: something small for a line and something slightly better for a full card. Chocolate coins, a selection box or first pick of the presents under the tree all work. Among family and friends, playing for small prizes like these is a social game, not gambling.
Why is 38 christmas cake in bingo?
It is one of the traditional rhyming calls: "Christmas cake" rhymes with the eight in thirty-eight. Like many bingo calls, the rhyme came first and the meaning second. All 90 are on our bingo calls page.
