Here’s how to play the popular holiday plastic wrap ball game with oven mitts for a DIY Christmas party game, Christmas Eve activities or even New Year’s Eve games.
Get the Saran Wrap ball game directions and alternative Christmas game ideas for more fun ideas or if you’re looking for Christmas games for family with prizes!
How To Play The Plastic Wrap Ball Game With Oven Mitts
The “oven mitts game,” as many people call it, is a popular Christmas game to play for group games at holiday parties or with family during Christmas.
If you’ve played the Saran Wrap ball game before, the game rules with oven mitts is like the original plastic wrap ball game rules, except you use oven mitts while playing.
FUN CHECK CONFESSION: The Saran Wrap ball game with oven mitts is not my favorite way to play this holiday game. In our years of family game play experience — we’ve been playing this Unwrap The Ball game for 15 years — the oven mitts made the saran wrap ball game for Christmas too hard and people lost interest. (Plus, it slows down the game while people switch mitts, which really puts a damper on the quick pace of a saran wrap ball game Christmas timing — one of the most fun parts of the game.)
If you follow my SECRET TIP for wrapping the plastic wrap ball, it will be plenty challenging and still a lot of fun so, honestly, you won’t even need oven mitts.
The plastic wrap ball game with oven mitts is pretty hard and I’ve seen it take the urgency out of the game, which is really what makes this game a laugh-out-loud funny game, in my opinion.
IF YOU WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME WITHOUT OVEN MITTS, CLICK HERE.(If you still want to play with oven mitts, no hard feelings. READ ON!)
Goal of the Plastic Wrap Game with Oven Mitts
The goal of the Christmas ball game is to unwrap as many layers of the plastic shrink wrapped ball while wearing oven mitts.
Good luck with that.
You collect as many prizes as you can unwrap between those layers of Saran Wrap before the person next to you rolls doubles.
Saran Wrap Plastic Ball Game with Oven Mitts Game Supplies List
To play the wrapped ball oven mitts game you'll need:
• Pre-wrapped and made Saran Wrap ball (GET DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING THE GAME HERE)
• 2 oven mitts
• Pie plate or paper plate (to roll the dice in)
• Two dice
Learn how to make the game here.
Rules and Game Instructions for Playing the Plastic Wrap Ball with Oven Mitts
IMPORTANT GAME RULE TO TELL EVERYONE BEFORE YOU BEGIN THE GAME:
There is NO ripping in the Christmas plastic wrap ball game! You must unwrap and unroll the ball to get to the prizes. Tiny rips may happen, but no intentionally ripping the wrap. If someone intentionally rips the ball wrap, they lose this turn and the ball passes to the next player.
Also, if they take their oven mitts off while unwrapping, their turn is over and play passes to the next players.
To Play The Cling Wrap Christmas Ball Game With Oven Mitts
If you’ve played the Christmas ball game before, this version is played exactly the same, except the player unwrapping the game is wearing oven mitts.
This is also known as taking all the fun out of the game… but that is, of course, my opinion.
Carry on.
1. Start on a flat surface like a table.
Gather all players around a large table.
Make sure there are no drinks, food, or anything else on the table that can accidentally get knocked off.
2. Explain the game rules clearly.
For each roll, there is a dice roller and a game ball “unwrapper” wearing oven mitts on both hands.
The game works like this: one player starts with the wrapped ball and wearing oven mitts. The player to their left starts with two dice.
On GO! The player with the dice starts rolling the dice over and over and trying to roll doubles (of any kind).
The entire time the dice player is rolling, the player with the ball is try to unwrap layers of the ball while wearing oven mitts. That player also collect any prizes that fall out of the ball as they unwrap.
THERE IS NO RIPPING THE WRAP OR TAKING OFF OVEN MITTS WHILE UNWRAPPING OR THEY LOSE THIS TURN!
3. Decide who goes first.
To start, every player rolls one of the dice and the highest roll goes first.
4. Start the game.
The highest roller starts with the Saran Wrap ball in front of them and puts on oven mitts.
The person immediately to their left gets both dice and the pie tin or paper plate to roll the dice in.
GAME TIP: Don’t skip the pie tin or paper plate to roll the dice in. This game moves fast and having something to roll the dice in prevents dice from flying off the table and pausing the game while everyone looks for it. (Take it from my experience!)
5. Playing the game.
On GO! the person with the dice starts rolling (quickly, over and over) to try to roll doubles.
Simultaneously, the person with the Saran Wrap ball starts trying to unwrap the plastic ball while wearing oven mitts.
GAME TIP: The "unwrapper" must wear the oven mitts at all times while doing the unwrapping.
Any prizes that fall out of the ball during this time, the “unwrapper” gets to keep. The game ball person continues unwrapping the ball until the person next to them rolls doubles.
6. Passing the ball to the next player.
Once doubles are rolled, the roller yells “DOUBLES!”
Quickly, the dice and the Saran Wrap ball & oven mitts are then passed left.
That means the previous roller now gets the Saran Wrap ball, puts on the oven mitts, and starts unrolling it as the new person (to the left) tries to roll doubles.
A person must have the prize completely unrolled and on the table in front of them to claim it. If it is “almost” unrolled when DOUBLES! is called, they still have to pass the ball on to the next player without claiming the prize.
Play continues quickly (without stopping) in a clockwise position until the very last prize in the middle has been unrolled and claimed.
7. Winning the game.
There is no one specific winner for this game because everyone gets to keep whatever prizes fall out during their turns.
Uh oh! This means some people may get a lot of prizes and others may get none! (You may want to let people know this ahead of time!)
The person who unwraps the last item in the middle is usually considered the “big winner” because the best prize is in the middle.
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! I hope you have more fun playing the plastic wrap ball game with oven mitts than I did. Some people prefer this version of the Christmas ball game. Those are people who don't like to have fun. (kidding, of course)(kind of)
