Christmas cheer tambola is a Christmas-party housie: bells, stars, gifts, candy canes and Santa fill the ticket, and six prizes from Jingle Five to the Merry Christmas full house. This page has the free pack, an online game, a prize ladder, a planner for 12 to 60 guests and a run sheet for a Christmas party.
Why this Christmas ticket gets noticed
Hand a plain tambola grid to a room full of people in Santa caps and it looks a little out of place. The Christmas Cheer ticket fixes that. It has a scalloped edge like a cut-out paper ornament, a “Christmas Cheer” title and a red “Merry Christmas” medallion. The 15 numbers are spread over five cheerful picture panels:
- Bells: a pair of golden jingle bells tied with a ribbon.
- Stars: the shining star that tops the tree and hangs outside so many homes in December.
- Gifts: wrapped boxes with bows.
- Candy Canes: striped red and white sweets.
- Santa: the man himself, beard and all.
Each panel holds three numbers. Players soon start saying “two more in my Santa” instead of reading out digits, and that is half the fun of Christmas theme tambola.
Ready-to-print Christmas Cheer Tambola pack
12 different picture tickets (2 on each A4 page) with a caller sheet, a prize sheet and a rules page. Print it as it is, or press Create your tambola ticket above for more tickets and your own party name.
The Christmas Cheer prizes
There are six prizes, and each one points to a picture on the ticket.
- Jingle Five: whoever marks any 5 numbers first.
- Jingle Bells: all three numbers in the Bells panel.
- Star Light: all three numbers in the Stars panel.
- Santa’s Sack: both the Gifts and Santa panels, six numbers in total. Usually the hardest of the middle prizes.
- Sweet Treat: the three Candy Canes numbers.
- Merry Christmas Full House: every one of the 15 numbers.
Each set of six tickets carries 1 to 90 once with no number repeated, which keeps things fair even in a small group.
Planning a Christmas tambola evening
In India, Christmas parties come in many shapes: a family dinner after midnight mass, an office party in the week before the holidays, a society celebration on the lawn, or a kids’ party in the building’s clubhouse. Tambola suits all of them because it needs no space and no practice. For a refresher on the festival and its customs, the Wikipedia article on Christmas is a good read.
Timing: start after the first round of carols and plum cake, when people are seated. A full game takes about forty minutes. On Christmas Eve, plan it so the Full House is called before the family leaves for midnight service.
Dress code: red and green, ugly Christmas jumpers, Santa caps or reindeer headbands. Keep a few spare caps by the door for guests who forget.
Seating: around the tree if the room allows. It looks wonderful in photos, and the caller can draw numbers from a stocking instead of a bowl.
Food that pairs well: plum cake, rose cookies, kulkuls and a pot of hot chocolate. Keep plates away from tickets so nobody’s Full House is lost under a smear of icing.
Prize ideas that fit each picture
- Jingle Bells: a bell ornament or a festive keychain.
- Star Light: a paper star lantern or a set of fairy lights.
- Santa’s Sack: a stocking filled with chocolates and small toys.
- Sweet Treat: a jar of candy canes or homemade marzipan.
- Full House: a Christmas hamper with cake, wine or juice, and a mug.
Office hosts on a tight budget can make every prize a chocolate box in a different size. It still feels generous.
Play Christmas Cheer tambola online
Hosting a remote team, or family spread across cities for the holidays? Create a live game and send the link. Each player gets a ticket on their phone, the game calls and reads out the numbers by itself, and claims are confirmed on the host screen. Put it on the TV with the QR code and late arrivals can join by scanning.
A Secret Santa twist
If your group is already doing Secret Santa, combine it with Christmas theme tambola. Wrap the gifts as usual but do not label them. Every time someone wins a prize, they pick one wrapped gift from under the tree. When the Full House is called, everyone who has not won yet also picks one, so nobody leaves empty-handed. It turns the gift exchange into a game and saves the awkward “who has mine?” moment.
Printing tips: color printing brings out the red and gold, and two tickets per page is easy for kids and grandparents. For large office parties, four per page in black and white keeps paper use low. Laminating a few tickets lets you reuse them with dry-erase markers at the next carol night.
All our illustrated designs live on the theme tambola hub. If you would rather have the original number grid, try our simple Christmas tambola tickets. When December ends, keep the party going with the New Year Countdown tambola, and for a December birthday in the family, the Birthday Bash picture tickets are a cheerful fit.
Christmas theme tambola: why this theme works
Christmas parties, from family lunches to office parties and school events, need games that everyone can play, and housie is a favorite because it needs no rules beyond marking numbers. The five pictures are classic Christmas images: bells, stars, gifts, candy canes and Santa.
The prizes use Christmas words, such as Jingle Bells, Star Light and Santa’s Sack, which gives the host a set of phrases to use between rounds. It also works on a video call for relatives who cannot travel.
Here is how christmas theme tambola fits a Christmas party: the pictures need no explanation, the prizes give the host lines to announce, and the whole game fits comfortably around the other events of the day.
How to play christmas cheer tambola step by step
The rules of christmas cheer tambola are the rules of ordinary tambola, with pictures instead of rows. Here is the whole game in six steps, using the prize names printed on the sheet:
- Hand out the tickets. Give each player one ticket and read the prize list aloud, starting with Jingle Five and ending with Merry Christmas Full House.
- Call the numbers. The host calls numbers from 1 to 90 in random order, or lets the online game call them.
- Mark your pictures. Each player strikes off the numbers on their ticket, and each picture holds three of them.
- Claim a prize. The first player to complete a pattern shouts the prize name, such as “Jingle Bells!”, before the next number is called.
- Check the claim. The host reads the numbers back against the caller sheet. A wrong claim loses that ticket the prize.
- Finish with the full house. The game ends when a player marks all fifteen numbers and wins Merry Christmas Full House.
New players learn christmas cheer tambola in about two minutes, because the pictures show them what to look for. If the group has never played tambola, our guide on how to play tambola explains the classic version.
Christmas cheer tambola: the prize ladder in numbers
Every prize in christmas cheer tambola needs a different number of marked numbers, so the prizes arrive in a predictable order. We simulated 3,000 games with 30 tickets, which is 5 sets of six, and recorded the call on which each prize was first completed. The table shows the median, with the middle half of games alongside:
| Prize | What it needs | Numbers needed | Usually won on | Middle half of games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jingle Five | Any five numbers on the ticket | 5 | call 12 | calls 10 to 14 |
| Jingle Bells | The Bells picture (3 numbers) | 3 | call 27 | calls 20 to 33 |
| Star Light | The Stars picture (3 numbers) | 3 | call 27 | calls 20 to 33 |
| Santa’s Sack | The Gifts and Santa pictures together (6 numbers) | 6 | call 50 | calls 43 to 55 |
| Sweet Treat | The Candy Canes picture (3 numbers) | 3 | call 27 | calls 20 to 33 |
| Merry Christmas Full House | All fifteen numbers | 15 | call 72 | calls 69 to 75 |
With 30 tickets the first five arrives on about call 12, and the full house on about call 72, so the whole ladder runs over 60 calls, or about 10 minutes at 10 seconds a call. A one-picture prize arrives around call 27, and a two-picture prize around call 50, so most of the excitement happens in the middle of the game. When you plan christmas cheer tambola, announce the prizes in the order they are likely to be won, and keep the biggest for last.
Christmas tambola tickets: how many to print and how long a game lasts
This planner answers the question behind christmas tambola tickets: how many to print and how long the game lasts. For a Christmas party, the right number of tickets depends on how many guests want to play. This planner rounds up to whole sets of six and uses the same simulation as above for each size of group. One ticket for each player is the usual choice, and you can print a few spares for latecomers:
| Guests | Tickets to print | Sets of six | First five | One picture | Two pictures | Full house | Full house at 10 seconds a call |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 12 | 2 | call 14 | call 36 | call 57 | call 76 | 12.7 min |
| 30 | 30 | 5 | call 12 | call 27 | call 50 | call 72 | 12.0 min |
| 60 | 60 | 10 | call 11 | call 22 | call 44 | call 69 | 11.5 min |
For 12 guests, print 12 tickets (2 sets of six) and expect the full house around call 76, which is about 12.7 minutes of calling. For 60 guests you need 60 tickets and the full house arrives around call 69.
The bigger the group, the earlier each prize is won, because more tickets are in play: the first five comes on call 14 with 12 guests but on call 11 with 60. That is why christmas cheer tambola stays quick even at a large Christmas party, and why it suits a short slot in the program.
What one ticket looks like during christmas cheer tambola
A ticket holds 15 of the 90 numbers, which is one sixth of them, so on average it has one sixth of the numbers called so far marked. By call 30 a typical ticket has 5 of its 15 numbers marked:
| By call | Numbers marked on one ticket (on average) | Share of the ticket |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 1.7 | 11% |
| 20 | 3.3 | 22% |
| 30 | 5.0 | 33% |
| 45 | 7.5 | 50% |
| 60 | 10.0 | 67% |
| 75 | 12.5 | 83% |
That is the average ticket, though. With 30 tickets in play, the best ticket reaches five marked numbers on call 12, and the best ticket completes all fifteen on call 72, long before an average ticket does. This gap between the average and the best ticket explains why the prizes in christmas cheer tambola are won so much earlier than the table above suggests.
A ready-made run sheet for christmas cheer tambola
Here is a run sheet for christmas cheer tambola that fits 85 minutes. The times are suggestions; stretch the snack break or shorten a round to suit your Christmas party.
| Clock | What happens | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 to 0:15 | Guests arrive; carols play and hot chocolate is served | 15 min |
| 0:15 to 0:35 | Christmas cheer tambola, round one: Jingle Five, Jingle Bells and Star Light | 20 min |
| 0:35 to 0:50 | Gift exchange | 15 min |
| 0:50 to 1:05 | Round two: Santa’s Sack and Sweet Treat | 15 min |
| 1:05 to 1:15 | Full house: Merry Christmas, plus a carol | 10 min |
| 1:15 to 1:25 | Photo with Santa | 10 min |
The tambola rounds take 45 of the 85 minutes, which leaves room for food, photos and conversation. If you only have half the time, play one round and keep christmas cheer tambola for the full house, since the biggest prize makes the best ending.
Prize ideas for christmas cheer tambola: a gift for every pattern
Match the gift to the pattern: small gifts for the quick prizes and the best gift for the full house. These ideas fit a Christmas party:
| Prize | Gift idea | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Jingle Five | A candy cane for Jingle Five | 5 numbers |
| Jingle Bells | A small bell for Jingle Bells | 3 numbers |
| Star Light | A star ornament for Star Light | 3 numbers |
| Santa’s Sack | A chocolate Santa for Santa’s Sack | 6 numbers |
| Sweet Treat | A cookie tin for Sweet Treat | 3 numbers |
| Merry Christmas Full House | A gift hamper for the full house | 15 numbers |
Decor and dress ideas to go with the prizes:
- A tree with paper stars and candy canes
- Red and green tablecloths
- Bells on the prize table
- A Santa hat for the caller
Keep the prizes simple, wrap them in the theme colors and put them on a table where everyone can see them before the first call. A prize table in view keeps interest high all through christmas cheer tambola.
Christmas party housie: three twists to try
Here is how christmas party housie can be varied. A small twist makes the game feel planned. Pick one, or use all three across the rounds of christmas cheer tambola, and christmas cheer tambola stays quick whichever you choose.
Secret Santa round
Prize winners draw a name and give their prize to that person.
Carol claim
The winner of Jingle Bells sings the first line of a carol.
Sack surprise
Prizes for Santa’s Sack are hidden in a bag and drawn blind.
If you like christmas cheer tambola, you may also enjoy Diwali Dhamaka Tambola, Rang Barse Holi Tambola, Teej Ki Bahaar Tambola, or browse the whole theme tambola collection.
Frequently asked questions
9 quick answers
Is Christmas theme tambola good for an office party?
Yes. It needs only printed tickets and pens, or phones if you play online. You can print up to 600 tickets, so even large teams are covered.
How many tickets should each person get?
One is enough for most groups. Keen players can take two, but more than that makes it hard to keep up with the calls.
Can children play on their own?
Children who know their numbers up to 90 can play alone. Younger ones can share a ticket with a parent and spot the pictures.
Can we play with family on a video call?
Yes. Start an online game, share the link in the family group and keep the video call running. Each person plays on their own phone and hears the numbers read aloud.
Is it suitable for a school Christmas party?
Yes. The pictures are child-friendly, and children can play with a helper while the teacher calls the numbers.
Can we use it for an office Christmas party?
Yes. Print the company name on every ticket and keep the prizes small and fun.
Is christmas cheer tambola free to print?
Yes. The christmas cheer tambola pack is free: print the ready-made PDF, or make your own tickets with the maker on this page, with no sign-up and no watermark on the tickets.
Can I play christmas cheer tambola online?
Yes. Start a live game, share the link and each guest gets a picture ticket on their phone while the game calls the numbers; the host screen checks every claim and shows the prize won.
How long does christmas cheer tambola take?
With 30 tickets, the full house in christmas cheer tambola is usually won around call 72, which is about 12.0 minutes of calling at 10 seconds a call. Allow 85 minutes in total for the party slot.