Eid Party Games: 8 Games the Whole Family Can Play
The best Eid party games are team games the whole family can play sitting down after the meal: charades, a word game, a dialogue round, a survey game and a hunt for the children. None of them needs a screen for everyone or music. The hard part is not the games. It is having them ready before the plates come off the table, which is why a printable set you can put on a shelf the night before helps.
If you are still working on the guest list and the food, start with the full plan for an Eid party, then come back here for the games. If you would rather not print anything, a free film title generator runs a charades round from one phone.
What makes a good Eid party game?
A good Eid party game lets a seven-year-old and a grandmother play on the same team without either of them being bored.
Eid gatherings have the widest age range of the year, and most guests have already eaten at another house. That rules out anything that needs running around in good clothes, long explanations or a lot of reading.
The games below all play seated, need almost no setup and can stop the moment a new family walks in.
Eight Eid party games for the whole family
These run roughly in the order I would play them, from the ones that need the most energy to the ones that suit a room heading for chai.
1. Dumb Charades (damsharas)
Dumb Charades (damsharas) is the safest game to open with, because every age in the room already knows the rules.
Mix the ages inside each team so the grandparents and the cousins have to work together. If you want titles that suit everyone, there are twelve Eid charades films the whole family will know. For a fresh title every turn, deal film names from one phone and pass it to whoever is acting.
2. Guess Karo
Guess Karo is a word game where one player describes a word without saying any of the banned words printed under it.
It suits teenagers and adults best. Pair each child under ten with an adult, so the child gets to shout the answer and the adult does the describing. Guess Karo runs in a browser, so one phone is enough for a whole round.
3. Guess the Movie from Dialogue
Guess the Movie from Dialogue is the game for a room too full to stand up: one person reads a famous line and the room names the film.
Older guests tend to win this one. The dialogue game deals the lines, so nobody has to prepare a list.
4. Desi Showdown
Desi Showdown is a survey game: the room splits into two teams and each team tries to guess the most popular answers to a question.
It works best in a big room, because the arguments over what counts as a popular answer are half the game. The survey questions are ready to play on any screen.
5. Bollywood emoji quiz
An emoji quiz shows a film title written in emoji, and the first person to name the film wins the point.
Children are faster at this than anybody expects, which makes it a good game for putting them on the same level as the adults. There is a ready set of film titles hidden in emoji you can read out or hold up.
6. Badly explained film plots
In this game, one player reads a deliberately unhelpful summary of a film's plot and the rest of the room guesses which film it is.
It needs no acting and no phone, so it suits the sofa end of the evening. The printable bundle above includes a badly explained plots round.
7. Eidi treasure hunt
An Eidi treasure hunt is a trail of clues for the children, with their Eidi in the last envelope.
Write five or six short clues, each one pointing to the hiding place of the next. Give each child a trail in their own color of envelope, so the fastest child cannot collect everyone else's. A child who has to work for their Eidi values it for at least twenty minutes.
8. Pass the parcel with a timer
Pass the parcel works at Eid without any music if you use a phone timer set to a random length instead.
Wrap a small prize in several layers and tuck a question or a small forfeit inside each one. Whoever holds the parcel when the timer goes off opens a layer. It suits families who keep songs out of the day, and it gets the quieter guests involved without asking them to perform.
Which Eid games for family work best with small children?
The Eidi treasure hunt, the emoji quiz and pass the parcel work best with small children, because none of them asks a child to act or to know the films well.
For charades and Guess Karo, put each young child on a team with an adult rather than leaving them out. A five-year-old miming a film title for a grandparent is usually the moment the whole room watches.
Keep a corner for the children who have had enough. Some will join every round and some will drift off after the second game.
How long should Eid party games run?
Forty-five minutes of games is enough for most Eid parties, started while guests are still near the table after the meal.
Pick three or four of the eight above rather than all of them. Open with charades while the energy is there, put the dialogue round or the plots game in the middle, and finish with the survey game or the parcel. Run the treasure hunt at whatever point the children start asking about Eidi.
Keep score on a sheet of paper where everyone can see it. A prize of a box of sweets is plenty, and the winning team will still bring it up next Eid.
Eid party games: questions people ask
What games can you play at Eid with family?
Charades, Guess Karo, a dialogue round, a survey game, an emoji quiz, a badly explained plots round, an Eidi treasure hunt and pass the parcel all work at Eid with family. Every one of them plays seated and suits mixed ages. Pick three or four for one evening rather than trying to fit in all eight.
Are there Eid party games that do not use music?
Yes. Every game on this list can be played without music, including pass the parcel, which uses a phone timer set to a random length instead of a song. That makes the list safe for families who keep music out of the day, and nobody has to ask the room first.
What prizes work for Eid party games?
Small, shareable prizes work best, such as a box of sweets, a tin of biscuits or a bag of dried fruit the winning team splits. For children, a slightly bigger Eidi envelope at the end of the treasure hunt is the prize they actually care about. Avoid prizes that only suit one age group.
Can you play Eid party games on a video call?
Yes. The dialogue game, the emoji quiz and the survey game all work on a video call, because one person reads or shares the screen and everyone else shouts answers. Charades also works if the person acting stands back from the camera. The treasure hunt and pass the parcel need everyone in one room.
How many people do you need for Eid party games?
Six people is enough for most Eid party games, split into two teams of three. Charades, Guess Karo and the survey game get better as the room grows, up to about twenty-five. Beyond that, run two groups in separate rooms with a different game in each, and swap halfway through.
Before the first guest arrives
Print the six-game Bollywood printable set when you write the menu, and leave it somewhere you will find it on the day. If the printer lets you down, open a new round of film titles on a phone and start with charades.
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