Materials
A gift from each participant. Each person brings a wrapped unmarked gift. You may choose a cost limit or have them bring a white elephant gift.

How gifts are exchanged

A. Everyone sits in a circle and the gifts are placed in a pile in the middle. Write numbers from 1-??, depending on the number of gifts, on small pieces of paper. Do not number the gifts. Fold the papers and place them in a hat or some other container. Each person randomly picks a paper (number) from the hat.

B. Start with the person holding number “1”. He/she picks a gift and opens it. Then the person holding number “2” can either pick a gift from the pile or take the gift away from number one. If a person has his gift taken away, he may immediately choose an unopened gift from the pile and open it.

C. “3” can either take a gift from numbers 1 or 2 or pick one from the pile to open.

D. There is no limit on the number of gifts one person can open if others continue to take the gift they have opened.

E. Each gift can only change hands three times through out the game. The person with the gift on the third exchange keeps it.

F. Each person ends up with only one gift. A person may end up with the same gift they brought.

Variation
Play the game without opening the gifts till the end when everyone has a gift in hand and all the exchanging is over.

Christmas Collection
Games and Activities helping youth discover the Reason for the Season.Get more than 200 creative ideas for planning a Youth Christmas celebration or Christmas Party party. You can immediately download my best Christmas Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Christmas activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!

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Materials
Large gold stars, preferably self-sticking; Hide the stars in various locations around the room.

Game Play
Tell the participants that there are stars hidden around the room. The person who comes closest to the correct number of stars (or correctly identifies the locations of the most stars) wins a prize.

Variation
Hide one star for each participant. Participants must find a star and place it on themself before thay can be seated.

Use this Christmas Game as an introduction to the wisemen who looked for the star in order to find Jesus.

Scripture
Matthew 2:1-11; Micah 5:2; Psalm 72:10,11,15

Christmas Collection
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Materials
A semi-circle of chairs with one chair for each participant

Game play
The group sits in a semi-circle. “Christmas” sits on one end of the semi-circle. At the other end of the semi-circle sits the “scrooge.” All the seats in between belong to different Christmas symbols, such as star, manger, shepherd. etc. You can assign the names or allow youth to choose their own. (Use the items from the Christmas Bingo game for ideas for various Christmas symbols)

Once everyone has identified the Christmas symbol for their seat, the game begins. The person sitting in the “Christmas” chair begins the game by calling out “Christmas” and then another Christmas symbol in the group (e.g “Manger”). The person sitting in the “Manger” seat then calls out “Manger” and another Christmas symbol in the group, (e.g. “Elf”) and so it continues.

There are a couple of types of mistakes that will penalize participants:
1. You don’t notice your symbol has been called and delay too long
2. You call the same symbol that just immediately called you
3. You call out a Christmas symbol that was not used in the group

The Penalty
If someone makes a mistake, they have to swap places with the person next to them, moving down towards the “Scrooge”. They then take on the Christmas symbol of the seat they now occupy, and the person who moves up a place takes over their Christmas symbol. The aim is to move all the way up to take the place of “Christmas.” “Christmas” then starts the next round until someone else makes a mistake.

Variation
Instead of calling out the names of the Christmas symbols, have participants create an action. The wilder the various actions, the more fun!

Christmas Collection
Games and Activities helping youth discover the Reason for the Season.Get more than 200 creative ideas for planning a Youth Christmas celebration or Christmas Party party. You can immediately download my best Christmas Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Christmas activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!

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Materials
Heavy duty Christmas stocking that is big enough to put two persons feet into. One stocking for each team.

Activity
This is a normal three legged race, except a Christmas stocking is used to bind the two legs together. The two race to a destination and back. The next two persons on the team then put on the stocking and race. The first team that completes the relay wins.

Christmas Collection
Games and Activities helping youth discover the Reason for the Season.Get more than 200 creative ideas for planning a Youth Christmas celebration or Christmas Party party. You can immediately download my best Christmas Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Christmas activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!
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Materials
Old Newspapers

Activity
Divide the room in half and mark it with tape or chalk. Give each team a stack of old newspapers. with an equal number of sheets. In a specified amount of time (3 minutes) the teams make as many snowballs as they can by wadding up a whole sheet of paper and throwing it at those on the opposite side of the room. At the end of the time limit, the team who has the least number of snowballs on thier side wins.

Variation
For younger children use cotton balls or white styrofoam peanuts instead of newspaper. Snowballs can be made of a variety of different materials. Cut each leg from a pair of white nylons into three or four pieces, fill each with fiber fill stuffing, and knot the open ends. You can also use rolled-up socks, toilet paper, etc.

Christmas Collection
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Materials
Small numbered jars with the lids removed and filled with items to identify by smell. (Wrap them in red and green cloth to allow the smell to escape yet keep away prying eyes.)

Use things like: candy canes, ginger, candles, cinnamon, evergreen, egg nog, cookies, etc.

Activity
Fill small jars with items to identify only by smell. The object is to see who can identify what’s in the jar. The participant that correctly identifies the most scents wins.

Christmas Collection
Games and Activities helping youth discover the Reason for the Season.Get more than 200 creative ideas for planning a Youth Christmas celebration or Christmas Party party. You can immediately download my best Christmas Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Christmas activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!
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Materials
Chocolate bar (wrapped in multiple layers of Christmas paper with lots of tape), dice, a knife and fork, and various items for youth to wear including heavy winter gloves, a santa hat, a broad black belt, a red santa coat and a pillow.

Activity
Place the well wrapped chocolate bar in the center of the table. Each person sitting around the table takes a turn at rolling the dice. The 1st person who rolls a six gets to start eating the candy bar — but only after he puts on a pair of heavy winter gloves, the santa cap, the santa coat stuffed with the pillow and held in place with the black belt, and finally runs once around the table singing “Jingle Bells” can Santa start on the chocolate; Then with only with a knife and fork he must remove the wrapper and cut and eat the chocolate one square at a time. Add or remove whatever steps you want to make the game easier or more difficult.

While Santa is getting ready (according to the instructions above) to eat the candy bar, the group keeps taking turns rolling the dice. If someone rolls a six, then the person who rolled the six before him relinquishes his right to the candy bar, and the 2nd person becomes the new Santa and must try to eat the candy before someone else rolls six. The game is over when the candy bar is finished.

Application
While this game is very difficult, it is not impossible. Yet for us to go to heaven based on our works IS impossible. That is why Jesus was sent to us as the greatest gift, as the Savior of the world.

Christmas Collection
Games and Activities helping youth discover the Reason for the Season.Get more than 200 creative ideas for planning a Youth Christmas celebration or Christmas Party party. You can immediately download my best Christmas Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Christmas activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!
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Materials
A list of Christmas Carols and large sheet of paper paper, flip chart, or a whiteboard for each team.

Activity
Each team selects a person to draw. The person leading the game shows all those who are drawing the first Christmas Carol on his list. Each returns to his/her group and tries to get the group to guess the name of the carol by DRAWING ONLY. No Speaking, No sound effects, especially no humming, and no gestures are allowed. As soon as the group knows the song, they must sing it as loud as they can. After singing, they send a new person for another song. They get a point for each song guessed correctly by a team.

Here are some of the common Christmas Songs and Carols:
Adeste Fideles, All I want For Christmas, Angels We Have Heard On High, Away in a Manger, Calypso Carol, Carol of the Bells, Chestnuts Roasting Over an Open Fire, Deck the Halls, Do You Hear What I Hear?, Feliz Navidad, The First Noel, Frosty The Snowman, Go Tell it on The Mountain, God Rest You Merry Gentlemen, Hallelujah Chorus, Handel’s Messiah, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Here We Come A-Wassailing, Holly Jolly Christmas, I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, I’ll be Home for Christmas, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bell Rock, Joy to the World, Let It Snow, Little Drummer Boy, Little Town of Bethlehem, Mary’s Boy Child, Nutcracker Suite, Mr. Grinch, O Christmas Tree, O Come, All Ye Faithful, O come O come Emmanuel, O Holy Night, Once in Royal David’s City, Rocking Around the Christmas Tree, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, Silent Night, Silver and Gold, Silver Bells, The Twelve Days of Christmas, We Three Kings, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, What Child Is This?, White Christmas, While Shepherds Watched, Winter Wonderland

Christmas Collection
Games and Activities helping youth discover the Reason for the Season.

Get more than 200 creative ideas for planning a Youth Christmas celebration or Christmas Party party. You can immediately download my best Christmas Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Christmas activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!

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Materials
A variety of simple Christmas images. (e.g. Christmas Tree, a manger, a baby, etc) You can also use simple greeting cards for the design.

Activity
Form teams of six people. Instruct each team to sit in a line, one person behind another, and take a vow of silence for the duration of the game. Give the first person in each line a pencil and a piece of paper. Then show the last person in each line a simple image of a Christmas object. That person must use his or her finger to draw the object on the back of the person in front of him or her. This continues until the drawing reaches the first person in line. He or she must draw it on the piece of paper. Have judges determine which team’s picture closest resembles the original picture. If time permits, play more rounds, letting team members change positions if they wish.

Application
Things get distorted the farther we get from the source, especially when we have our backs turned on God.

Debrief
1. What Christmas traditions have become distorted over time?
2. How can we get back to the true meaning of Christmas? What is the true meaning?

Christmas Collection
Games and Activities helping youth discover the Reason for the Season.Get more than 200 creative ideas for planning a Youth Christmas celebration or Christmas Party party. You can immediately download my best Christmas Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Christmas activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!
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Materials
1. Bingo cards for each participant. Make Bingo cards using a grid of squares (5X5) and placing Christmas related items in each square. Make each card different in the choice of items on it and the placement of the items. (Bingo cards are typically unique for each individual. There are also usually more items than the bingo grid.)
2. Coins or markers to cover squares. You can also simply allow them to mark on the cards.
3. Bingo items in bag to pull out. Write them on small peices of paper or ping pong balls.

Game Play
1. Play according to standard bingo rules.
2. Randomly draw the items from a bag and call them out..
3. The first person to get all of a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally yells out “fear not” (since the angel in the Christmas story said “fear not.”)

Christmas Bingo items related to the Biblical account:
Star, Gold, Gifts, Herod, Shepherds, Manger, Frankincense, Flocks, Tax, Savior, Bethlehem, Myrrh, Peace, Angel, King, Jesus, Wisemen, Joseph, Mary, Joy, Inn, Gabriel, Immanuel, Swaddling Clothes, Christ, Nativity, Advent

Christmas Bingo items NOT related to Biblical account:
Christmas, Candy Cane, St. Nick, Snowman, Candle, Plum Pudding, Poinsettia, December 25th, Reindeer, North Pole, Stocking, Holly, Mistletoe, Wreath, Rudolph, Dancer, Prancer, Dasher, Vixen, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Toy, Gingerbread Man, Sugar Plums, Nurcracker, Ornament, Elves, Bells, Sleigh, Christmas Eve, Christmas Tree

Christmas Collection
Games and Activities helping youth discover the Reason for the Season.

Get more than 200 creative ideas for planning a Youth Christmas celebration or Christmas Party party. You can immediately download my best Christmas Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Christmas activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!

=> Tell me more about the Christmas Collection