Merry Christmas

Archive for the ‘Christmas Parties & Party Activities’ Category

Christmas is described as a festive season therefore we should all engage in activities during the season that provide entertainment, merriment and which give pleasure. Because Christmas is about celebration, many types of festivities can be found to suit all preferences to make the season a joyful one. Read the rest of this entry »

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Just because you’re stuck in an office all day doesn’t mean Christmas fun can’t extend to your workplace. Depending on the environment at your work, it’s definitely possible to mix holiday fun with work.

One obvious choice for some fun at the office during the holidays is to have a party. You could have several, in fact. How about a cookie exchange party? Plan to do this at lunchtime one day, and during that block of time, everyone brings several dozen cookies they have made. You have to set a particular number of cookies everyone brings. Because once everyone has an empty plate, they go around the table picking up cookies that look good to them and place them on their empty paper plate. If everyone brought 3 dozen cookies, say, then everyone gets to take home 3 dozen cookies. This is not a particularly unique idea, but one that brings a bit of fun into the workplace.

Keeping in mind whether or not the public visits your workplace, you might choose to decorate. Why not have a Christmas tree decorating event? Everyone brings 6 ornaments and as a group activity, everyone decorates the tree. This is a good way to build team spirit and decorate your workplace at the same time.

Don’t forget to institute a “secret Santa” event at work, where you secretly buy gifts for someone and have some type of gift exchange. But what about a “Santa’s helper” activity? Someone in the group has to begin this on the sly. Essentially, this first person (the only one in the know about how the whole thing began) puts together a little gift. Ideally, it’s a basket with a few gift items in it. They might be decorative items, or baked goods or even bath items. Attach a card saying that “Santa’s helper” dropped by and brought these items. Now the person who received the “helper’s” gift must put together a little something for someone else and – again on the sly – deliver it to the next person. It continues until everyone has received a visit from “Santa’s helper”.

Nothing brings people together like a group activity designed to help others. What if your officemates came up with an activity designed to help people less fortunate at the holidays? You might adopt a local family and everyone in the office purchases items for that family. You might choose to purchase  Christmas Gifts or food for needy families. If the public visits your office often, you might even begin a “sharing” tree and people can bring items to put under the tree for needy families or children. As a group activity, the office workers can then deliver these items to the needy.

The particularly festive office might want to have someone come in and do a cooking demonstration. If there are enough people interested, you can hire a cook or baker to come into your office on your lunch hour and do a demonstration or class. Say you want to bake but don’t know what to bake this year. A baker can come in and demonstrate cookies or other goodies you might not have thought to make. Or someone can come in with ideas and samples for the perfect Christmas meal. These ideas are perfect for the environment where people work many hours and are quite busy but still want to do their regular cooking and baking each year.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Family is at the core of the Christmas season, so creating fun memories with your family is always at the top of the must-do list this time of year.

What fun activities can you incorporate into your family life that makes Christmas memorable and fun? Plenty, really. There are the traditional and the things a little bit out of the box. Read the rest of this entry »

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Many public schools don’t allow gift exchanges during the Christmas season, but some do and certainly many private schools do. Many fun games can be created to make the gift exchange really fun and festive for kids. Read the rest of this entry »

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

There are dozens of fun office gift exchange games people can play during the Christmas season. Officemates might have a “secret Santa” gift exchange or a popular “white elephant” gift exchange. All are popular and always fun, provided the rules are clear and everyone understands them. Read the rest of this entry »

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Advent Calendars

During the weeks leading up to Christmas many families celebrate the anticipation of the holiday with an Advent Calendar. There are many ways to make your own Advent Calendar and it is a fun family project designing and putting it together. Here are some simple calendar ideas to get your started.

The word advent means “arrival” and the calendar is a good way for families to count down the days until the big celebration day arrives. There are many ways to make an advent calendar each having its own special way of rewarding little ones for their patience.

There are many printable templates that you can find online to guide you in your calendar design. You can make an advent wreath made with handprints, or make an  advent jar or tree.

Advent Wreath

Supplies you will need:

Construction Paper
Glue
Markers, crayons or paint
Paper Plate
Pencil

What to do:

Step #1 – Make a wreath out of the paper plate by cutting out the center of the plate.

Step #2 – Have your child put a hand on a green piece of construction paper and trace his entire hand and fingers with a pencil.

Step #3 – Cut out the hand and then use it to trace 23 more on green construction paper so you have 24 hands alltogether.

Step #4 – Now with a dark colored marker write a good deed on each handprint. (if young children will be participating make sure the deeds are within their ability to complete).

Step #5 – Starting on December 1st., pick one cut-out hand for the entire family to do that day. Example: the good deed is to say something nice about someone else. Each family member needs to do this at least once that day.

At the end of the day a family member will glue the handprint onto the wreath

When all 24 handprints are on the wreath you will have something to be proud of and a beautiful decoration for your home.

Advent Jar – (Special Blessings)

Supplies you will need:

Large Jar (glass or plastic)

Christmas themed stickers or other decorations

Construction Paper

Markers or Crayons

Use 24 themed stickers or other holiday small decorations, or you can have your little ones make some of their own decorations. You can do a combination of these suggestions too. Just make sure that you end up with 24 all together.

What to do:

Step #1 – Take a black marker and write a one-word blessing on each decoration. You an go round-robin with family members (the ones old enough) for blessing suggestions. You can also add one person’s name on each decoration.

Step #2 – Place all 24 decoration inside of the jar.

Step #3 – On December 1st a lucky family member gets to draw a decoration out of the jar and glue it to the outside of the jar. What ever one word blessing is written on the paper is what family members will be giving thanks for that day. If you chose to write a person’s name on the decoration, than each family member should think good thoughts about that person all day.

Step #4 – On Christmas eve the jar will be empty but the outside will be decorated with blessings and family members will be rewarded for their good thoughts when someone fills the empty jar with yummy holiday treats.

Advent Christmas Tree

Supplies you will need:

Felt – green

Felt – Assortment of brightly colored

Tracing Paper

Self-adhesive Velcro Circles

What you need to do:

Step #1 – Draw a Christmas Tree on thin tracing paper or use a pattern from the internet or a book you might find on Christmas crafts.

Step #2 – Pin the tracing paper onto the felt (green), and cut out the shape of the tree.

Step #3 – Cut out ornament shapes out of the brightly colored felt (freehand or use a pattern from the internet or a Christmas craft book). You will need 24 ornaments.

Step #4 – Stick the prickly half of the Velcro circles all over the tree where you will be placing the ornaments.

Step #5 – Now, stick the other half of each Velcro circle on each of the ornaments.

Step #6 – Starting with December 1, you “hang” an ornament on your advent tree by sticking an ornament onto the tree where you placed the prickly parts of the Velcro circles. Hang one ornament each day. They will all be hung by Christmas Eve and you will have a beautifully decorated felt advent tree.

If you do not have the needed supplies you can use construction paper for the tree and ornaments and attach the ornaments to the tree with glue or tape.

Find out more about the Playmobil Advent Calendars and Christmas Playsets past and present here

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Many families are facing financial crunches this year, with job layoffs, skyrocketing costs of gasoline, and the general all around increase in the cost of living. It is important to continue to give children the wonder and enjoyment of the holidays even when budgets scream to skimp. There are plenty of ways to bring holiday cheer to your home and not spend a lot of the green stuff. Here are some simple holiday pleasures to get your creative juices flowing.

Make use of holiday craft ideas to decorate your home, make homemade gift-wrap and also to make homemade presents. Learn a new skill like sewing, crocheting or knitting so that you can make homemade gifts. Bead making is another popular craft that is ideal for presents.

Sometimes you can discover a gift idea that your child really wants, that is within your budget such as an item that they are collecting, or a kit that they can make. Elementary school aged kids are especially into collecting and kit making.

Take advantage of free holiday programs your community may be sponsoring this season. Parks, zoos and nature centers will often times have special holiday programs that are free to attend or participate in. Make sure you pick up community flyers and notices.

Kids love to do family activities together, especially during the holidays. Do activities like having a “cookie factory” day. A cookie factory day is when you purchase cooking fixins ahead of time, have you recipes ready and then designate a Saturday for all family members to gather around the kitchen table to make several batches of holiday cookies. Its fun to bake cookies together and afterwards you can set aside a plateful of cookies to munch with hot cocoa in front of a holiday TV program.

A great holiday tradition around here is to go Christmas caroling around the neighborhood. You can also go to a community nursing or residential home and sing carols there. The elderly are often lonely during the holidays and would love to have visitors sing Christmas songs to them.

Take some time during the holidays to help out those less fortunate then you by volunteering at a community soup kitchen, homeless shelter, or other needy project. You may consider asking your local hospital for individuals that may need to have some cheering up and visit those in the hospitals who may be away from home or whom are without relatives.

Remember your furry friends during the holidays and visit animal shelters bringing with you extra blankets or little chew toys. Sometimes you can volunteer to walk the dogs there or play with the animals in cages that need exercising.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite