Theme Ideas – Getting into Christmas
Thursday 29th October 2015.01 Christmas Sketch
Could your young people learn and practice this fantastic sketch to perform in church in the lead up to Christmas, alternatively they could go along and perform to the Anchor or Junior Sections. The sketch tells the Christmas story using a superheroes theme, which is fun and will keep everyone entertained. It’s also a great way of reinforcing the Christmas story with the young people in this age group.
Download at leaders.boys-brigade.org.uk/christmassketch.pdf
.02 Christmas Photo-Booth
Purchase a ‘Christmas Selfie Props’ kit available from high street retailers, online or make your own props. Props could include santa/elf hats, reindeer noses/antlers, snowman nose/hat, etc. Get members of your group to take a fun selfie or pose for a fun festive group photo. You may also be able to get a frame to use to take the photos for even more effect.
.03 Pass the Parcel (with a twist)
Get your wrapping paper and sellotape at the ready to create your parcel. You will also need some sweets and a bigger prize for the middle and you know what you need to do. But the twist is to add in with each sweet, a challenge. Be creative, but some ideas to get you going include ‘sing your favourite nursery rhyme’, ‘show us your best dance moves’, ‘tell us a joke’, ‘act like a monkey for 20 seconds’, ‘share a funny story’, ‘sing We Wish you a Merry Christmas’, ‘talk about the real Christmas story for 30 seconds’. You should have a great laugh!
.04 Tree Prayers
You will need a Christmas tree, greetings tags and pens. Give each young person a greetings tag and ask them to think about something they would like to pray for this Christmas. They could write several prayers or you could encourage them to write different types of prayer. Once written ask them to attach the tags to the Christmas Tree. If appropriate place the Christmas tree in a location where others can see it and may read the prayers, or you could ask the church if you could put the tags on the church tree. Finish this activity by leading a time of prayer incorporating some, if not all of the young people’s prayers.
.05 Wrapping Paper Challenge
Get the young people into teams for this challenge. It’s all about wrapping up one member of the team as quickly as possible, but remember that presentation is also important! A leader(s) should then judge the team’s efforts and decide on a winner.
.06 Secret Santa
Everyone buys a gift for everyone else… write-out a slip for every member of the group and put in a hat, each person should pull out a name (as long as not their own) for whom they buy a gift. Set a limit of £3-£5 (do not go too high). The gifts should be wrapped and brought along to your last night before Christmas and put under the tree (discreetly) before handing out the gifts and opening later in the evening.
.07 Our Community
Christmas is an ideal time to do something for the community. Imagine the impact if you setup a free gift wrapping service at your local shopping centre. No catches, just a service for people and a way to interact with your local community. Or what about helping at a Soup Kitchen? Ask your young people what they think they could do, and help make a difference to the lives of others this Christmas.
