Christmas Party

What about having the kids do a service project? They could make 1-2 Christmas Cards that could then be donated to an elder care agency, a local hospital or to a homebound meal delivery program. The kids get to do a fun project, but also learn about giving back. -- It really is amazing how a little hand made card can brighten someone's day & Christmas.

Happy Holidays!

Dear R.;

Why not take this opportunity to teach the kids about the word and concept
of solstice. How Dec. 21 is the Longest night/shortest day of the year and it's
relationship to all the seasons in general ? They could color a xerox picture
of the Sun or a Starry Long night.. OR they could sit in a circle and each
be asked "what would be a fun thing to do on the longest night of the year"
getting the child involved by thinking and expressing an idea.

NIGHT BEFORE
CHRISTMAS GAME
TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS PASS-AROUND GIFT EXCHANGE
Read fairly slowly pausing at punctuation.

The group forms a circle or sits in a straight row (separate circles or rows if males and females are present). Each holds the gift he brought to the party. While the poem is being read, each person passes his gift to the person on his right when reader says RIGHT; when reader says LEFT, each passes the gift he has to the left. The gift each person has in his hands at the conclusion of the poem is his to keep. NOTE: No one will receive the gift he brought if all pass gifts as directed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twas the night RIGHT before Christmas when RIGHT through the house
Not a creature was LEFT stirring, not even a mouse--
The stockings were hung RIGHT by the chimney with care,
in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be RIGHT there.
The children were nestled RIGHT snug in their beds,
while visions of sugarplums danced RIGHT in their heads,
And mama in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
had just settled RIGHT down for a long winter's nap,
When RIGHT out on the LEFT lawn there rose such a clatter,
I sprang RIGHT from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the RIGHT window I LEFT like a flash;
tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
LEFT a luster of midday to objects RIGHT below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature sleight and eight tiny reindeer.
With a little old driver RIGHT lively and quick;
I knew RIGHT in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came;
and he whistled and shouted, and called them RIGHT by name:
"Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On Comet, on Cupid, on Donder and Blitzen!
To the RIGHT top of the porch! To the LEFT top of the wall!
Now dash away, dash away, dash RIGHT away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly
when they meet RIGHT with an obstacle, mount RIGHT up to the sky,
So up to the housetop the coursers they LEFT flew,
with a sleighful of toys and St. Nicholas, too.
And then in a twinkling, I heard RIGHT on the roof,
the prancing and pawing of each little RIGHT and LEFT hoof.
As I drew in my head and was turning LEFT around�
down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, RIGHT from his head to his LEFT foot,
and his clothes were all LEFT tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of toys he had flung RIGHT on his back,
and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His RIGHT and LEFT eyes, how they twinkled! His dimples�how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was LEFT drawn up like a bow,
and the beard LEFT on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held RIGHT in his teeth,
and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a round little belly,
that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was RIGHT chubby and plump, a RIGHT, RIGHT jolly old elf,
and I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself.
A wink of his LEFT eye and a LEFT twist of his head,
soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went RIGHT straight to his work,
and filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk
And laying his finger to the LEFT of his nose,
and giving a nod, he LEFT�up the chimney he rose.
He sprang RIGHT to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
and away they all LEFT like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he LEFT--out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all�and to all a good night!"

Hi R.,
One of may favorite of ornament making is using pipe cleaners and pony beads to make ornaments, necklaces etc. We've done it two years running for our homeschool Christmas party.
Blessings,
Homebusiness homeschooling Mom,
S.

I love the suggestion to do something for others. I think that will help kids think about what the spirit of Christmas is supposed to be about anyway, right?
Homemade cards to a local home for the elderly is an awesome idea. Kids love to draw/color/paste stuff onto construction paper. You could cut out some shapes ahead of time if kids want to paste on things like snowmen, stars, round ornaments, trees, etc.

We were invited to a local country club for a Christmas party. They had pre-made gingerbread houses (graham crackers and frosting) and bowls of gum drops, licorice, frosted mini-wheats, M&Ms, etc and tubes of frosting to use as glue. It was not messy because the contruction of the houses was already done and it took about 10 minutes to do. I was delightfully surprised with how well it went. (My kids are 3 and 4 so we had to help with the frosting but the older kids did fine.)

Hi I am my daughters second grade roommom, and we are doing crossword puzzles, coloring "santa", an ornament, another relay game the teacher has, making a snow globe, making a jar of "hot coco" for the parents, lots of fun stuff. FamilyFun.com has so many wonderful ideas. That and also parents.com too. Good Luck and don't for get the snack too :o)

You don't want to over do it, so maybe settle them down and read a Christmas story to them.

You could have a couple ornaments to make, maybe sing some songs (like jingle bells). You can print color pages of the internet at http://www.first-school.ws/theme/h_wholidays.htm.

You could also have them make a card to send to the troops. I don't know who you would mail them to though.

make something to give to someone in need. Or write holiday cards for an old folks home or something like that. have fun! (Kids love to make necklaces with candy or food)

What about Pin the Tail or Nose on Rudolph??

Since you have two 'sit-down' projects you may want to get them up and moving a little. Pin the nose on the snowman or singing Christmas songs would be fun. You could settle them back down by watching a short video or taking turns telling about holiday plan, favorite thing to do, what they want from Santa etc... could take up some time without a lot of preperations.

A game is always a fun idea. You can usually find some on the Internet like Christmas bingo. You can also do a "pin" the nose on the snowman. I just get a poster board and draw the snowman, minus the nose, of course. Then you get some orange paper and make some carrot noses. If it goes too fast, the kids always like a second chance. Another fun thing is the dreidel game. You can get some cheap dreidels at the Jews center up by the U of U campus. You can also get instructions. You can play with candy to make it more interesting to the kids. It also allows the to learn about a different tradition, they might not already know.

How about a game like put the star on the tree (like pin the tail on the donkey) or an art activity? An easy art activity might be to use blue paper and white chalk to make a snow picture, or coffee filters to make snow flakes. If you do the coffee filter snow flakes you can always paint glue and sprinkle glitter on them after they are cut out.

There is a really good Disney Website that has craft and other party ideas; you may try them to get some ideas. www.familyfun.com there is also a website that has stories that you can personalize with your child’s name, and other activities at www.northpole.com Hope this helps.

A great Christmas game for kids in to play musical chairs, but with a box wrapped in several layers of paper. Inside the box you put a piece of candy or small trinket for each child. The kids sit on the floor in a circle and pass around the present until the music stops. Whoever has the present when the music stops unwraps the first layer of paper. When all the paper is gone everyone gets the surprise inside. The kids really enjoy this. :-)
Have fun.

Make gingerbread houses out of Graham wafers.

definitely agree that reading some christmas book to them at one of the stations would be best, and then another craft,like a place mat that you weave read and green construction paper together (Just cut slits in one direction in one of the colors, one inch apart, to within one inch of the end, then cut one inch strips of the other color to weave with)

One year the favorite game we did for the kids was to take small toys (plastic animals, stickers, erasers) and we wound them up with streamers. So we took the roll of crepe paper streamers, and slowly rolled toys into a big ball. One toy roll several layers around it and then add a toy and roll several layers, and continue until we had a large ball with enough little things for each child to receive 1. Each child took a turn unraveling it. It was supposed to be an extra thing we did in addition to other crafts and games, and it turned out to be the favorite for the all of the kids. I would definitely check out the family fun website that was suggested. We always get our school craft ideas from there. Have fun!

Have each child bring a book gift wrapped and play musical gifts. they sit in a circle and pass the books around to music. When the music stops they open the gift they have. I usually go several rounds before I actually let them open. It's a lot of fun. You'll end up with one kid having several books piled on them and some with one, so regroup and go again!
Trace their feet and hands on brown paper. Use the foot for the head and the hands for the antlers to make a reindeer. Put a cotton ball on the bottom for a nose, draw eyes or use googly eyes.
You didn't say what grade....good luck!

I don't know what age your kids are but when I did a first grade party, We played a holiday bingo game that the teacher had. Strung red, green, and white beads on a pipe cleaner to make a bracelet, and I found some CHEAP wooden door hangers at Hobby Lobby that the kids colored with their markers.

Relay races with plastic ball ornament and a spoon?

If you are musical, You could always play "Name that Holiday Tune" by humming a tune and letting them call out the name.

That's all I got! Good luck!

L.

What about making chains that count down the remaining days until Christmas with the link for Christmas Eve being gold or silver and the rest of the links being the usual red and green? Making a card for the troops or someone else of their choice is another idea. Or even making a gift for the parents. These are all ideas that they have done in years past for my children's classes.
Good luck and Merry Christmas!

Our Sunday School class loves to do crafty things to decorate our classroom, so here are a few ideas we did:
~cut out snowflakes (I printed out patterns to make some really cool ones) then we glued glitter and hung on the walls and from the ceiling.
~glued glitter to foam balls to make them look like snowballs
~stuffed white garbage bags with newspaper and old shopping bags. We did 3 of them, stacked them on top of each other to make a huge, indoor snowman.
~we also made homemade Christmas cardsfor family, friends, neighbors.

Have so much fun!!