Naughty advent calendar: 24 ideas, a naughty Christmas game and a New Year's Eve plan

A naughty Christmas game to keep the magic for yourselves

December runs away with everyone. Presents to find, dinners to plan, office parties, relatives to collect from the station. Somewhere in the middle of it all, the two of you end up at the bottom of the list. A naughty Christmas game turns that around: a few minutes of flirting every day, then proper evenings together once the guests have gone home.

The season is made for it. The nights are long, fairy lights flatter everyone, there are blankets, chocolate and mulled wine within reach, and nobody questions a surprise. This page gives you four dates for the diary: a naughty advent calendar that starts on 1 December, a game plan for Christmas night, gift ideas to slip under the tree and two ways to see in the New Year.

The naughty advent calendar: 24 ideas from 1 to 24 December

The idea is simple: one small surprise a day, and a temperature that rises slowly. The first week is all about closeness, the second turns sensual, the third gets hotter, and the last few days build up to Christmas Eve. Every idea stays within the first three levels of the game, so nothing here goes further than a blindfold, a slow undressing or a whispered order.

It all stays on your terms. Any door that doesn't tempt you can be skipped, swapped or saved for another night, and a skipped idea never costs anything: no forfeit, no catching up the next day.

How to set it up

• The calendar itself: 24 little envelopes pegged along a ribbon or a string of fairy lights, numbered matchboxes, or a refillable wooden calendar you fill yourselves.
• Taking turns: one of you prepares the odd days, the other the even days, so each of you gives as much as you receive.
• The rhythm: keep the longer ideas for weekends and the quick ones for weeknights. Feel free to shuffle the dates below to fit your diary.
• Jokers: tuck two or three joker cards in a corner, to trade a door you don't fancy for another one.

Out of ideas one evening? The dare of the day offers a new gentle dare and an intimate question every day, which is plenty to fill a door at the last minute.

Week one, 1 to 7 December: Closeness

• 1 December: slip a short love note into their coat pocket this morning; they'll find it at some point during the day.
• 2 December: hang a sprig of mistletoe above a doorway. Until tomorrow night, every time you pass under it together, someone owes a kiss.
• 3 December: tell them about the exact moment you first wanted them.
• 4 December: make two hot chocolates, then look into each other's eyes for one full minute, without a word.
• 5 December: put together a playlist of five songs that make you think of them, and listen to it together tonight.
• 6 December: write them a Christmas wish list of three things no shop sells, then grant one of them tonight.
• 7 December: turn off every light except the tree, and ask them for a slow dance in the living room.

Week two, 8 to 14 December: Sensual

• 8 December: candle night. Switch everything off, light a dozen candles and massage their hands and forearms for five unhurried minutes.
• 9 December: rub their neck and shoulders when they get home, before they've even thought to ask.
• 10 December: one kiss on the neck, very slow, then walk away. The rest is for tomorrow.
• 11 December: run a hot bath with bubbles and a candle, and invite them to join you.
• 12 December: while they keep their eyes closed, trace slow lines down their back with a feather or your fingertips.
• 13 December: read to them in a low voice, a few lines from a sensual novel or a letter you've written for the occasion.
• 14 December: blindfold them and offer a strawberry, a square of chocolate and a sip of mulled wine; they have to guess the order.

Week three, 15 to 21 December: Hot

• 15 December: express truth or dare, three turns each. A question you don't like is simply skipped, with nothing to pay.
• 16 December: blindfold them with a scarf and guide them to the sofa using nothing but your voice.
• 17 December: a striptease to the cheesiest Christmas song you can find. Two items of clothing, not one more.
• 18 December: during the day, text them three sentences about what you've planned for tonight, without giving anything precise away.
• 19 December: a full back massage with warm oil, ten minutes, low light, phones on silent.
• 20 December: tonight, your partner gives you three tender orders and you obey without arguing, within your limits.
• 21 December: the longest night of the year deserves a real game. Start the progressive dares and let them climb up to Hot.

The last three days: counting down to Christmas Eve

• 22 December: alternate an ice cube and your warm breath down their spine, until they shiver.
• 23 December: give them a small parcel holding a silk blindfold and a voucher for “one evening where you call all the shots”.
• 24 December: once the guests have gone, one last present to unwrap: you, with a ribbon tied around your wrist.

Christmas night for two, once the family has gone

On the 24th or the 25th, when the house finally goes quiet, keep an hour for the two of you. Switch off the big light, leave the fairy lights on, bring the blanket and whatever is left of the chocolates. Then start a game of progressive dares for two and let the settings do the planning:

• Clothes: each of you ticks what you're wearing, Christmas jumper included, and the dares remove clothes from the outermost layer inwards. Add strip breaks between rounds if you like.
• Accessories: tick what you actually have (a blindfold, a feather, ice cubes, a massage candle, whipped cream or chocolate, music), and only dares that use them will come up.
• Hidden desires: before the game, each of you secretly picks a dare that will turn up later, as if by chance. Think of it as the surprise present of the evening.
• Intensity: start at Closeness and let it climb to Sensual or Hot. The Burning and No taboos levels exist in the game, for couples who choose them.

Relatives still asleep in the spare room? Stay on the first two levels that night, and save the bolder game for an evening when you have the place to yourselves.

Naughty Christmas gift ideas to slip under the tree

A good naughty gift is one you use together, ideally the same evening. A few ideas, from the sweetest to the most daring:

• a silk blindfold, with a tag that reads “To be worn on the 25th, after dark”;
• massage oil or a massage candle, with a voucher for twenty minutes of massage, redeemable whenever they like;
• a homemade book of vouchers: breakfast in bed, an evening where they decide everything, a slow dance on demand;
• a handmade deck of cards: twelve dares in your own handwriting, to draw over the holidays;
• lingerie or an outfit chosen with care, or better still, chosen together;
• a night in a hotel, with a scarf, a feather and a fully charged phone in the bag.

The gift that costs nothing may be the best of all: a game night prepared just for them. With an optional account, just a username and no email address, you can write your own custom dares and add them to the game, and your partner discovers them round after round. For more inspiration, browse our naughty dare ideas, or borrow a few tricks from our Valentine's Day game plan.

New Year's Eve: a naughty game to see out the year

For two: the countdown

Seeing in the New Year as a couple doesn't call for a black-tie gala. A good dinner, a bottle in the fridge and a game to carry you through the last hours of the year:

1. Around 10 pm, the year in review: start a game of truth or dare for two. Between cards, slip in your own questions: “What's your favourite memory of us this year?”, “What did you love discovering about me?”
2. Around 11 pm, naughty resolutions: open shared fantasies. Each of you answers yes, maybe or no in secret, and only the desires you share are revealed. Those become your resolutions for next year, far more tempting than a gym membership.
3. At midnight: the kiss, obviously, then twelve seconds of silence just to look at each other.
4. After midnight: a round of progressive dares, or three rolls of the naughty dice each, to start the year by letting chance decide.

With friends: a party with a playful twist

A New Year's Eve party among adult friends can drift towards a game, as long as everyone genuinely wants it. Suggest it before the night rather than over dessert, so nobody feels cornered.

• Truth or dare as a group: from three players, special party questions appear. The No jealousy option leaves out touchy subjects such as exes and past relationships, which helps when couples play together.
• The [naughty board game](/jouer/oie): a spiral board with dare, truth, strip and surprise squares, and the first to the finish chooses the final dare. Ideal for filling the hour before midnight.
• Each on your own phone: with remote play, the host creates a room, the others scan the QR code and everyone sets their limits in private. A dare only ever brings together people who are compatible.

Seeing in the year with just one other couple? Our page on a game for two couples is written for exactly that kind of evening.

A word about the champagne: it helps everyone loosen up, but one glass too many blurs a yes. Keep the bolder levels for clear heads, and say the golden rule out loud: anyone can skip, at any time, without explaining why. Our guide to naughty games with friends covers how to suggest and frame this kind of night.

Your limits: the one tradition worth keeping

The holidays come with plenty of pressure: the perfect present, the perfect dinner, the unforgettable New Year. A naughty game shouldn't add to it. Before each game, each of you unticks what you'd rather not do, and you choose the starting and maximum intensity together; your limits are never shown to the other players. Not tempted by a dare? Skip it, with no explanation and no penalty. The Stop button stays on screen the whole time.

The games are free, need no account and show nothing but text. And if you're spending the holidays apart, be realistic: the dares are physical, so keep them for when you're back together. Until then, shared fantasies and a few truths over a video call will keep the spark alive.