Christmas Would You Rather for Kids

Christmas would you rather gives kids two cozy, silly choices and one easy job: pick a side and say why. This page has 100 cards for ages 5–12: 60 would you rather questions, 25 this or that picks, and 15 open questions. Draw a card in the picker above, show it fullscreen on the board, start the 30-second timer, or print the set. Forty of the cards never mention Christmas, for classes that do not celebrate it.

How to Play Christmas Would You Rather in Class

1. Pick an age in the picker: Ages 5–7, Ages 8–12, or both for a mixed group.
2. Choose a theme. Leave Christmas and Holiday both on, or turn Christmas off to use only the cards that never name it.
3. Press Present fullscreen and read both choices aloud.
4. Kids pick a side. They point left or right, or walk to that side of the room.
5. Ask two or three kids "Why?" Start the 30-second timer when a child begins to explain.
6. Press Next card. Cards do not repeat until every card for your filters has been used.

One card takes about two minutes: 15 seconds to read it, 15 seconds to choose, and up to 30 seconds each for two or three reasons.

At the Class Party

Plan 10 to 15 minutes and six or seven cards.

With 20 to 30 kids, give a clear signal before anyone moves: "When I say go, walk to your side." Count down from five, then ask one child from each side to share.

Let a card make a party decision for you. "Would you rather play freeze dance at the party or play musical chairs at the party?" settles which game comes next, and the class feels it chose.

For a faster round, switch the Format filter to This or that. For a second party station, make cards with the icebreaker bingo generator.

In Morning Meeting

Use one Christmas would you rather card a day in December. It takes three to five minutes and kids can stay seated.

Show the card, let partners tell each other their pick for 30 seconds, then call on two volunteers. On sharing days, set the Format filter to Questions and go around the circle with one open question, such as "If you were an elf, what would your elf name be?"

For the other months, use the question of the day for kids picker.

Christmas Would You Rather Questions for Kids

These 36 cards are about trees, ornaments, reindeer, elves, and Santa's sleigh.

For Ages 5–7

Short choices with words that kindergarten to 2nd grade kids already know.

• Would you rather ride in Santa's sleigh or ride on a reindeer?
• Would you rather wave to Santa or high-five an elf?
• Would you rather decorate a tiny Christmas tree or decorate a giant Christmas tree?
• Would you rather hang red ornaments or hang gold ornaments?
• Would you rather wear an elf hat or wear reindeer antlers?
• Would you rather sing a carol or ring jingle bells?
• Would you rather feed a reindeer a carrot or teach a reindeer a trick?
• Would you rather carry a giant jingle bell or roll a giant ornament?
• Would you rather slide down a candy cane or bounce on a gumdrop?
• Would you rather put a star on the tree or put lights on the tree?
• Would you rather bake cookies with the elves or sing songs with the elves?
• Would you rather have a reindeer visit our class or have a snowman visit our class?
• Would you rather live in a gingerbread house or live in Santa's workshop?
• Would you rather draw a picture of Santa or draw a picture of an elf?
• Would you rather see a rainbow candy cane or see a polka-dot candy cane?
• Would you rather make a paper tree or make a paper reindeer?
• Would you rather decorate a stocking with glitter or decorate a stocking with stickers?
• Would you rather dance like an elf or prance like a reindeer?

For Ages 8–12

Longer choices with more to explain: inventing, designing, and running things at the North Pole. Good for 3rd to 6th grade.

• Would you rather design a new sleigh for Santa or design a new hat for Santa?
• Would you rather run the reindeer flight school or run the elf cookie kitchen?
• Would you rather write a brand-new carol or write a brand-new reindeer cheer?
• Would you rather decorate a tree with things from our classroom or decorate a tree with things from nature?
• Would you rather have a sleigh that can fly or have a sleigh that can swim?
• Would you rather be the elf who tests the sleigh or be the elf who draws the map?
• Would you rather build a gingerbread school or build a gingerbread spaceship?
• Would you rather have a tree that changes color every hour or have a tree that plays music?
• Would you rather train a reindeer to dance or train a reindeer to carry the mail?
• Would you rather turn our classroom into an elf workshop or turn our gym into a reindeer barn?
• Would you rather have ornaments that glow in the dark or have ornaments that tell jokes?
• Would you rather tell a story about an elf detective or tell a story about a reindeer chef?
• Would you rather invent a new candy cane flavor or invent a new ornament shape?
• Would you rather have Santa as a substitute teacher or have an elf as a substitute teacher?
• Would you rather solve the mystery of the missing sleigh bells or solve the mystery of the vanishing tinsel?
• Would you rather give every reindeer a nickname or give every elf a funny job title?
• Would you rather design a stocking for a giant or design a stocking for a mouse?
• Would you rather spend a day at the North Pole or have the elves spend a day at our school?

Christmas This or That for Kids

Christmas this or that questions are the fastest cards in the deck: two short options, point to one, done. Run ten in a row as a brain break, which takes about five minutes.

• Reindeer or elves?
• Santa hat or Santa boots?
• Candy cane or gingerbread cookie?
• Sleigh or snow train?
• Stocking or wreath?
• Round ornament or star ornament?
• Nutcracker or jingle bell?
• Popcorn string or paper chain?
• Tinsel or garland?
• North Pole or South Pole?
• Green and red or silver and gold?
• Loud carol or quiet carol?
• Holly or pinecones?
• Gingerbread house or gingerbread train?
• One big reindeer or eight tiny reindeer?

These ten holiday this or that questions name no holiday at all:

• Marshmallows or whipped cream?
• Sugar cookie or chocolate chip cookie?
• Sprinkles or frosting?
• Snow globe or music box?
• Confetti or glitter?
• White lights or rainbow lights?
• Paper snowflakes or paper lanterns?
• Peppermint or cinnamon?
• Balloons or streamers?
• Trivia game or guessing game?

Holiday Would You Rather Questions

These 24 would you rather holiday questions never mention Christmas. They are about cocoa, cookies, lights, paper snowflakes, and the class party, so every child in the room can answer them. To draw only these cards, turn Christmas off in the Theme filter.

Ages 5–7:

• Would you rather sip cocoa from a tiny cup or sip cocoa from a giant mug?
• Would you rather cut out snowflake cookies or cut out mitten cookies?
• Would you rather see lights that twinkle or see lights that change color?
• Would you rather cut out a paper snowflake or color a paper mitten?
• Would you rather have a class party with balloons or have a class party with bubbles?
• Would you rather shake a giant snow globe or step inside a snow globe?
• Would you rather make a paper crown or make a paper mask?
• Would you rather wave a ribbon or spin a pinwheel?
• Would you rather hang paper snowflakes on the window or hang them on the door?
• Would you rather play freeze dance at the party or play musical chairs at the party?
• Would you rather make a class card for our school helpers or make a class banner for them?
• Would you rather have a giant marshmallow or have a giant cookie?

Ages 8–12:

• Would you rather plan the games for the class party or pick the music for the class party?
• Would you rather create a new cocoa topping or create a new kind of sprinkle?
• Would you rather light up our school with a million tiny lights or light it up with one giant snowflake?
• Would you rather turn our hallway into a tunnel of lights or turn our lunchroom into a winter garden?
• Would you rather write a holiday song for our class or make up a holiday dance for our class?
• Would you rather judge a cookie decorating contest or judge a paper snowflake contest?
• Would you rather paint a winter mural in our hallway or build a winter display in our library?
• Would you rather spend the last day before winter break playing board games or spend it doing art projects?
• Would you rather design a snow globe with our school inside or design one with a tiny city inside?
• Would you rather end the class party with a dance or end the class party with a story?
• Would you rather learn a winter song in a new language or learn a winter dance from another country?
• Would you rather be a cookie taste tester or be a cocoa taste tester?

Christmas Questions for Kids

Open questions take longer than a two-choice card, about five minutes for a class of 25 if each child gives a short answer. The first nine are for classes that celebrate Christmas.

• If you were an elf, what would your elf name be?
• What would you name a baby reindeer?
• What color would you paint Santa's sleigh?
• What silly thing would you hang on a Christmas tree?
• What snack do you think reindeer like best?
• What would a reindeer's favorite school subject be, and why?
• If you could add one room to Santa's workshop, what would it be?
• What job at the North Pole would be the most fun, and why?
• What would a snowman and a reindeer talk about if they met?

These six do not mention Christmas:

• What sound does a happy snowman make?
• What is the coziest spot in our classroom?
• Where in our school would you hang twinkle lights?
• What game should we play at our class party?
• If you invented a new winter holiday for our school, what would you call it?
• If you could decorate our classroom any way you like, what would you add first?

6 Quick Christmas Classroom Games

Each game uses cards from this page and things already in the classroom.

1. Sleigh or Reindeer Line

Time: 5 minutes. Group: 10 to 30. Materials: a strip of masking tape on the floor.

1. Kids stand on the tape line, facing you.
2. Read a card and point: the first choice is to the left of the line, the second to the right. Start with "Would you rather ride in Santa's sleigh or ride on a reindeer?"
3. On "go", everyone steps to a side.
4. Ask one child on each side why, then call everyone back to the line.

2. Freeze and Choose

Time: 5 minutes. Group: any size. Materials: none.

1. Agree on two poses: hands up high for the first choice, hands on hips for the second.
2. Kids march in place while you clap a steady beat.
3. Stop clapping and read a this or that card, such as "Reindeer or elves?"
4. Kids freeze in the pose for their pick. Clap again for the next card.

3. Elf Name Circle

Time: 8 to 10 minutes. Group: 8 to 15, or split the class into two circles. Materials: none.

1. Sit in a circle and read "If you were an elf, what would your elf name be?"
2. Give 30 seconds of quiet thinking time, then go around the circle. Each child says an elf name and the class answers, "Hello, [name]!" Passing is fine.
3. With ages 8–12, add a second round: "What job at the North Pole would be the most fun, and why?"

4. Guess the Class

Time: 5 to 8 minutes. Group: any size. Materials: a board and a marker.

1. Read a two-choice card. Before the vote, each child guesses which side will win and holds up one or two fingers.
2. Vote with raised hands and tally both sides on the board.
3. Everyone who guessed right takes a bow.
4. With ages 8–12, write the result as a fraction.

5. Paper Snowball Swap

Time: 10 minutes. Group: 10 to 30, ages 8–12. Materials: scrap paper and pencils.

1. Write one open question on the board, such as "If you invented a new winter holiday for our school, what would you call it?"
2. Kids write an answer with no name on it and crumple the paper into a snowball.
3. On "go", everyone tosses a snowball gently into the middle of the circle, then picks up a different one.
4. Take turns reading the answers aloud.

6. Answer Tree

Time: 10 to 15 minutes. Group: any size. Materials: chart paper, paper circles or sticky notes, tape, crayons.

1. Draw a large tree outline on chart paper. For a class that does not celebrate Christmas, draw a long string of lights instead.
2. Read "What silly thing would you hang on a Christmas tree?" For the lights version, read "Where in our school would you hang twinkle lights?"
3. Each child draws or writes an answer on a paper circle.
4. Kids tape their circle to the chart and say their answer aloud.

Tips for Teachers

Ages 5–7: read the card twice, accept a one-word reason, and stop after four or five cards. Pointing counts as a full turn.

Ages 8–12: ask for a sentence that starts with "I would rather ... because ...", or have a child argue for the side they did not pick. A Christmas would you rather card such as "Would you rather have a sleigh that can fly or have a sleigh that can swim?" can fill five minutes of friendly debate.

The same routine works all year. There are 160 more cards, sorted by age, in would you rather questions for kids, and seasonal sets for Halloween and Thanksgiving. Planning the staff party as well? See holiday icebreakers for work.

Not Everyone Celebrates Christmas

In many classes, some children do not celebrate Christmas. You do not need to ask who. Turn Christmas off in the Theme filter and the picker draws only from the Holiday set: 24 would you rather cards, 10 this or that cards, and 6 questions about cocoa, lights, snowflakes, and the class party.

Printing follows the filter too, so the printed sheet holds only those 40 cards.

If you would rather leave holidays out altogether, use winter would you rather questions about snow and cozy days instead.

Skip the Gift Questions

No card on this page asks about gifts. Questions like that put children's holidays side by side in front of the class, and the answers are never equal.

Every card here is about something pretend or something the class does together. If you write your own cards, follow the same rule. When a child brings the topic up anyway, thank them and go back to the card on the board.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some good Christmas questions for kids?

Good ones are about pretend things every child can picture, with no wrong answer. Try "What would you name a baby reindeer?" as an open question, or "Would you rather wear an elf hat or wear reindeer antlers?" as a two-choice card.

Are these Christmas questions okay for school?

Yes. The cards were written for the classroom and stick to pretend play, decorations, school, and the class party. Santa, elves, and reindeer appear only as fun characters, and nothing is scary.

Can I print these Christmas would you rather cards?

Yes. Press Print cards in the picker to open a sheet of cut-out cards. The sheet includes only the cards that match your Age, Theme, and Format filters. It opens in a new window, so allow pop-ups if nothing appears.