Youth groups love to get together but a Christmas party has extra enthusiasm. Keeping everything on a level playing field when juggling mixed ages and income can be challenging. You want everyone to come to the party and have a good time. Plus, as a youth group director or youth pastor you have to prepare for extra guests.
If you are a youth group director or youth pastor there is a lot that you can do to have a fun Christmas party. The following ideas assume that you will have the youth group Christmas party at church. You may have to adjust the decorating ideas if you are going to have the party in someone’s home.
Food
Keep the menu simple. Pizza is always a hit. If this is beyond your budget try getting a few boxes of pizza rolls instead. Chips, cookies and soda and even cups, napkins, plates and plasticware can be assigned to individual youth group members. Just be sure to have each youth sign up in his or her own handwriting. Be sure to include what each youth signed up to bring to the youth group Christmas party in any party reminders that you send.
Decorations
Simple decorations are often best for a youth group Christmas party. Tape a few streamers to the wall and add a couple of balloons. Cover the table in a Christmas tablecloth, put out the plates and you are ready to go.
Gift exchange
The kids always want to exchange gifts. Drawing names can be fun but there is always the chance that someone will be left out. Instead of drawing names for your youth group Christmas party have the kids each bring a Christmas item such as a tree ornament instead of a larger present.
Another thing that needs to be done is to set a price limit on the item. The parents of most of the kids coming to the youth group Christmas party will appreciate a low limit. Even a limit of $3 per youth is a lot if you have several kids in the group. If you add in the cost of wrap and a bow, plus bringing a bag of chips or food item to the party and your parents are easily over the $7 mark per student.
The best thing would be if the church could provide food items for the party. Not all churches have the financial means to do that. If this is the case for your youth group Christmas party it’s best to lower the price limit of the ornaments even further. Cute ornaments can be purchased for as little as $1 which gives parents more room to buy chips or cookies to send to the party.
No matter what you decide to exchange be sure to bring a couple of wrapped presents. Someone will forget or a new person might show up to your youth group Christmas party who didn’t know to bring an ornament. Either way, you will need to be prepared (another good reason to set a low price limit!)
The story of Mr. and Mrs. Wright is a fun way to exchange gifts. At the youth group Christmas party the youth coordinator or minister will read a story about the Wrights that she or he is written. A good description of the story is found on Factoidz here. This makes for a fun and exciting way to exchange the gifts. Make sure to stand back when you announce “Unwrap the gifts.”
You will also want to have extra trash bags handy at the youth group Christmas party. Wrapping paper, cups and plates may fly.
At the end of the youth group Christmas party be sure to have the kids help you clean up. Hand out fliers to remind them of any upcoming events and thank them all for coming. Then pat yourself on the back and sit down and relax. Congratulations for having a fun youth group Christmas party that everyone enjoyed.
