A wheel for today’s holiday activity
All through December, the same question comes up every afternoon: “What should we do?” One kid wants a movie, another wants cookies, and the debate lasts longer than the activity itself. The Christmas wheel settles it in one spin. Everyone watches the pointer slow down, hesitate between two slices and stop. The winner shows up in big letters below the wheel, and off you go.
It also gives the holiday season a little rhythm. One spin a day after school, or every evening after dinner, and you’ve got an activity countdown to Christmas that runs right alongside the Advent calendar. Kids love pressing the button, and grown-ups love not having to be the referee.
Filling your wheel with good ideas
The wheel comes ready with twelve easy holiday activities that need very little shopping. Keep them, delete a few or type your own, one slice per line. A few tips for a wheel that works:
- Stick to things you can do right now. An activity that needs a trip to the craft store is a letdown on a Tuesday night. Use what’s already in the house.
- Mix calm and lively. A story, a puzzle, then a kitchen dance party: the day stays balanced.
- Write family favorites twice. Every slice is the same size, so every slice has the same chance. An idea written twice gets two slices and comes up more often.
- Add a wild card. “Youngest picks” or “Bonus spin” adds a little suspense.
More short ideas to copy onto your wheel:
- Cookie plate: bake a batch and bring some to a neighbor.
- Wish lists: everyone writes or draws their own.
- Window art: snowflakes cut from paper or drawn with window markers.
- Wrap gifts: put on music and set up a wrapping station on the table.
- Call Grandma: a phone or video call with the grandparents.
- Toy donation: sort the toys nobody plays with anymore and give them away.
- Pinecone craft: a walk to collect pinecones, then glue and glitter.
- Holiday playlist: everyone adds one song for the car rides.
- Snowman: save it for the days when there’s real snow.
Silly challenges for the holiday party
At the family get-together, there’s often a lull between dinner and dessert. Load the “Holiday party challenges” list: everyone takes a turn spinning and does the challenge that comes up. Act like a reindeer, mime a gift without talking, sing a line of a carol, pay the person next to you a compliment… Nothing embarrassing, and the little ones can play right along with the grown-ups.
To keep it fun, set one simple rule before the first spin: everyone gets one pass for the night. When you run out of challenges, keep going with the dare wheel, or switch to the truth or dare wheel with the teens.
Who opens the first gift?
On Christmas morning, either everyone tears into the wrapping paper at once, or nobody wants to go first. Load the “Who opens first?” list: it has fun rules like youngest, last one out of bed, or whoever is wearing the best holiday sweater. If “Oldest” comes up, Grandpa goes first. Prefer names? Clear the slices and type in everyone who’s there.
For the full order, from the first gift to the last, the random order generator draws everyone at once.
Sending your wheel to the whole family
The holidays often get planned from a distance: cousins live in another state, grandparents are waiting for a call. Tap “Send my wheel” and share the link on WhatsApp, by text or by copying it. Everyone gets the same wheel with the same slices and can spin it on their own phone. The slices travel inside the link: nothing is stored on the server, and nobody needs to create an account.
It’s handy for one shared activity wheel for every household over winter break, or for each family to spin their challenge before the big dinner and tell everyone about it on a video call.
And no cheating is possible: the winning slice is drawn with the browser’s secure random generator before the wheel even starts turning. Pressing hard, fast or twice changes nothing.
For gifts, try Secret Santa
If your family or friend group would rather give one gift each, the Buzzloo Secret Santa does the draw for you: everyone gets a private link and finds out in secret who they’re buying for. Our guide on how to organize a Secret Santa helps you set the budget and the rules, and our gift ideas by budget rescue anyone who’s stuck.
For dinners over the break, the dinner wheel picks the menu when nobody has an idea left. Want a wheel of your own with different slices? The spin the wheel page starts from a blank wheel. And every other random picker is waiting on the Buzzloo home page.