making sweet memories! candy cane games your family will love!

Our Grand Lives
8 hours ago
11 min read

Thursday, December 18, 2025

WHAT A WEEK!

Our holiday social calendars have been so full lately

and while we’re savoring all the GRAND moments with family and friends

we’re a wee bit behind on a few things…

TIS THE SEASON!

As we gear up for the coming week

we know that many will be celebrating with loved ones!

Are you planning for lots of family time?

Today we’re sharing a few SWEET ideas and games

that will make any holiday gathering extra memorable!

Many can be played by ALL ages and each is simple to pull together, too!

Every December, we each look forward to the holiday celebrations

that bring our loved ones together!

We love planning fun activities and games for all of us to enjoy

and, thankfully, we are both surrounded by Grands, Middles and Littles

who also happen to be great sports

and are ready for just about anything we throw at them!

We were recently reminded of a post we wrote during our blog’s early days

and we’ve updated our ideas this year!

Red and white candy canes are festive

and their peppermint flavor and affordable price tag

make them the perfect resource for providing oodles of holiday cheer!

Whether your family is celebrating on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day

or on another date that works best for everyone involved

(we're thinking New Year’s Eve would be another perfect time),

we’ve got you covered for a gathering filled with loads of giggles and fun!

Laura is sharing several candy cane games

that added extra silliness to an annual family gathering

AND

Laurie has a favorite family card game to share,

one that features… you guessed it… candy canes!

Last weekend Laura and family celebrated our 4th annual

This photo was taken during the inaugural event in 2022.

And here we are this past Saturday!!

Can you spot me???

When Daughter J married our SIL

little did we know that we’d be adopted into their extended family!

What a blessing this friendship is for our family!

Each year we look forward to Jingle Bar,

complete with amazing decor,

a festive theme with a collectable button,

fun games,

specialty cocktails

and yummy food!

A few years ago, I arrived with a few packages of candy canes

some extra supplies

and our Jingle Bar Candy Cane Christmas Challenge began!

Candy Cane Games for Littles!

These games are perfect for your young Littles

and require few (if any) supplies beyond the needed candy canes!

The activities keep them busy while the grown-ups have time to connect and nibble!

❤️ Candy Cane Hunt!

It’s like Easter Egg Hunting during your Christmas celebration! Depending on where you live, this game can be played inside or outside. Beforehand, simply hide several candy canes around the house or yard and then let your Littles go in search! I provided little stockings that I found at a dollar store. Then our Littles had fun finding the candy canes and adding them to the growing collection in each stocking!

If you’d like to make it a contest among several Littles, then the player who finds the most candy canes wins!

❤️ Fishing for Candy Canes!

This will remind you of a classic carnival game, but with a candy cane spin! To prepare ahead of time, tie a string onto a stick (I used a chopstick) and then tie the other end of the string to a candy cane so that it resembles a fish hook. For young Littles don’t make the string any longer than 6-8 inches. You can make it more challenging for older Littles by extending the length of the string. Then, fill a small jar with several candy canes, hook side up! (We placed a smaller glass inside the mug shown so that the candy canes would stand up.)

To play, players stand near the container of candy canes and try to “catch” them using the candy cane hook on their “fishing pole”. Set a time limit (perhaps 3 minutes) and the player who catches the most candy canes in that time frame wins! As an alternative, time each player and keep track to see how long it takes for each to “catch” one, two or three candy canes! The player with the fastest time, wins!

❤️ 2 More Simple & Easy Games!

While neither of us has played these games since becoming GRANDS, each has been a part of our repertoire for past holiday parties in our classrooms! Each is super easy to set up and engaging for kids!

❤ Candy Cane Toss!

This game is similar to horseshoes. You’ll need to set up a pole on a table or on the floor… We've simply put a drinking straw in a ball of playdough and set it on a table (or you could hold a broomstick upside down and hold it out at arm’s length). Your Littles will take turns playing this game. Littles are given five candy canes when it’s their turn. Each Little takes a turn tossing their candy canes toward the pole. The hope is that the candy cane will land close to the pole or even wrap around the pole. The Little who hooks a candy cane around the pole the most times, or lands a candy cane closest to the pole, wins the game. NOTE: You could also give points as each Little takes a turn - one point for candy canes that touch the pole and three points for ones ringing it!

❤ Drop the Candy Cane in the Bucket!

Do you remember playing the clothespin game as a kid? This is the candy cane version! Your Littles will take turns kneeling on a chair (one with a back) while holding one or more candy canes. Below the chair is a container - one with a wide opening works well with young Littles while a smaller jar or bottle will be challenging for your older Littles. The goal is to drop the candy canes into the container below

Candy Cane Games for ALL Ages!

If your family is anything like ours

your older Littles AND your Middles will get a kick out of these holiday games!

THEY ARE HILARIOUS for participants and observers alike!

Younger Littles will be enthralled taking in the action going on around them, too!

Little L - Jingle Bar 2023!

❤️ Candy Cane Pick Up!

The goal of this game is to collect as many candy canes as you can in just one minute (or perhaps two). You’ll need two players for each round. To set up the game, you’ll need a plate filled with wrapped candy canes, 2 cups (we used red Solo cups) and then an unwrapped candy cane for each player. We put everything on a bar stool, as shown in the photo. NOTE: For an added challenge, we added some blue candy canes and a few green ones. These were worth more points than the red ones!

Players put the straight edge of an unwrapped candy cane in their mouth - this will be used like a fishing hook. With hands behind their backs or at their sides and on the cue “Go” both players use their candy cane hook to try and pick up another candy cane and then put it into their own cup.

NOTE: The Solo cups tip over easily, so be careful… any candy canes that fall out won’t be counted! When time runs out, the player that’s collected the most candy canes in their cup wins! (With BONUS points for blue or green ones “caught”!)

❤️ Dress a Candy Cane!

Let the silliness begin! Ahead of time, ask for 2-3 people to be the judge (including your littlest Littles). Then divide remaining players into teams of 4 or 5. Each team chooses one person to be the Candy Cane and all of the other players will be the Wrappers! Set a timer for 3 minutes and count down, 3, 2, 1… While the Candy Cane stands still, the Wrappers use rolls of red and white crepe paper to dress the Candy Cane in red and white stripes!

When time is up, the judges will determine the winner based on best design and teamwork!

As a judge, which team would you name the winner of our contest?

Tough decision!

Meanwhile, during all the excitement, Little L was having her own kind of fun!

❤️ Twirling Candy Canes!

If you are good at hula hoops, this might be for you! Believe us, it’s harder than it looks! Time each player to see how long they can twirl a candy cane on one finger! Check out our winner… she beat us all by twirling two candy canes at once! Woohoo!

❤️ Candy Cane Tree Toss!

For this game you’ll need a small artificial Christmas Tree and a lot of candy canes! You can play one of two ways.

Version #1 - Players take turns. Standing a distance away from the tree, each player throws 5 candy canes (one at a time) at the tree, trying to get them to land on the tree! The player with the most candy canes hanging from their tree wins!

Version #2 - Players play in teams of 2-3 people and have numerous candy canes available. Teams take turns by standing around the tree. When signaled to begin all team players throw candy canes at their tree until time is called (1-2 minutes). When time is up, each team counts how many candy canes successfully hung on the tree. When all teams have had a turn, the winner is announced!

Little L joined in the cheering section all night long!

❤️ 2 More Simple & Easy Ideas!

These are games I had prepped for but by the time we got to them we were all candy caned out! It happens! So, while we can’t quite put the “Family Faves” stamp of approval on them, we’re pretty sure they’d fit the bill!

❤ Candy Cane Home Run!

For this take off on a baseball game, you’ll need a large peppermint stick and some large marshmallows. Players take turns throwing the marshmallow (the ball) in the air and doing their best to hit it with the peppermint stick (the bat). The player who’s marshmallow travels the farthest wins!

❤ Candy Cane Catch!

Believe it or not, this game is harder than it sounds. Players play with partners and are spread out (3-8 feet apart depending on age/comfort). One player throws a candy cane to his/her partner who tries to catch it by ringing the candy cane around one finger only! If successful, the partners each take a step backward and try again until only one set of partners remains and wins!

We look forward to this yearly tradition each year

and to it continuing for many years to come!

Little L - Jingle Bar 2025

Have you ever played the popular card game, Spoons?

Well, here’s a fun twist and a favorite played by Laurie and her family!

Instead of grabbing for a spoon in the middle of the table,

grab for a candy cane!

Begin by counting your players. Then arrange candy canes in a small circle in the middle of the table BUT only count out the number equal to one less than the number of players. For example, if there are 6 people playing, use 5 candy canes and so on. One player is chosen to be the dealer and he/she deals four cards to each player and keeps the remainder of the deck nearby.. If a large group is playing (my family has played with 15 people before!) use more than one deck of cards! Each player should also have squares of paper that spell out a Christmas word. The word will vary depending on how long you want to play. JOY would be a short round, CANDY a medium round and if using the word CHRISTMAS you’d play a long round!

The dealer picks up a card from the deck and decides if they want to keep it or discard it, passing it to the person on their left. That person picks up the discarded card and decides if they want to keep it. If they do, they must discard a card in their own hand.

The goal of the game is to get 4 of a kind.

For example, 4 Kings or 4 sevens.

Play continues in the same way as cards are passed around the circle. Each player may only hold four cards in their hand at a time.

When the first player has 4 of a kind in his/her hand, he/she discreetly swipes a candy cane from the middle. As soon as that first player picks up a candy cane, the rest of the players can grab one too — even if they don’t have their own 4 of a kind! The player left without a candy cane at the end of the round loses. That player must take the first letter of the chosen word (JOY, CANDY or CHRISTMAS), and place it in front of them. Continue until a player has spelled their whole word. Then that player is out! Keep playing until there is only one player left and WINS!