disclosure: we were sent the items mentioned for the purpose of review

December has arrived and it’s time to start planning for the festive season ahead.  Today I’ve got a couple of Christmas-themed family games from Cheatwell to share with you which should keep everyone entertained over the holidays.

I’ll be sharing information on a great selection of Christmas-themed card games aimed at players aged 12 years and over, but firstly, let’s look at a board game for those with younger family members too to keep entertained. You just knew we’d be interested in a board game featuring a locomotive, didn’t you?! The Christmas Express Game is a classic board game, aimed at players aged 6 years and over, that can be played with 2-4 players.

Who wouldn’t want to take a trip aboard the Christmas Express from the Home Station and try to get to the North Pole first?  The game comes with eight different characters which can be swapped and placed on the four character stands provided.

Players use their numbered cards to decide how many spaces to move along the train track, with three options available to them.

Firstly they could decide to use one card and move the relevant spaces, secondly, if they had three of the same card they could play them all together and move straight to the next station shown on the board.  These are marked CE on the board and there are seven stations along the track including Home and the North Pole.

Thirdly, if the player holds one of the six different action cards, they can opt to play that and any of the affected players must follow the instructions and move their character accordingly. For example, you might have an Express card that lets you move forward eight places but the player has to miss their turn, or you could end up in a Snow Storm which forces all the other players to move back seven places!

If you’re lucky enough to land on the Lower Bridge (LB) you can take a shortcut, cross the bridge and move straight to the Upper Bridge.

But be careful if you take your turn and land up on the Upper Bridge as you’ll have to backtrack down to the Lower Bridge and start that part of your journey again! But quite possibly the trickiest part of The Christmas Express Game journey is when you approach the Slipper Slope.

Land on the Slippery Slope and that’s a one-way ticket down the ice and you’ll have to revisit Jingle Bell Square.  Who will be the first to reach the North Pole?

The Christmas Express Game is a charming game packed full of festive fun.  Priced at £21.46 it’s available from a number of retailers including Amazon (affiliate link below I do earn from qualifying purchases).

If you’re entertaining a slightly older audience this yuletide then Christmas themed family games from Cheatwell have you covered too with their Christmas Games set of eight festive card games.

This compendium card game set comes with four double-sided card decks, a die, a timer, a drawing pad and score pad, and four pencils. The games are designed to be played by players aged 12 years and over in two teams. You can play a Christmas Games marathon and play all eight games at once, or take your time and play one game at a time.  Just keep a score on the score sheet to see who is the ultimate winner.  How competitive is your family?

Santa Says – select a storyteller from within your team, they pick up a Santa Says card, keeping it to themselves, pick one of the phrases on the card, turn over the timer, and then tell a tall tale including the phrase. Once the timer has run out the opposing team has to try to guess the Santa Says phrase.

Santa’s Sack – Pick Santa’s Helper in your team, they pick up a Santa’s Sack card, turn the timer and then the team has a minute to guess as many of the items as the Helper describes each item without using the actual words of the object.

Under the Tree – pick a Sketcher from your team, they pick up an Under the Tree card, turn the timer, and then have a minute to draw as many of the items on the card as they can for the rest of the team to guess.

Silent Night – pick a Describer from your team, they pick up a Silent Night card and must describe the word shown without using any of the six forbidden words also shown on the card.

Bah! Humm Bug – pick someone to be your team Hummer, they pick up a Bah! Humm Bug card and must hum one of the two songs to both teams.  All players from both teams have a minute to guess what the tune might be.

Xmas Lists – one player from your team picks up a Xmas Lists card and reads out the phrase to their team.  The team then has a minute to guess as many of the ten words/phrases shown on the card that is associated with that main phrase.

Xmas Charades – A classic game with a Christmas twist where both teams try to guess what the Actor is trying to portray.  The Actor rolls the die and if it lands on 1-5 they act out the relevant word by that number on the card.  If they roll a 6, they can act out any of the words.

Xmas Trivia – A Quiz Master is picked, and they pick up a Xmas Trivia card and read the questions out to both teams.  Who can score the most correct answers?

The Christmas Games card game compendium will keep the family entertained for hours this Christmas and can be purchased for £12.95 from Zavvi.