Best Tips For Planning The Ultimate Youth Christmas Party

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Whether you’ve had your Christmas tree up since November 1st, or you’re basically the human version of the Grinch, we can all agree that Christmas is a big opportunity in the church world. For the main service, there’s probably a lot of pressure around putting on a special Christmas service or program. You may very well feel a taste of that if the kids and teenagers at your church are usually involved in the Christmas program. But in the world of youth ministry, one of the classic ways to celebrate the Christmas season is throwing a youth Christmas party!

Finding The Best Place To Start

For some of us, the reason we got into youth ministry was to plan wacky, fun events. But for others of us, event planning is about the most stressful thing a person can ask us to do. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered today with seven tips for planning a fantastic youth group Christmas party. But before we jump into that, let me take some pressure off of you with a gospel lens for planning parties and events.

The Lord’s presence makes even the hard things a springboard toward joy. That’s the essence of the gospel message. The reason we count it all joy when we experience trials of various kinds is because every time we do something hard and invite God into that process, we grow, mature, and find long-lasting joy. So if event planning makes you unhappy, just remember that event planning can still bring you joy. We’ll give you some tips here, but you invite God’s Spirit to be present with you as you do the hard work of planning.

7 Tips For Planning The Ultimate Youth Christmas Party

1. Plan A Mix Of Game Types

When putting on an event, you want to meet most if not all of your students that attend: the super athletic kid, the kid who doesn’t like eye contact, and the extrovert who could talk to a wall. Choosing a variety of games gives you an opportunity to show them a game that could become their favorite. Choose group games where all play. Choose stage games where a select few play. Choose small group games where the students have to form smaller groups to do a task or perform. 

Some games that have worked for my youth group are: 

Christmas Movie Reenactment

Up Front Game

Put students in small groups (2-3) and give them a Christmas movie scene. Give them 4-5 minutes to plan, and then have them act out that scene in front of the group. Show the actual clip of the movie after they do their “performance.” Alternatively, you could have students act out fun, modern twists on the Christmas story, and then read the Christmas story in Scripture together afterward.

Steal The Christmas Tree

Group Game

Get a bunch of tiny Christmas tree figures and place/hide them around your space. The student that finds the most wins. Give a time limit. Tell the students they have to act like the Grinch while searching. 

Elf Spaghetti Contest

Up Front Game

Invite some students to the stage and make the elf spaghetti from the Will Ferrell movie. Use dice to roll and allow the number rolled to indicate what ingredient they have to add to their spaghetti. The first person to eat all of their “elf spaghetti” wins! Alternatively, you could have the students put the spaghetti together and YOU have to eat it (Pro-Tip: Make sure you have a trash can nearby!).

2. Be The Example 

As youth leaders, we are super cool, right? Our kids love us, right? As a youth leader, it’s our goal to come up with the craziest ideas. One thing that will really help with buy-in from your kids and leaders is if you are the example. If you want your kids to run like a Grinch for a game, show them your best Grinch run first. Let’s say you want your kids to act out a movie scene, act out one yourself. You might want your kids to eat spaghetti. Perfect. You should also eat spaghetti. 

If your kids see you as an example, then even if they are disgusted by the idea, they’re a lot more likely to buy in. 

Pro-Tip: If you’re worried that you’ll do “it” poorly if you make yourself the example, know that sometimes being the example of doing “it” poorly can actually be helpful. Students can be competitive, and they may be motivated by your example to do it better than you! 

3. Get Creative With Decorations 

For a Christmas party, get creative with the decorations. You can use decorations to set the vibe for the night as students are walking in. Decorations are always the first thing people notice. 

Examples of how to implement this into your party: 

• Get a balloon arch of red, green, and gold balloons that the students have to walk through to get to your space.
• Deck out the door to your youth space in wrapping paper.
• Use Christmas lights and trees to decorate your space. 
• Purchase Christmas snowflake fairy lights. 
• Play remixes of Christmas carols or other fun Christmas songs in your youth ministry space as the event is going on. 
• Hang a Christmas-themed backdrop to use as a photo booth for students.

4. Themed Food 

Everyone loves food. Food motivates people to come to things. When you have food that is linked to the theme of the party and unique to each event, the students will love it. 

Examples: 

• Candy Canes 
• Christmas Tree Cakes 
• Puppy Chow (peanut butter Chex mix) 
• Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer Punch 
• Sugar Cookie Fudge 
• Reindeer Pops (chocolate-covered oreos with pretzels as antlers) 
• Sweet Baby Jesus (pigs in a blanket) 
• Frankincense and Myrrh (gold and silver kisses) 

5. Promotion 

We all want our students to attend our events. We don’t want our students to miss out. How do we get them to our event? How do we inform them? Below is a simple system for intentionally promoting the event: 

• 4 Weeks Out: Begin including the information in your regular parent email. 
• 3 Weeks Out: Make a flyer/invitation to print out and hand out to students as they leave your space. Start making an announcement during service about it. 
• 2 Weeks Out: Make a funny video promoting your event. 
• 1 Week Out: Post on social media if you or your church has an account.
• 1 Day Out: Send one last email or group text to parents as a reminder.

6. Clothing Contest 

When we all think of Christmas, we think of an ugly sweater contest. Ugly sweater parties are awesome, but giving your students the opportunity to be unique in their costumes for your event can really help with your community of students. 

Contest can include: 

• Ugly sweater contest 
• Dress up as your favorite Christmas character 
• Dress up as a Christmas Tree 
• Dress up as a Christmas Song 
• Dress up as winter  

Give out prizes for each category or just select one category for your event. Have a costume contest during the event where students strut down a “runway” showing everyone their costume. I know I’m always amazed at the creativity of the students in my own youth group. 

7. Student Feedback 

When creating an event, we truly want to make an event that our students will love. Since our students come from different backgrounds and traditions at Christmas time, it is super important that you get feedback or input from your students. 

Here are some ways to obtain feedback/input: 

• When you are wanting to play a game with Christmas movies, ask your students what their favorite Christmas movie is. 
• When making the food for the event, ask your students what their favorite Christmas snack is. 
• When making a playlist for your event, have your students send you some songs they’d like to hear. 
• When coming up with prizes for an event, ask your students what prizes they would enjoy most. 

Making Memories And Celebrating Christ’s Birth

The Christmas season isn’t ultimately about games, costumes, or themed snacks. We know that. But when we ensure that our youth ministry offers events where students make memories, we bypass what their brain thinks about church Christmas and access what their heart feels about church Christmas. Those warm feelings and fond memories will matter in the future when life is hard or God feels distant. So, yes, we want to teach students about the coming of the Messiah and the significance of Christ’s birth, but we would also be wise to dress up like an elf and play some silly games. 

Merry Christmas, and remember: The Lord’s presence makes even hard things a springboard toward joy.

Read More:

Incorporating Mental Health Awareness Into Youth Ministry 

5 Impactful Youth Group Activities To Get Your Kids Engaged

Build Relationships Within Your Youth Group – Small Church Ministry