Christmas Classroom Party Ideas

Fun tips, helpful hints and creative classroom ideas
 
Ho-Ho-Ho and Merry Christmas! This is the season to have a fun holiday party and play some festive party games. If you are a room parent, our advice is to get other class parents involved early on as this is a busy time for everyone.
 
 
PLANNING VOLUNTEERS:
Successful class parties need lots of helping hands. Signupbuzz makes it easy to create online signup sheet (hyperlink to an example) making it easy to get volunteers lined up and organized. Automatic reminders and adding to Google/ Yahoo/ outlook calendar ensures that parents stay on top of their tasks.
 
FOOD:
Make it a potluck.
 
 
MUSIC:
Have a parent volunteer in charge of bringing holiday music for the party. Holiday music is a fast way to bring everyone into the holiday spirit.
 
GAMES:
 
Below are some of our favorite games.
 
Freeze dance: Start a nice holiday song. While the music is playing, the children dance. When you pause or stop the song they have to freeze. Whoever keeps dancing after the music stops is out. The last kid or kids left at the end of the song win. We recommend giving a small prize like stickers or bouncy ball to the kids who have won.
 
Who's Santa? Borrowing from the classic winking game, Santa winks at people and when someone gets winked at they say Ho Ho Ho! Will Rudolph discover who Santa is before the next Ho Ho Ho! Santa is hiding and Rudolph is eager to find him so that all the children's presents can be delivered.
 
Have all the children sit in a circle. One child is selected to be Rudolph and leaves the room while Santa is selected. One person from the circle is elected to be the "Santa", and then "Rudolph" is called back to stand in the circle.
 
Once Rudolph returns Santa can start winking at people in the circle. Anyone who sees that they have been winked at lets out a loud, "HO! HO! HO! – Merry Christmas. Once Rudolph identifies Santa, you start again.
 
Christmas stocking guessing game: The game is about having the kids identify what holiday objects are in the stocking? Pass around a Christmas stocking filled with holiday items and see how many they can identify.
 
Take a large new Christmas stocking. Then you put objects, that you see or use around Christmas time, into the stocking. If you have more than one stocking make sure you put the same things in each Christmas stocking.
 
Consider things like ball, candy cane, ornament, pine cone, etc. Make sure you put about 20 different objects in. Tie a ribbon or rope to make sure nobody peeks.
 
Give everyone a piece of paper and pass the Christmas stocking or stockings around at your party and tell them how many objects there are in the stocking and have them write down all they can feel. The person that correctly guesses the most objects in the sock is the winner.
 
To make the game go faster, use two stockings and a time limit of 2 to 3 minutes per child.
 
GIFT EXCHANGE:
 
Be sure to provide gift guidelines, limit the amount each parent spends on a gift to $5-$10. Ask each child to bring a wrapped and gender-neutral gift. Assign a number to each gift, let the kids draw numbers from a bag. Whichever number they draw will correspond with the gift they get.
 
 
PLAN A GROUP TEACHER GIFT:
 
Skip the photo frames and candles this year. Consider making a group donation to the teacher's favorite charity or asking parents to contribute to a Winter Break Basket the teacher can enjoy with her own family. Include items such as movie ticket, wine bottle, gift cards for coffee shop, retail stores or restaurants.
 
 
CRAFTS:
Origami Santa: Making an Origami Santa is always fun for the kids. Easy to make and the kids are so proud of their creation. You will need a black marker and a square sheet of paper, one side red and the other side white.