A few Christmas movie drinking games

’Tis the season for excess and watching Christmas movies, so why not combine the two? Here, in the spirit of the festive season, are the rules for drinking while watching some of our favourite Christmas movies...

The Love Actually drinking game

Drink when…

·       Anyone actually says the word ‘actually’

·       Anyone swears

·       The ‘Christmas is all around’ song is played

·       Some stirring music is played to signify an important moment

·       There’s a story crossover (Liam Neeson talks with Emma Thompson, etc)

·       There’s nudity

·       Laura Linney’s phone rings

·       You spot someone wearing a polo-neck/turtleneck sweater

·       Hugh Grant says or does something cringeworthy

·       Colin Firth tries to speak a foreign language

·       There is a cameo appearance, either by a celebrity starring as themselves (Michael Parkinson, etc) or by someone you’d forgotten was in this movie (Elisha Cuthbert, etc)

The Die Hard drinking game

Drink when…

·       It is mentioned that John McClane is a police officer

·       John McClane smokes

·       John McClane talks to himself

·       John McClane kills someone

·       There’s an explosion

·       You hear some Christmas music

·       You hear Beethoven’s Ninth (‘Ode to Joy’), or some incidental music based on it

·       German is spoken

·       Two characters converse via a communication device such as a walkie-talkie

·       Anyone says ‘Nakatomi’, ‘Christmas’, ‘Gennaro’ or, of course, ‘yippee-ki-yay, motherf***er’

The Muppet Christmas Carol drinking game

Drink when…

·       Gonzo narrates

·       Rizzo asks Gonzo a question

·       Any character talks about being hungry

·       You hear a bell ringing or a clock chiming

·       A new ghost appears

·       A song starts

·       Anyone says ‘Christmas’, ‘spirit’, ‘humbug’ or ‘Scrooge’

The It’s A Wonderful Life drinking game

·       Anyone says ‘Bedford Falls’, ‘Mr Potter’, ‘George Bailey’ (full name, not just ‘George’) or ‘wings’

·       Someone falls in the water

·       One character physically assaults another

·       George gives up something to help someone else

·       George’s ear is mentioned

·       George cries

·       George shouts someone’s name

·       You see the crow

·       Someone uses a 1940s phrase that isn’t used any more (or might have just been made up by the film people to get around the restrictions on blasphemous language and swearing in movies), like ‘holy mackerel’ or ‘doggone it’