In 20 years of working with youth, the Christmas Party was always one of my favorite regularly scheduled youth group activities. It marked the end of the fall and provided a nice change-of-pace from the norm.
Below is a list of five Christmas Party ideas and how you can use them to present the good news to all who attend. I’ll let my friend Mark Knight, a youth pastor from Tacoma, Washington, introduce us to the first two via video (the complete list of five follows the video).
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- The Ugly Sweater… students are invited to wear the ugliest of all Christmas sweaters; make it evangelical by having a talk (perhaps even a student talk) about the ugliness that we all possess because of sin.
- White Elephant… the classic, bring a brand new gift (we suggest for $7 or less) or something used that is still useable. Do the gift exchange with two or three “steals” allowed. A message about “value” would fit in nicely. Something may not look great, but it may still be used for a great purpose. Tie this into Christ redeeming something that has no value (dead) but now has eternal purpose!
- The Christmas Formal… Parents or lay leadership provide a fancy dinner. Students get dressed up, but the rule is that everything they wear must be borrowed or purchased at a thrift shop. This is not a “date” event, everything is done in groups (i.e. “9th grade guys”). Have someone build a backdrop/Christmas scene for the pictures. Have students provide the talent for the evening (music, skits, poetry, etc.) and tie a gospel message around what we “expect” with a formal and what was expected by the Israelites with their messiah (a formal, political king).
- Two Minute Movie… Students in small groups pick and perform a Christmas movie in two minutes or less. You can do this an impromptu event (split into groups that evening and give 20 minutes to prepare) or something students do and prepare for for a week or two before (get unchurched friends to help). You can even invite students to do via video. The night of the event you’ll want to have someone share the Best Story ever in about a two minute time frame as well!
- Night Light Blessing: Students are broken into groups and given $X amount to go out and be an intentional blessing to a neighbor who does not currently have any Christmas decorations lit up outside. Churched and unchurched students will get creative in what lights they purchase and may even contribute/donate from their own light supplies. Students will then take a picture of finished product and return for the dessert and reveal of the picture and the stories of the people at the house that was blessed. Tie a talk into Christian being the light of the world and invite unsaved students to understand they too can know Jesus through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Let’s make our Christmas party more than a one-night event, let’s make it an eternal celebration!
Do you have other ideas for Christmas Party ideas that can be used for evangelistic purposes? Are you going to try one of the five suggested ideas above?
