Songs:
1. As a mixer, use the song “12 days of Christmas” and divide your club into 6 groups. Group 1 will have “the 1st day of Christmas and the 7th day of Christmas, Group 2 will have day 2 and day 8, etc… Personalize the song to fit your club. Ex: If you took kids to Crooked Creek and the program team used Skippy the fish, then you could change the lyrics to: “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, Skippy in a Crooked Creek.” Be creative.
2. Rudolph, Feliz Navidad, and Jingle Bells are good fast ones.
3. What Child is this and Silent Night are good slow ones.
4. Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is you” is good background music for fillers and games.
5. “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” by N’Sync is a must. I would play it at least 5x during the night. It’s a winner!
Games
1. If you need a large group game you can play “Encore” or “Sing-off” and have each class compete (team of freshmen, team of sophs, etc…) to sing Christmas carols. If they repeat one that has already been sung, they are out. Works pretty good if you have team captains for each group.
2. The traditional “Little Nemo” skit works great with Elves. It’s explained here on the YLplaybook website.
3. Christmas Carols with Helium is another winner.
4. The best game you can play is the BUDDY THE ELF SPAGHETTI EATING CONTEST!
Start it off by showing the clip from the movie Elf where Will Ferrell eats spaghetti with maple syrup, marshmallows, m&ms, skittles, etc… You can view the clip hereand download it using http://zamzar.com
Then have a character come on stage dressed as an Elf. You can buy an “elf shirt” lots of places like Walmart/Target or online at Elf Shirt Purchase. Have “Buddy the Elf” come out with all the ingredients mentioned above. You also need a tarp, towels for the kids to clean up with afterwards, theme music to play in the background, and bowls. Have the kids race to eat with their hands. Give out decent sized portions where a kid can actually eat it all in a minute. If you put too much in there, it will take to long and be a dud.
5. Here’s a link to a “Name that Christmas Carol” game. You can download it, print it and make copies.
Extras
1. Create a JibJab video of your YL leaders heads on elfs bodies to show at club here You have to pay to download it, or you can just show it if you have internet where you have club.
2. Invite a committee member or parent to dress up as Santa and have kids get their pics taken with him. Post those pics on Facebook and tag them with the kids names. It will help your leaders learn names and be free marketing for your YL club to the facebook friends of the kids in the pictures. Invite another adult to take the pics in order to free up leaders to be with kids. Lighting is key for good photos. Chances are that you have a parent or friend of YL in the community who loves photography, has a sweet camera, and would love to do it for free.
3. Buy Candy Canes to pass out. They’re cheap and festive.
4. Encourage kids to dress up in their ugliest Christmas sweaters. Odds are, their moms probably have some sweet ones in the attic. If not, a Goodwill trip is always great contact work.
5. Mr Christmas Tree Pageant: Have Senior guys compete in a sort of beauty pageant where they dress up like Christmas trees, with colored lights they actually plug in, tinsel, star on their head, ornaments, popcorn strings, etc… Step it up a notch by showing entry videos each guy has made of why they feel they should be selected “Mr. Christmas Tree.” Other ideas to take it to the next level: A panel of funny judges, a good host dressed as an elf, an actual “Star crown” to award the winner, good questions for the contestants, etc… This could be a great tradition to start and the underclassman can look forward to competing when they are seniors. Make sure to not leave the ladies out and go ahead and promote “Ms. Easter Bunny” or “Ms. Valentine” or something that will give the senior ladies a chance at the spotlight in the spring. This also works as a great night to sell summer camp and have the first chance to sign up.
Things for guys to do in their “Entry videos:”
-sing, pushups, run bleachers, visit a Christmas tree lot and study the trees, paint themselves green, duct tape branches on their bodies, drink lots of egg nog, etc…
Here’s some examples of videos from other clubs:
Greensboro Young Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nag_Onn1PY
Pearce Young Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu1WSN8wo_U
Wichata Falls Young Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fFTtsikG1k
Amariilo Young Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nJqBemDMw8
Delta County Young Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVa6jZ6iB5c
6. Don’t forget to create a facebook event for “Christmas Club” and if you don’t yet have a fb group for your YL club, its a no brainer way to communicate club details to kids.
Talk
Here are a few ideas thanks to Sean McGever in Arizona.
What Christmas Club ideas can you add? Please comment below.
