In-Class Christmas Party Ideas

[pyeager]

My co-teacher wants to have a Christmas party with all of my classes next week, so I'm looking for some fun activities and food ideas. No 'party' is complete without food, especially in Korea. I was considering making no-bake cookies with the class, but all the recipes I've found involve melting something and waiting for it to cool, which would not give us time to cook and eat. So far, I have hot cocoa on my shopping list, but I'm looking for more suggestions. Any fun ideas for food or awesome games? We mostly just want all of our students to have fun, and any educational objectives are secondary.

[Joss]

I'm doing a few different things with my classes.

Shrek the halls (Someone posted a great lesson breakdown in the Elementary section!!)

It can be messy, but I'm teaching them how to make cut out snowflakes and Christmas cards. With my older kids I'm teaching how to write Merry Christmas / Happy New Years in Cursive writing. (Found a trace sheet online).

We will  play "pass the present" (using the pass the ball PPT that can be found on this site)
I'm basically going to buy a few candy bars and packs of stickers. Wrap them in Christmas paper about 10-15 times each. When the music stops they answer a really easy christmas question and get to unwrap ONE layer of paper. Whoever unwraps the last layer gets to keep the prize.

Pin the nose on rudolph. (Like pin the tail on the donkey)

Mr. Beans Christmas.

[teacher_del]

I have no fun food ideas, unfortunately.  Very few things are practical to make in a regular-sized English class, and most things are pretty expensive.  For my crafts class (16 kids), I just bought some cookies (orange box Chic Choc - not individually wrapped, just cookies in a plastic tray) on sale at HomePlus and poured a little cup of milk for each student.  There are Binch cookies on sale right this second which ARE individually wrapped, if that's a big deal to you.  Those are about 120W each.

If you have a CostCo membership, I recall seeing mini candy canes on sale the last time I made the trek -- in October.

For fun class activities, I'd suggest doing some simple Christmas vocabulary and then playing a "what's missing" disappearing pictures game (my kids LOVE them), or pin-the-nose-on-Rudolph, or whatever.  Making Christmas cards tends to be a huge hit with kids in elementary and middle school.  Maybe show a short Christmas video.  There are clips up all over the place on the forums.  Sing a song like Jingle Bell Rock.  (I put up a file with English lyrics, English lyrics rendered in Hangul, and Korean translation in the POP SONGS thread.) 

I'm sure someone more creative than I will come along soon.  :)

What level do you teach? Elementary, middle school, or high school?

[pickle]

What if you bought some plain cookies and let them decorate them with pre-made icing and candies?  Then they can eat them with their hot cocoa (after a picture, maybe).

[Cranberryopah]

Young ones love playing 7-up. Remind the boys not to injure their friends, or pull the girls' hair.

[mteacher]

It's pretty cold, but I looove ice cream in winter :)  you can also give each student a few scoops of ice cream and then some sweets to create a face (jelly beans, marshmallows, etc) and a cone for a head which they can also decorate... If you're not keen on ice cream they can make little men with just the candy.

[goulash]

I made pancakes for one of my summer camps. Not very christmasy but the kids loved them.

You could always try to makethe pancakes in christmas shapes, or decorate them with whipped cream and candies. :)

[mteacher]

I made pancakes for one of my summer camps. Not very christmasy but the kids loved them.

Oooh yes!! the pancake mix and then you add choc chips!!!

[hankmcmasters]

if only eggnog didnt involve raw eggs.  that would be a pretty great thing for kids to make, whisking the eggs can be quite tiring.

i recently made butter from cream, and my arm was sore the next day.  it is impressive how the cream turns thick and then seemingly spontaneously turns into butter as you mix.  i dont know what you could do with all the butter, maybe you could make garlic bread?  if you have the means to make pancakes, you can melt the butter in a pan with some garlic and oregano and pour it onto the bread.

i wonder how the kids will respond to unsweetened garlic bread

[pyeager]

What level do you teach? Elementary, middle school, or high school?

Thanks for everything so far...I really like the ice cream snowmen and cookie decorating! Pass the present is also pretty cool. I teach middle school and the maximum class size is about 18. The smallest is nine. I'll head to Costco tomorrow after work and look for candy canes and other stuff there.

[merle]

Depending on if you have access to the Home Economics classroom and some pans, you could also make rice crispie squares.  If you'd like to make them holidayesque, just add a little red or green food colouring.  Pretty simple ingredients, basically a bit of margarine/butter, marshmellows, and rice crispies!