OT-School christmas party ideas

[whogirl'smom]

Any room parents out there? What are you doing for your children's christmas parties at school? I met yesterday with the other two moms for DD6's room, and one really wants to do Christmas around the world. We only have 75 minutes! Even Santa's not that quick! This mom used to be a teacher, and had a 3 inch binder full of lesson plans on Christmas, and admitted she used to do this over a whole month. I've googled for ideas from different countries and I'm just not seeing how to mesh a craft, game and food unless we choose just one country. And I'm not finding any ideas for "snack" type foods from other countries, that won't require several parents to bake. I came to the meeting thinking we would just plan a simple party, but ?

Does anyone have any good ideas to help us mesh our ideas for this Christmas party?

 

[daisyduck123]

Hi! 1st grade teacher here.

I don't have any ideas on how to "mesh" everything that those moms want to do. I just want to tell you that my favorite kind of holiday parties are the ones that are "simple"......

1) game
2) craft
3) food
4) go home.....all in that order.

The kids are always so excited, and the classroom soooo crowded with parents & younger siblings that the best activities are ones that the kids can do at their seats (because there is usually no room to have 20some kids get up & move about).

I also really appreciate it when my room moms only need my one large reading table to use during the parties. One time, some moms came in and proceeded to start clearing off a bunch of my "centers" because they needed the space for their "stations" they were setting up during the party. Uh, well, no, sorry. It takes me FOREVER to set up my centers, & those desks/tables are not to be touched.

**My school system doesn't allow December holiday parties. We're only allowed Halloween & Valentine's Day.

 

[reelmom]

We have a book swap. Every child brings in a gender neutral wrapped book. We either draw numbers to pick from the pile or we have the kids sit in a circle. We play a Christmas song while they pass all the books around. When the music stops, that is your book.

 

[Harvest02]

We have a book swap. Every child brings in a gender neutral wrapped book. We either draw numbers to pick from the pile or we have the kids sit in a circle. We play a Christmas song while they pass all the books around. When the music stops, that is your book.

I LOVE this idea! I am head room parent for my DS7 class, and I know our teacher appreciates something easy too. I think that would be so much fun to do that and play the music. Also time for a snack. Any other ideas that anyone has would be great. I kind of get tired of doing the same old craft thing and need something new!!!

 

[barkley]

my kids have always gone to a school with multiple ages/grades in the same classroom (k-2nd and 3rd-8th)-what i will suggest was a hit with all of them.

we had the kids do an edible craft during the christmas party. brought in graham crackers and tubs of premade icing. gave each kid a paperplate with some of the graham crackers, a glob of icing and a plastic knife. they then put together their own mini 'gingerbread houses'. these were then decorated with a variety of candies (if you send out the word to the parents you will get TONS of leftover halloween candy ). it realy kept the kid's occupied and they loved seeing what creations they could come up with.

we did the easy/educational type games-break into groups and see how many individual words you can get out of 'merry christmas' or 'happy holidays', figure out how many total gifts were given during the 12 days of christmas...things like that.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Keep it simple. The children will be bouncing off the walls!! I love crafts for a party and they are easier to control than games. I really like snacks they can have a part in.

i also love doing some type of gift exchange but depending on the class socio-economic status that might or might not be ok. If it is in the class budget, i would just buy the number of gifts needed at the $ store for the game or at least be sure to have some extras.

one year when DS was little, this wonderful and wise teacher brought her pet turtle to school for the party. She sat the chidlren in a circle put the turtle in the middle. The first person the he crawled to got a prize. It was great to calm the kids down after the sweets and treats.

 

[tinkandpan]

This year, my son is in public school and we can't have a christmas party- it is a winter party and the teachers have chosen for us to do a mexican type fiesta.
For the past three years, I have been a preschool room mom and our christmas parties ranged from super simple to one where I thought i was going to pass out from trying to jam so much in (the co class mom sounds a bit like your mom). I highly suggest the simple one.

We do- holiday bingo, a craft (i suggest whatever you do, esp if you do something from oriental trading you make one ahead of time and see if you need to prep anything for the kids), snacks, decorate sugar cookies, or pin the nose on rudolph

 

[digman6]

My son's class is in charge of the Xmas party this year for his room. He and his fellow helpers have decided to give a a needy group. This year it was agreed no gifts that they would give to someone or something else who needs it more then they do... so they are giving donations to the Humane Society in our area.
they will still do Xmas music and snacks and things like that but no gift to each other they will give to someone else. I think its great idea to start them learning young about giving to those who REALLY need it.

 

[hildarumpole]

Keep it simple is the best advice. I've combined the craft and snack by having the kids decorate cookies or cupcakes. My kids' 1st grade teacher always read a holiday story the last 10 min. of every party to calm the kids down. It also allowed the room moms to get things cleaned up and packed away before the end of the day. One year, my older son's class had a Type A room mom. He came home in tears after the Christmas party, because they had so much to do, they didn't have time to eat the treat.

 

[CEDmom]

Last year in DD's 2nd grade class we had stations that each child visited. I don't know how to bring in different countries though. We had a bingo station, cookie decorating one (also the snack), book exchange (a story was read and each time a specific word was said the kids passed their book to the right at the end the one they were holding was theirs to keep) and a craft station.

It worked really well because the kids were broken into groups of 4-5 so parents weren't overwhelmed.