Festive fun at toddler group

I love organising our Christmas parties at toddler group. It’s a great way to finish the year with a bang (often literally, in fact, but hopefully not so loud that it frightens the babies!).

Setting the scene:

• Send a note to parents/carers the week before the party to ask them to dress the children in a festive outfit. (You’ll be amazed how many ‘Marys’ there will be and everyone will really enjoy the babies looking so sweet wearing their Rudolph ears or Santa outfits.)
• A well-decorated Christmas tree will instantly liven up your room. If you don’t have much space, opt for a small artificial tree – even a 12-inch table- top one will make an impact.
• Hang lights and tinsel around the room, decorate the tables with Christmas tablecloths, and use Christmas plates and cups.
• Get the team in a party mood by asking them to dress up – Santa hats, Reindeer antlers, Wise Men crowns – you-name-it, with Christmas ear-rings or sparkly badges.
• Play Christmas music in the background while everyone is coming in.

Activities:

• Craft-time – Choose a few different crafts this week if possible. You can see a selection of Christmas crafts on our website.
• Story-time - There’s surely only one choice really for Storytime! Reading the story of Baby Jesus is the perfect opportunity to tell the parents, carers and children what Christmas is all about. Could your team do a small drama of the story or a puppet show to make it extra-special? Or why not ask your church leader or a member of your congregation to come as a ‘special guest’ to tell the story. This is a great way of introducing the church to toddler group.
• Snack-time - Treat the children and adults by providing some special party food. You could give the children tiny sandwiches, crisps, a little sausage and mini Christmas cakes, while the adults could have salmon and cucumber or cheese and pickle sandwiches, Pringles, sausage rolls and Christmas cake. Make it extra special by giving the adults Schloer or non-alcoholic mulled wine to drink.
• Song-time – Invite a guest musician to the party to play a few simple songs on the guitar or piano – perhaps a youth leader or someone from your church music group. Verse one of ‘Away in a Manger’ always works well, of course.
• Present-time – Decide when it would be a good time to get everyone to quieten down to listen out for the jingle of bells outside the room (maybe at the end of song-time, for example). You may like to have a Father Christmas come to give out presents, but an alternative is to leave a Santa Sack outside the door. It’s certainly a good way to avoid the difficulty of Santa frightening some of the children.

A present of a book is always a good idea. The Book People at www.thebookpeople.co.uk have a great selection of books sold in packs relevant for 0 – 5’s for very reasonable prices.

Invitation to church services

Christmas is a fantastic opportunity to invite parents, carers and children to your church events, especially to children’s services such as the Christingle service or children’s nativity service. They are always hugely enjoyed, so invest some time in making and giving out special invitations.

However you decide to do your Christmas party this year, have lots of fun and please write to me to let me know how it went. I’ll share your stories so that we can give each other new ideas for next year.
 

Last Updated 18 November 2011