Celebrate the Holidays with Your Playgroup

Celebrate the Holidays with Your Playgroup

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, plan something special for your playgroup this holiday season. Here are several ideas for both kids and parents to do during playgroup.

Gift Exchange

Drawing names for a gift exchange is a traditional activity at Christmas. Add to the fun by making it a “Secret Santa” gift exchange. Keep the names secret and write only the recipient’s name on the tag along with a description of the gift giver. Each person must figure out who brought the gift before they can open it. Another fun activity is to write a description of the gift on the card and have the recipient guess what is inside before opening the gift.

Play “Musical Presents.” Have each child bring a generic gift that they would like for themselves; for example, a boy brings a gift for a boy, and a girl brings a gift for a girl. Gather in circles of all boys and all girls and play Christmas music while the presents go around the circles. When the music stops, everyone opens the present they are holding.

A variation on this goes along with a story. The children sit in a circle with the gifts they brought in their laps. Choose a story with a repetitive word, such as “The Gingerbread Man.” Every time the words “ran” or “run” are spoken, instruct the children to pass their gifts to the right. At the end of the story, the child gets to open and keep the gift in his lap.

For very young children, number each present (boys and girls separately) and have each child draw a number.

Instead of exchanging gifts of any type, specify a specific kind of gift, such as an ornament party, a candle party, or a book party. Children particularly enjoy ornaments and books.

Cookie Exchange

Host a cookie exchange during playgroup. Ask everyone to bring their favorite homemade cookies, made 2-3 days in advance of playgroup; the number of cookies depends on the number of participants, but generally about 2-3 dozen. Either specify no chocolate chip cookies or assign each person a different type of cookie to bake, so you won’t have everyone making the same kind. In addition, everyone needs to make copies of their recipes, or ask them to email you the recipe in advance so you can create a little booklet of recipes for each guest.

Don’t eat the cookies during playgroup. Instead, serve other snacks and allow everyone to take a few cookies from each batch home with them. However, if you decide to sample some of the cookies during the exchange, make sure to increase the number of cookies that each participant brings.

During the exchange, everyone shares a story about their cookies, such as the origin of the recipe or a funny memory of baking them. As a result, playgroup members leave the cookie exchange with dozens of different cookies to start the holiday season and nearly as many warm and funny stories!

Include the kids on the fun! Get the children to serve as taste testers and judges, and offer prizes for the most delicious, most beautiful and most unusual cookies.

Decorate Cookies

Kids love to decorate and eat cookies! Make 10 various Christmas shape sugar cookies or gingerbread men per child so there will be plenty to eat and take home. Set out containers of white frosting and various decorations for the cookies, such as colored sprinkles, mini-marshmallows, chocolate chips, M&Ms, jelly beans, and raisins. Provide Popsicle sticks to spread the frosting. Each child will go home with a box of decorated cookies, if they don’t eat them all during playgroup!

For an alternative, make small gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, using icing to glue them together. Pre-assemble them for the kids to decorate during playgroup. Ask the parents to bring something edible with them to use to decorate the houses, and you will have quite an assortment of decorations to use for decorating your gingerbread houses.

Caroling

Go Christmas caroling. Pick several neighbors’ homes in advance, or a nursing home, homeless shelter or hospital ward. Prepare a sheet of paper with the lyrics to some favorite carols and make copies for everyone; if done in advance, everyone will have a chance to practice. Consider bringing goodies or small gifts to distribute after singing. Or, bring decorations made by the children and help decorate the Christmas tree.

Special Guest

Invite Santa or Mrs. Claus to your playgroup to read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” or other holiday stories. The local librarian may be willing to dress up as Mrs. Claus. To make it even more fun, ask each child to bring a letter for Mrs. Claus to take home to Santa.

Hire someone or ask a friend to dress as Santa Claus. Give each child an opportunity to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. Parents can take pictures of their child with Santa, which is much less stressful than standing in line at the mall. Santa can end the playgroup by passing out little toys or gifts previously bought by the parents.

Games

Play games during the holiday playgroup. “Pin the Nose on Frosty” and “Pin the Nose on the Reindeer” are two variations of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”

“Pass the Candy Cane” is played like hot potato, except the children pass a large candy cane until the music stops. The person with the candy cane at the end of the game gets to keep it.

In “Pass the Present,” wrap a small Christmas chocolate Santa or candy cane in a tiny box, then put it in a bigger wrapped box, inside a bigger wrapped box, inside a bigger box, etc. Alternatively, wrap the gift in several layers of different Christmas wrapping paper. To play the game, the kids pass the gift around while Christmas music plays, and when the music stops whoever is holding the present gets to open it before stepping out of the circle. The gift continues around the circle until the last box is opened or the last layer of paper is unwrapped. The child who unwraps the final box gets to keep the item.

Play charades or Pictionary using the names of Christmas carols or Christmas movies.

Organize a scavenger hunt. Group the children into pairs or trios and have them find items in the house or in the neighborhood, weather permitting. Include items such as a red bow, candle, Christmas cookie, religious Christmas card, mistletoe, broken ornament, and burned-out tree light. Or include items in various holiday colors, such as red, green, gold, silver and white.

Using some of these ideas as a springboard, you may come up with other ideas on your own. Or combine several for a truly memorable holiday party!