Tag Archives: youth ideas

Food for Thought

Fall or Harvest Festival?

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There are a lot of arguments against celebrating Halloween.

While many people believe we should redeem the event for Christ, others wonder, is a Fall Festival or Harvest festival just a replacement for the pagan holiday? I’ll leave that judgment up to you but here’s some food for thought for those who DO have a Harvest Festival as a Halloween alternative. You might even use this for a Bible Study at your event!

In the Old Testament God’s people were COMMANDED to celebrate the Harvest. (Exodus 23:16 and Exodus 34:22)

There are other references in Scripture too. Harvest-time was a time to show joy and thankfulness that God had provided for his people. But here’s the difference: We do not worship the harvest. We worship the God of the Harvest. Because of God’s Blessings you can have Hallelujah Night instead of Halloween!

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

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Announcements

Halloween Alternatives for Christians?

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With October comes Halloween. While there is often debate as to whether we as Christians should participate in a holiday with pagan roots, others use this as an opportunity to provide Christian alternatives like a fall festival, a harvest festival or a carnival. You can read more about the debate here:
A Christian Response to Halloween?

But rather than debate the issue, I am going to provide some things that could be done as part of a Christian alternative either as a family or as a church or youth group. (For the rest of you, many of the ideas involving pumpkins and other things could also be used at Thanksgiving or any time during the year for that matter.) And many of them are VERY evangelistic in nature!

Games where you can dress Up!

 

Pumpkins!

  • Using the pumpkin as a metaphor for a Christian – The Pumpkin
  • Games using Pumpkins – Pumpkin Bowling
  • Here’s an Object Lesson / Children’s sermon using a Pumpkin – Like A Halloween Pumpkin
  • One of those “gross” themed games using pumpkins with several possible Christian Applications – Pass the Brains
  • A game using pumpkin seeds that could be used to teach about Wholesome speech or Christian Goals – Pumpkin Seed Toss
  • A specially carved pumpkin and poem to share the plan of Salvation – Jack-O-Lantern
  • A Children’s sermon on being the person God created you to be – Perky the orange Pumpkin
  • A children’s sermon or Object Lesson on being the light of the World – Peter Pumpkin
  • An object lesson or Children’s sermon on prayer – Pumpkin prayer
  • Use this puzzle game to teach about the destructiveness of sin and Christ’s payment for sin on the cross- Pumpkin Puzzles

 

Games using Halloween Candy

  • Use different Colored Candy to share the plan of salvation – Candy Relay
  • Use this game of “Trick or Treat” to talk about the deceitfulness of Sin and Man’s fall in the garden – Trick or Treat Relay
  • A game that leads to a discussion on using your gifts for God and Sharing Salvation with others – Candy
  • An object lesson or Children’s sermon on appearances vs. having a right heart before God – Cupcake Faith

 

Halloween Related Humor

 

Looking for some fun icebreakers for your Halloween alternative? Find out how you can get 52 of my best icebreakers of all time! (That’s a full year of icebreakers – one a week!) They even lead into lessons on youth related issues! Visit www.CreativeIcebreakers.com today!

 

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

Game Ideas

Thanksgiving Game Ideas

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Creative Thanksgiving Ideas Looking for some interesting games for your Thanksgiving event?

  1. Cluck, Cluck, Gobble
    Play this updated version of the classic Children’s game “duck, duck, goose” as a Thanksgiving Party game.
  2. Mayflower Memory
    This Thanksgiving game tests your memory.
  3. Pin the Tailfeather on the Turkey
    Can you pin the missing tailfeather on the turkey?
  4. Pumpkin Bowling
    Use vegetables for a wild bowling variation.
  5. Pumpkin Puzzles
    Youth will cut up pumpkins and then try to put a cut up pumpkin back together again. The game can be used as an object lesson illustrating God’s restoration of our lives.
  6. Pumpkin Seed Toss
    Use this Thanksgiving game as a discussion about the power of our words, or about how we choose goals in life.
  7. Tearable Turkey
    How well can you tear out the shape of a turkey behind your back?
  8. Thanksgiving Back to Back
    How well can you draw famous Thanksgiving pictures?
  9. Thanksgiving Bingo
    Add some Thanksgiving holiday fun with a bingo game.
  10. Thanksgiving Twister
    Play a classic game of twister replacing the colored dots with Thanksgiving symbols.
  11. Top Turkey Artist
    How well can you draw a turkey on a piece of paper on top of your head?
  12. Turkey Hunt
    Play a Thanksgiving interpretation of the classic game of “Hide and Seek”
  13. Turkey in a Tree
    Use this high energy game for Thanksgiving fun!

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

Teaching Illustrations

Leftovers

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Lord, don’t let my attitude of gratitude be like leftover turkey. I don’t want to give you “recycled” thanks like turkey soup or turkey casserole. I don’t want to say the same old words without thinking, like turkey burgers or turkey salad. May I never pull cold words out of a freezer. May each day be a new day of thankfulness. May each day be a “holyday” to gather with family and friends–in thought and prayer. You said that Your mercies are new every morning. May my thankfulness be fresh and new and warm every morning, too. May I daily choose the ingredients of my thankfulness and spend as much time in preparation as carefully as I chose the ingredients and prepared the special dishes. May my thankfulness be a pleasing aroma to You, like the enticing odors of a Thanksgiving dinner.

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

Food for Thought

A Grateful Man

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“Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.”
–Henry Ward Beecher

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

Game Ideas

Cluck, Cluck, Gobble

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Game Description
This Thanksgiving party game is played similar to the classic children’s game “Duck, Duck, Goose” but with some variations to make it a little more sophisticated for youth and adapt it to the Thanksgiving theme.

  • Instead of “Duck”, use “cluck, cluck” and make the motion for a chicken by flapping your elbows like wings.
  • Instead of “goose” make a “gobble, gobble” sound and grab the skin under the chin and pull it down reflecting the “wattle” of a Turkey (The red fold of skin that hangs beneath a turkey’s chin.)

This adds silly motions and humorous sounds to the game.

Game Materials
No materials are needed for this game. Players may either sit in chairs, stand in a circle, or sit on the ground.

Game Play

  1. Players sit in a circle facing inward.
  2. One player walks around the outside of the circle. As he or she passes each person in the circle he / she must tap them GENTLY on the head and make the motions and sounds for either the chicken or the turkey.
  3. When the person outside the circle makes the sounds and motion for a “Turkey”, the tapped player must leave his place in the circle and chase the person who just tapped him around the outside of the circle.
  4. The first person back to the empty spot just vacated gets to fill it.
  5. If the person doing the tapping succeeds, the the person replaced now begins the process again, walking around the circle making the sounds and motions until he or she selects another person to be the turkey.
  6. If the person doing the tapping fails three times, they are required to walk around inside the center of the circle – “the oven” and make turkey sounds. This adds to the confusion. (to speed up the process of elimination, you can have anyone who fails more than once to go to the center)
  7. You can continue the game until only 3 or four persons remain as part of the circle. Declare these the winners and give them an appropriate prize for Thanksgiving.

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

Humor

Too Much Turkey

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I ate too much Turkey, I ate too much corn,
I ate too much pudding and pie.
I’m stuffed up with muffins and too much stuffin’
I’m probably going to die.

I piled up my plate and I ate and I ate.
But I wish I had known when to stop,
For I’m so crammed with yams, sauces, gravies, and jams
That my buttons are starting to pop!

I’m full of tomatoes and french fried potatoes
My stomach is swollen and sore,
But there’s still some dessert so I guess it won’t hurt if
I eat just a little bit more!

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

Food for Thought

Pilgrims

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“The Pilgrims came to America not to accumulate riches but to worship God, and the greatest wealth they left unborn generations was their heroic example of sacrifice that their souls might be free.”
–Harry Moyle Tippett

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

Teaching Illustrations

Be Thankful

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Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don’t know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you’re tired and weary,
because it means you’ve made a difference.

It’s easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those
Who are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.

Author Unknown

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

Teaching Illustrations

Around the Thanksgiving Table

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One Thanksgiving season a family was seated around their table, looking at the annual holiday bird. From the oldest to the youngest, they were to express their praise. When they came to the 5-year-old in the family, he began by looking at the turkey and expressing his thanks to the turkey, saying although he had not tasted it he knew it would be good. After that rather novel expression of thanksgiving, he began with a more predictable line of credits, thanking his mother for cooking the turkey and his father for buying the turkey. But then he went beyond that. He joined together a whole hidden multitude of benefactors, linking them with cause and effect.

He said, “I thank you for the checker at the grocery store who checked out the turkey. I thank you for the grocery store people who put it on the shelf. I thank you for the farmer who made it fat. I thank you for the man who made the feed. I thank you for those who brought the turkey to the store.”

Using his Columbo-like little mind, he traced the turkey all the way from its origin to his plate. And then at the end he solemnly said “Did I leave anybody out?”

His 2-year-older brother, embarrassed by all those proceedings, said, “God.”

Solemnly and without being flustered at all, the 5-year-old said, “I was about to get to him.”

Well, isn’t that the question about which we ought to think at Thanksgiving time? Are we really going to get to him this Thanksgiving?

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection