Cards to cut up and drop in a hat. Twelve to a sheet as it opens, each one headed SONG, ACTION or SCENE above a short thing to act out, drawn from a bank so a reload gives different cards. Pulling a cracker, a snowman melting, licking the bowl, a snowball fight you are losing. The cut lines are dashed and run the full width and height of the grid, so a sheet cuts into cards with four straight passes.
The label on each card is the hint
The label tells the room what kind of thing is coming before the acting starts, and that is what keeps a round moving. Without it, half the guesses are about what sort of thing it is rather than what it is.
Carols are described rather than named: the carol about a silent, holy night, the one about three ships sailing in, the carol about the bleak midwinter. That keeps the cards clear of titles while still being guessable by anybody who has sung them.
Three sets and how they differ
Children is the set it opens on and sticks to things a six year old can both guess and perform, such as building a snowman, pulling a cracker or hanging a wreath on the front door.
Mixed widens it, and Trickier moves into things that need a bit of staging, such as getting a tree through a narrow doorway, the queue at the post office on the last day, or a fairy light that works only when held. Shuffle redraws the sheet from the same set, so a second round is different cards.
Cutting and printing
Twelve cards a sheet gives large cards that are easy to read at arm's length. Sixteen fits more on and suits a longer game. The sheets control runs to three, so a full set can be printed in one go.
Print on 160gsm card if the cards are going back in a tin for next year. On paper they work fine for one evening but go limp once they have been round a warm room in somebody's hand.
Questions
- How many Christmas charades cards are on a sheet?
- Twelve as it opens, or sixteen from the control above the page. The sheets setting goes up to three pages, so a single run can produce thirty six or forty eight cards.
- Are the cards suitable for children?
- The set it opens on is written for them, with actions a six year old can perform and guess. Mixed and Trickier are the two harder sets for an older group or an adult party.
- Do the cards name films or characters?
- No. Every card describes a generic scene or action, and carols are referred to by what they are about rather than by title, so nothing on the sheet is a trademarked name.
- Can I get a different set of cards?
- Yes. Press Shuffle above the sheet and the cards are drawn again from the same set, so a second or third round uses different ones without changing the difficulty.