This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission from purchased products at no additional cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
If you’re looking to go beyond the typical holiday parties for young adults, women’s ministry, mixed groups, youth groups, and even leadership teams, this Christmas outreach post is for you!
Perfect for small churches and smaller groups, each idea is low-prep and low-fuss and can be planned with a few weeks’ notice. Simple events like these keep the focus on building relationships, reaching beyond our small church walls, and just doing ministry like Jesus!
Enjoy your holiday season with less fuss and more impact.
Events That Reach Out To Others
Caroling, Cocoa & Cookies
Print out copies of your favorite Christmas carols and either staple them together or hole-punch them and put them into a paper folder with fasteners. Ahead of time, plan your route through the neighborhood. Check with a local care home to schedule your caroling visit, or do some caroling outside one of your local stores in town. After caroling, return to the church for a snack bar with cookies and hot cocoa or coffee.
This post on Cookie Events gives great ideas for small churches!
Cookie Outreach To The Community
This is a low-key, easy Christmas outreach event your small church, young adults, youth, or women’s ministry can do with minimal planning!
Ask for volunteers to sign up to bring 5-6 dozen holiday cookies. (On the signup, participants make a note of what kind(s) of cookies they will bring. This helps to avoid dozens and dozens of last-minute chocolate chip cookies.)
Once everyone arrives, arrange the cookies onto disposable plates or trays. Cover with plastic wrap and place a bow on top. Divide into teams and deliver your Christmas goodies to your local first responders or elderly in your congregation.
For a different Christmas outreach idea, package cookies in smaller containers and pass them out at your local laundromat.
Holiday Blessing Party For Someone In Need
Choose a person or family to throw a party for in their honor. It may be an elderly widow who isn’t always able to drive to church, a single dad or mom, a struggling family, or someone who may need the blessing of encouragement, friendships, and gifts.
Once your guest of honor is chosen, meet with them and explain your group would like to bless them. Ask them about things they may need, favorite foods, favorite colors, and any food preferences or allergies. Provide a list of suggestions to your attendees. Be sure to include a mix of gift ideas and items needed to accommodate the possible budgets of those in your group.
Decorate your space to reflect a holiday party. Let your event be filled with music, mixer games, incredible food, and gifts to bless your guest of honor. If gifts are opened at the party, ask someone to make a list of gifts and givers for the guest of honor.
Tip: If your guest of honor is overwhelmed by the party, it might be a nice gesture to send the unopened gifts home with them to open privately.
For great get-to-know-you mixer ideas, read these 10 Must-Have Women’s Ministry Mixers For Small Churches.
The Travelling Christmas Platter (Progressive Event)
For this idea, you must have a sign-up to ensure everyone who gets the platter wants to keep it going to the next person.
To set up this event, purchase an inexpensive and non-breakable Christmas platter. Fill it with Christmas goodies or inexpensive stocking stuffer-type gifts and the signup list. Leave it at the doorstep of the first person on the list. Include a reminder note explaining the treats are theirs to enjoy, and within the next couple of days, they should fill the platter with treats and pass it along to the next person on the list.
The challenge is to keep it going throughout the month. Let your name be last on the list; this helps you know the Travelling Christmas Platter made it to everyone on the list.
Christmas Events Centered On Scripture
Gifts From God Bible Study
Take an evening and study the first chapter in the book of Ephesians. Ahead of time, print out the first chapter of Ephesians for each participant. Have colored pencils or markers on hand.
Ask for a volunteer to read aloud these 23 verses. Then as a group, discuss this chapter, one to three verses at a time, talking about the gifts of God we have through Christ Jesus.
Encourage participants to share specific examples of how these gifts can or have influenced their lives. Finish your study by giving each person an ornament with the name of Jesus Christ.
Christmas By Candlelight: An Advent Event
This evening is best done at the end of November or any time in December. It is an event celebrating waiting and what to do in the waiting. It is super meaningful as you draw the holiday season focus off the hustle & bustle, and shift focus to waiting for the celebration of Jesus’ birth.
Have one of your leaders read Luke 1:26-35, followed by a short group discussion about what it might have been like for Mary and Joseph as they waited for the birth of their child. Include Bible journaling, creating gratitude journals, and other types of calming, waiting, and de-stress activities in your event.
Finish with a simple soup and salad meal. If possible, eat by candlelight or dimmed lights. This event is all about slowing down, appreciating “the present,” and taking time.
Exchange Events: Cookies, Ornaments, & Gifts
The Party Where Everyone Gets Presents
This idea works best when you know the number of people attending. If 9 people will be at your party, ask them each to bring one reusable shopping bag (to carry home their gifts) and 9 individually wrapped gifts that are the same product.
For example, Sue brings 9 wrapped mini candles; Evelyn brings 9 wrapped holiday dish towels, and Jack brings 9 wrapped flashlights. Each person brings a gift for everyone –– including themself.
On a table, set out the wrapped gifts in groups. (The gifts are put in sections according to who brought them.) Partygoers take one gift from each grouping and will have a wonderful assortment of gifts to bring home. Gifts such as back scratchers, wool socks, shower steamers, or body lotion are simple and easy.
Thinking Of You Ornament Exchange
In November, draw names from those planning to attend your Christmas event. Create a DIY or purchase an ornament for your specific person. Choose or create one with their favorite colors, winter themes, activities, etc.
During your ornament exchange, each person shares how that specific ornament reminds them of the person receiving it. Bring extras for those who were able to come at the last minute. Try doing this ornament exchange from our blog post, 10 Holiday Events To Spice Up Your Women’s Ministry.
Get One, Give One Christmas Outreach Gift Exchange
Everyone brings a fun pair of gift-wrapped socks for your event gift exchange with those who attend. Ask participants to also bring items to donate to a local shelter or food pantry. (Reach out to your local food pantry or shelter and ask for a list of needed items. Let those coming to your holiday party know what things are needed.)
For more on outreach exchange, check out the ideas in Collection Drive Service Projects For Small Churches.
The Classic Ornament Gift Exchange
Ask your guests to bring an ornament for the exchange. (Enlist the help of a friend to bring a few extra ornaments for last-minute guests or visitors.) Use numbered removable stickers or numbered tags to put a number on each ornament’s back, bottom, hook, or string.
When your guests arrive, number the ornaments and have your guests put them on an undecorated tabletop Christmas tree. (Make a separate set of numbers on paper and as a number goes on the ornament, put the matching number into a hat.) When it is time for your exchange, guests pull a number out of a Christmas hat or basket and take the ornament with the corresponding number.
As a fun addition, purchase wooden ornaments for party favors.
Cookie Exchange Plus DIY Recipe Book
Try this classic cookie exchange (with a recipe book twist) at your next ministry event. A few weeks before your event, have sign-ups and list the name of the cookie they are bringing. Each person should bring at least 3 dozen cookies, a tray or container to bring home their cookies, and enough copies of the recipe for everyone. At your event, do the math to calculate how many of each kind each person can take.
Once the cookies are set up on the table, take time to assemble the DIY recipe books. Hole-punch the recipes and put them into paper folders with fasteners. Provide Christmas stickers (if you do this at Christmas time) and Sharpie permanent markers for your guests to decorate their cookbooks.
While putting the recipe books together, ask participants to share cookie-making traditions, family stories of holiday times, and favorite cookie-making memories.
Option: Open this event for families to sign up and bring cookies and recipes. (If two family members bring different types of cookies, they both get to take cookies home.) This gives an added dimension to another generation and increases connection with family histories and storytelling as they share about any family traditions making cookies.
Lives Are Transformed By Relationships; Events Are Just The Means
Everything Jesus did on the planet was all about relationships –– us with God and us with each other. Instead of planning an event to fill a calendar, let’s keep the main thing the main thing.
A Christmas outreach, party, or gift exchange is an opportunity to build brand-new connections, see and support others, and go deeper into community. For some, your event offers the perfect time to invite a neighbor or co-worker to join them.
So instead of thinking about filling a calendar, consider how to:
- Provide visitor-friendly events
- Build connections with new people
- Create opportunities to enjoy good gifts of joy, community, and creation
- Offer outreach opportunities
- Develop friendships
- Increase unity in your group
- Meet needs in your community
Comment below to let us know which ideas you’ve tried. We’d love to hear what you did!
Looking for something fresh and new for the holiday season?
Check out the Blue Christmas Pack & the Advent Worship Pack!
Read More
Caring Ways To Brighten The Holidays
