Christmas Party
"Ho,Ho,Ho" Spread a little Christmas cheer with a Children's party at home or why not book the local village hall, a lot less stressful and you don't have to worry about the little one's spilling Ribena on your cream carpet.
Christmas Party Planning.
Put everything on your "to-do" list from plates to games, planning is crucial, you don't want to leave everything until the last minute or you will not enjoy it.
Try to give yourself 4 to 6 weeks to prepare. This will allow plenty of time for on-line orders, invitation responses, Christmas party planning, shopping etc.
Where to find your party supplies:
Lots of high street stores and supermarkets sell Christmas party packs but if you have access to the internet you will find a huge range to suit every budget. It's a good idea to order a little extra festive party ware for those last minute get togethers, it saves on the washing up and creates a great festive feel.
Instead of buying invites, you could get the children involved and make them.
A simple Christmas tree or star, cut from coloured card or paper, inviting your guests to join in the Christmas spirit will do the job nicely.
Christmas Party Games and Activities for Kids
WRAPPING RELAY
(Kids over 9 yrs)
You'll need an identical box for each team.
Wrap the packages before the party. Divide the children into teams.
Each team will receive a wrapped gift box, wrapping paper sheet for each player, tape and possibly ribbon.Place these items on a table or the floor for a gift wrap station. To play the game, a team member will leave their group, run to the gift station, unwrap the gift, rewrap the gift, and run back to tag the next team member. The first team to have each member wrap the gift wins.
FOLLOW THE CHRISTMAS STAR
Hide cut out stars and star shapes before the party.
Divide the children into teams and send them off searching for stars. The star team is the one that finds the most stars. Each star could also be labelled up with a special or booby prize inside an envelope "win a bag of sweets" or "win an empty crisp packet".
GOOD OLD PASS THE PARCEL
Before the party, place enough Christmas goodies (chocolate, candy canes etc.) for all
of the guests in the first wrapping.
Then wrap that parcel, remembering to place a treat in-between the wrapping. Repeat again and again until there are several layers. To play the game, everyone sits in a circle. Play Christmas music while "passing the parcel" around from player to player. When the music stops, the player holding the parcel unwraps one layer. Then, play the music and begin passing again.
Continue to play until the last layer is unwrapped and the treats are handed out.
SNOWBALL RACE
You'll need white foam balls or balls of white wool or if you have time, make some white pom poms with the children. (I loved to make pom poms with my gran, and still have great memories.) You'll also need some table spoons and woolly mittens for each team.
Play this game as you would any relay race. Divide into teams. Each player takes turns putting on mittens and balancing a 'snowball' on a spoon while racing to the other side of the room.
Drop the snowball into a bucket, return to the team, pass the mittens to the next team member and go to the back of the line. First team to complete the race wins.
SANTA'S BIG TRIP
Players sit in a circle. The first player says, "On Christmas Eve I'm going travelling with Santa and I'm going to take (something starting with A)." The next player repeats the first object and adds an object beginning with B.
Continue the game through the alphabet, those that can't think of anything or forgets the list so far drops out.
CHRISTMAS CRACKERS
Beforehand, make a series of crackers with old cardboard kitchen roll tubes wrapped up in either tissue paper or gift wrap. Before you twist the ends round and tie off with string, place a little treat inside and also a clue. The clue is part of the game, as what you need to do is hide the crackers around the house then give each team a starting clue as to where their first cracker
is hidden. The first team to return to you with their final cracker is the winner.
Do you plan on having Father Christmas pay a visit to your party?
Here's a few things to keep in mind:
Little children may not be comfortable with a Santa visit, allow them the option to do another activity while Santa visits.
If you are hiring a Father Christmas to come to your party, make sure he has references and is police checked, feel free to ask and also how much experience he has. Alternatively, hire or buy a suit and beard and a Grandad always makes a good Santa. However, he'll probably need RADA training and an oscar winning performance in order for your own children not to recognise him and blow the whistle.
Get him to read The Night Before Christmas and pre-prepare him with a 'naughty and nice list' where all the children at the party are in the 'nice' section. For fun, put one or two of the adult's names on the 'naughty list'.
And don't forget, make sure he's out of sight when getting changed (the garage is a good location) and the costume is well hidden before and after.
