A Christmas Party: Youth Ministry Style

Y’all know that I am a Youth Director at our church- I work with the Middle and High School students and they’re awesome. Inspiring, crazy, loud, thoughtful, and just plain great. Every year, we have a Christmas Party right before break starts and this year was no exception. However, our party this year was a bit different than usual. Generally, we do the tried and true cookie -decorating, gingerbread house-making, carol-singing fun, but this year we kicked it up a notch with something a little different.

Yeah, baby- we had an Amazing Race… my only regret was that I didn’t get to play! I was insanely jealous that I couldn’t run through the church from obstacle to obstacle right alongside the students (I was at an assigned station). But here’s a good recap of the fun anyway… we’ll all just live vicariously through them, how about that? 🙂

Our theme was the 12 Days of Christmas- we had 12 teams (each with a different corresponding number/character from the song) and 12 “pit stops” they had to get through before they could cross the “finish line”. Each team had to visit each pit stop, complete the challenge, and get a sticker to prove they did it in order to move on. The winning team was the first team to finish all 12 obstacles and gather their 12 stickers before making it back to the finish line. To start, we had each team begin at the pit stop number that corresponded with their team number. From there, they rotated in numerical order through all twelve pit stops before returning to the finish line. As it was a race, teams could go as fast as they wanted and try to pass or lap other teams (each obstacle was set up so that more than one team could be completing it at a time).

We wanted to have an activity that suited everyone- some challenges were physical, others were more intellectual, etc. In the end, it was a well received by everyone and I was told that it was “a lot of fun”. Even our HS seniors and visiting college students liked it! Here were our 12 “pit stops”:

1. CHRISTMAS TRIVIA: Each team had to answer three Christmas trivia questions right before moving on.

2. DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN?: Using jumbo marshmallows and toothpicks, teams had to create a snowman, complete with three layers and arms.

3. CAROLING, CAROLING: Teams must correctly sing at least three lines of a Christmas song of their choice (we actually, made them each sing two songs).

4. BUILD A GINGERBREAD HOUSE: Using (pre-broken) graham cracker squares, teams had to create a Gingerbread house (like a house of cards) with at least four walls and a roof that could stay standing for at least 15 seconds.

5. PRESENTS UNDER THE TREE: We had pre-wrapped 12 boxes with 12 layers of wrapping paper each. Teams sat in a circle and each player had to unwrap a layer until they reached the present. Inside the box was their sticker for completing the challenge.

6. THE CANDY CANE FOREST: Teams must successfully toss and hook five candy canes onto a Christmas tree, from a marked line (about five feet away).

7. CHRISTMAS WORD SEARCH: Each team was given a pre-made word search with 12 words to find. Teams had to find all 12 words and turn their paper in to be checked before moving on. (Want to try this with your group? You can create your own word search here.)

8. WHAT’S THAT MOVIE?: Teams must correctly identify the Christmas movie that corresponds with the given movie quote. Each team must correctly guess three movies before moving on.

9. ELF ON A SHELF: We hid 12 “elves” (elf-like stockings) around the church Sanctuary, each with one of the 12 Days of Christmas symbols we’d been using to identify groups attached to it. Each team had to find their elf in order to earn their sticker.

10. CHRISTMAS CARD SORTER: We combed the Dollar Tree for five different Christmas cards that all looked alike. After cutting the backs off, we used the fronts to create a few “sets”- each containing one of the five different cards. Once we had our sets together, the five cards got cut into 5-6 pieces each and put into a ziplock bag so all five were mixed together. Teams were responsible for solving the puzzle(s) and reassembling each of the five cards to their original state. (Note: The more sets you create, the more teams can be doing this challenge at one time.) 

11. SNOW BANK: We created our own “snow bank” by filling large bins with snowballs (clean, rolled up socks that we turned into “snowballs” years ago and have been using for “wintry” games ever since). Interspersed amongst all of the snowballs were 12 Christmas-themed erasers. Teams were given a specific eraser to find (ex. “You’re looking for the penguin” or “Find the peppermint”) and had to dig through the “snow” to produce that eraser. Trouble was, their eraser could be in any “snow bank”! And yes, the erasers were hidden better than the picture on the right below shows… 🙂

12. 12 DAYS UNDERCOVER: It is said that at some point, the 12 Days of Christmas song was used as a secretive teaching tool to teach children elements of Christianity without facing persecution. Teams were given a matching challenge to decide which number/character of the song corresponded with which element of the faith. Papers had to be turned in completely correct before teams could move on. (You can find the matching activity we used here: The 12 Days of Christmas PLUS.)

So there you have it, all 12 stops of our Amazing Race! As teams made their way through the challenges, they collected stickers, filling up those team cards as they went.

Another fun element was the race route- on the backs of each card was a key to tell teams in which rooms of the church they could find each obstacle. As they had to follow the numerical order of challenges, we made sure to give them the “scenic tour” of the church. 🙂 One challenge might be on the 3rd floor, while the very next could be all the way down in the basement. Needless to say, they were tired by the end. But, man did we have fun!

Yes, carols and cookie decorating are a good time (we did some of that too!), but it was really neat to change it up an do something crazy to celebrate Jesus. After all, what’s more crazy than a little baby boy changing the world forever? I’ll tell you what, I want in on THAT party!

Merry Christmas, all 🙂

PS. Tomorrow, we’ll be wrapping up (ha ha) our holiday recap week with a fun What We Gave, What We Got post. Next week, we’ll cover a few of the ways we tried to make our home as inviting as possible for the out of town guests that stayed while we were off galavanting to grandmother’s house and beyond (see that full post here)… Stay tuned! And as always, thanks for following along on our adventures. We love ya. 🙂