Holiday Ideas

NEW YEAR

Dissolve those post-Christmas blahs with these fantastic ideas for

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The weather outside may be

frightful, but you’ll find plenty of games and activities to warm

up your kids’ hearts.

PARTY IDEA

Funfetti

This idea gives a New Year’s celebration or birthday bash a beautifully festive touch (as long as you can clean the floor easily). Fill medium-sized latex balloons with a handful of confetti per balloon. Inflate the balloons, tie them off, then attach them to (or suspend them from) the ceiling. When the clock hits midnight, puncture the balloons with pins or sharpened pencils, then watch out—confetti flies everywhere.

For real celebrating (and a real mess when it gets in hair), add glitter to the balloons. Michael Capps

EVENT

New Year’s Day Football Marathon

For a wild and crazy day, and to give your kids something to do on New Year’s Day, open your home for a Football Marathon. Have two televisions set up so you can watch two games simultaneously: the Fiesta and Cotton Bowls, then the Rose Bowl, then the Orange and Sugar Bowls. Make a poster with all five games listed, including team names, national rankings, and seasonal records. Allow the kids to pick winners ahead of time, and award a prize to the one with the best record of picks.

To help relieve some of the energy built up by sitting around for so long, organize a quick touch football game outside during halftimes or between games. Admission to the event can be a bag of chips or a six-pack of soda. For a simple meal, send out for pizza. Ken S. Williams

COLLAGE

The Year-in-Review Banner

This is a simple yet effective way to build group unity and to make some lasting memories. Take a long sheet of paper (butcher wrap or newsprint) and hang it on a smooth wall surface. Draw heavy vertical lines to divide the banner into 12 equal sections, and label each section with the names of the months in order. Then let the kids go to work decorating the banner, collage-style, to show what they did as a group each month of the preceding year. Use crayons and markers. Attach photos of group events, copies of the youth newsletter, movie posters, handouts, lesson outlines, letters, charts, publicity materials, ticket stubs—anything that would symbolize or remind them of what they did.

This activity is especially good for watch-night services or New Year’s lock-ins. Just have the kids bring everything they’ve saved from youth group events over the previous 12 months, and add to their collection whatever you yourself have saved. It’s also a good way to purge your office files! Randy D. Nichols

PARTY

New Year’s Eve Eve Party

With the holidays becoming more and more dangerous on New Year’s Eve, why not have a New Year’s Eve Eve Party instead? Celebrate New Year’s Eve Eve at midnight. The kids can have all the fun of New Year’s Eve and then stay home to babysit on the real New Year’s Eve. Dallas Elder

DISCUSSION STARTER

New Year’s Resolutions

First discuss the meaning of the words New Year’s resolution. Ask kids to share some resolutions they have made in the past and what happened to them. Did they last? How long? Next, introduce the word covenant, and ask kids to compare that word with the word resolution. What is the difference between the two? (One important difference is that a resolution is generally a private thing, and a covenant is a promise or agreement made publicly between two or among more people.)

After some discussion, have the kids form groups of three, preferably with friends they know fairly well. Then give them 10 minutes or so to write a few New Year’s covenants. After they are completed, each person shares his or her covenants with other members of the small group and asks for feedback. Are they too vague? Impossible to keep? Too easy? Inappropriate? Kids are then allowed to rewrite their covenants based on the feedback they received. Last, they share their rewritten covenants and perhaps discuss practical ways they plan to put them into practice. J. Richard Short

BIBLE STUDY

Scripture Resolutions

To create scriptural New Year’s resolutions, have your kids go through the Bible and find their favorite verses. For those who claim they don’t have a favorite verse, have them open their Bibles to Proverbs and start reading until they come to a verse they like. Make sure you have some extra Bibles on hand for this.

Tell the kids to paraphrase the verse they choose by putting it in their own words. Next they should personalize it by putting themselves in it. For example, Matthew 6:33 reads: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Someone who chooses that verse might paraphrase and personalize it this way: I will always seek the things of God in all I do. And if I do this, all that I need here on this earth God will give me.

Let the kids write the paraphrase in large letters on a sheet of colored paper, then post it where they’ll see it often. This personalized verses can then become their New Year’s resolutions. Ron Kostedt

LESSON APPLICATION

Turn or Burn

This idea works well at the first meeting of a new year or the last meeting of an old year. It involves the making of New Year’s resolutions. Students are asked to turn (over a new leaf) or burn (an old habit).

Each person is given a few sheets of paper and an envelope along with a pencil. For effect you could print the shape of a leaf on one paper, and burn the edges of the other paper. Participants are then asked to write down on the leaf some resolutions for the new year (a good habit that you propose to begin doing). The papers are then folded and put into self-addressed individual envelopes and sealed. The envelopes are collected and will be mailed out to these people in June to remind them of their resolutions.

Next, the kids are asked to write on the burn paper a bad habit that they would like to discontinue. After some discussion on how one goes about ridding himself or herself of a bad habit, and after some prayer and mutual commitment to each other, each person brings their bad habit to the front and symbolically burns it in a little bonfire. You can probably build a fire inside a washtub, or use a small hibachi. Be sure to have adequate ventilation or just do this part of the meeting outside.

The best way to make a program like this effective over the long haul is to plan some ways to follow up on this during the year. It can prove to be a very meaningful way to approach on old idea. Ed Skidmore

PARTY

New Year’s Prophecies

This could be the funniest thing your group does all year! Get a copy of a sensational tabloid that makes predictions for the New Year. As you read it, circle the most outrageous predictions you can find.

Read aloud to your group what you find—this will be a scream in itself. Then have someone pass out index cards and pencils. Tell the group, Anybody can do better than that, and let kids write down their own zany predictions for the next year. Then let everyone read them aloud. Some will tend to be about other members of the group, and they’re guaranteed to be hilarious. Todd Capen

ST. VALENTINE’S DAY

Plan a memorable February 14th with these icebreakers, games, songs,

activities, and Bible lessons—all about love, whether human or divine.

MIXER

Lovely Confusion

Here’s a Valentine’s Day icebreaker for a party. Give everyone the list printed on page 20. Participants are on their own; the first person to accomplish all nine instructions is the winner. (They do not have to be accomplished in order, but they must all be done.) Joe Snow

GAME

Famous Sweethearts Game

This game is great for Valentine parties. It is played just like the Newlywed Game on TV, except that participants take on the role of famous sweethearts—like these:

Samson and Delilah

Popeye and Olive Oyl

Romeo and Juliet

Adam and Eve

Lucy and Ricky Riccardo

Blondie and Dagwood

George and Martha Washington

Superman and Lois Lane

Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy

Make up pairs of name tags with names of famous people who were couples. Mix up the tags in a hat or bowl and have each person draw out a name tag. (Part of the fun of picking at random is that a guy may have to take on the role of Delilah or a girl that of Samson.) Teens then find their mates.

One at a time, the female characters leave the room. Their corresponding mates answer questions, trying to match what their famous sweethearts will say. (Have someone record the answers.) Questions should resemble these:

What would you say your sweetheart is most famous for?

Where would you say you and your sweetheart live?

What color hair would you say your sweetheart has?

The female characters are brought back in and asked the same questions. Couples are awarded points if they match each other’s answers. For the second round, the male characters are taken out, and questions are asked of the female characters. The couples with the most points after two rounds wins.

Lovely Confusion

♥ Get 10 different autographs—first, middle, and last names.

♥ Unlace someone’s shoe, lace it, and tie it again.

♥ Find two other people and have the three of you form a heart shape lying on the floor.

♥ Get a person of the opposite gender to kiss this paper five times and sign their name.__________

♥ Eat 10 red hots and show your red tongue to someone you do not know well. They sign here_________

♥ Recite this poem as loudly as you can:

How do I love thee

Let me count the ways

I love thee to the depth and

Breadth and height my soul can reach.

I love thee to the level of every day’s most quiet need,

I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears of

All my life

And if God choose I shall but love thee Better after death.

♥ Ask 10 people to be your valentine and record your score. Yesses:_______No’s:_____

♥ Leapfrog over someone five times.

♥ You were given a piece of bubble gum at the beginning of the race. Chew it up and blow five bubbles. Find someone who will watch you do it and sign here when you finish:_________

Permission to photocopy this page granted only for use in your own youth group. Copyright © 1997 by Youth Specialties. www.YouthSpecialties.com

A good way to begin the game is to award a certain number of points to the pair who find each other the quickest, one point less for the next pair to find each other, and so on. Scott Pogue

GAME

Kissing in the Dark

For this two-team relay, you’ll need two identical bullseye targets 18 inches (or more) in diameter. Mark the targets’ concentric circles with values like-10, 10, 25, 50, and 100. You’ll also need two blindfolds, two tubes of lipstick, two tubes of Chapstick, and one adult with a marker for each target. (For larger groups, make more teams, adding one of the above items for each team added.) Post the targets on a wall 15 feet away from the starting line. Line up the two teams single file at the starting line, facing their target across the room.

Now announce the title of the game: Kissing in the Dark. Explain that you will blindfold the first members of the teams, put Chapstick or lipstick (player’s choice) on each one, and spin them around. Then, guided by their teammates shouts, the blindfolded players attempt to kiss the bull’s-eye and then return to their own lines and blindfold the next player in line. Play continues until each player has had a chance to kiss in the dark.

It is helpful to have an adult circle each lip print immediately after it is made so that smearing from subsequent kisses doesn’t confuse the scoring. For males who will put on the lipstick instead of the Chapstick, give their teams 10 bonus points. If play is too slow, add a time limit. Doug Thorne and David Tohlen

GAME

Valentine Candy

Grab some of those Valentine candy conversation hearts (COOL KID, KISS ME, MY GAL, etc.) and try these ideas.

•Valenteams. Need to divide your group quickly—but with some Valentine fun—into teams? Determine before your party how many teams you want and how many on each team. Then pull that many sets of that many identical conversation hearts out of a bag.

When kids walk into the party, give them each one heart to hold onto—not eat! When the time comes to make teams, tell everyone to find others with their phrase. They can yell back and forth as much as they want until they all team up.

To divide for another team game, have everyone with the same color heart get together. Tommy Baker

•Valentine Candy Charades. Here’s a good little game for your next Valentine’s Day banquet. Put some candy conversation hearts in a bowl. One person from the group picks out one of the candies from the bowl and, using the regular rules for Charades, tries to pantomime the message. The person who correctly guesses the saying gets to eat that piece of candy. You can use teams, just like regular Charades, or you can do it like the game Password, where two partners on a team try to communicate with each other. It’s hilarious to watch the participants try to do phrases like LOVER BOY, KISS ME, and all the other crazy sayings they put on those traditional candies. Wayne Peterson

•Valentine Candy Bingo. Make up a bunch of bingo cards—but instead of putting numbers in the squares, fill the squares with phrases from those little valentine candy hearts.

Buy enough candy hearts for all players to fill up all their bingo cards. Give players equal quantities of randomly selected candy hearts. On Go! players don’t wait for a caller, but immediately try to cover their KISS ME squares with KISS ME candy hearts, their LOVER BOY squares with LOVER BOY hearts, etc. If they have a surplus of one kind of candy heart, they can trade with other players for hearts with phrases they need in order to cover every square on their card (or achieve a bingo—you make house rules).Players can eat the candy when the game is over.

•Love Bingo. This game is also suitable for a crowd breaker. Copy the bingo sheet on page 22. Make sure everyone has a pencil and a copy of the handout. The first person to get bingo wins a small prize. Jeff Brown

SCAVENGER HUNT

Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt

Since it’s too cold in most parts of the country to go outside on February 14, this scavenger hunt takes place indoors with magazines. Each team sits in a circle with a pile of magazines and the list found on page 24. The first team to find and tear out all 10 items is the winner. Kathie Taylor

MUSIC

Valentine Carols

You’ve probably gone Christmas caroling, but have you gone Valentine’s Day caroling? Next Valentine’s Day, have your group learn the songs on page 25 (or any love songs that you know) and serenade the people you love—parents, seniors, workers in the church, neighbors, etc. They will love it! If possible, dress everyone up in red and white—and maybe have one member of the group dress up like Cupid. You can also present a box of candy, cookies, or a Valentine’s Day card to the people you sing for. You might also sing one or two Gospel songs that share the love of Christ as well. Donn Williams

PARTY

Parent Valentine Banquet

Rather than the old Sweetheart Banquet, why not have your young people sponsor a Valentine Banquet for their parents? The young people prepare and serve the meal to their parents and then put on a program of skits and special music. Take lots of pictures and have lots of fun, and this may become an annual event. David Butler

PANEL DISCUSSION

Loves Me, Loves Me Not

Kick off your Valentine’s Day party—or your unit on dating and commitment—with this panel discussion.

Prior to your meeting ask four adults to each draft a short paragraph about their high school dating experiences, excluding any references that would identify them as male or female. Try to pick individuals who represent more than one kind of experience: married, unmarried, heavy high school daters, late bloomers who didn’t date until college, a woman who married her high school sweetheart, a man who married his wife a month after their first date, etc. Photocopy these paragraphs without naming the writers.

Though I went steady with someone my entire eighth-grade year, in high school I was always getting dumped. I never had a relationship that lasted more than two weeks. It seemed the people I was attracted to were never attracted to me; and the people who were interested in me, I had no interest in. Thus, my love life in high school consisted of lots of dates but no steady. The same story continued on into college until I met my spouse-to-be in my first year. So other than the relationship I had in junior high, I’ve never gone steady with anyone but my spouse. Ironically, both the person I went with in eighth grade and the person I’m married to now have the same first name.

At the party or meeting, hand out the copies to the kids—while the four writers are seated up front. Students have to guess which story goes with which individual.

After the unveiling, kids jot down questions on index cards, then direct their questions to certain panel members or to panel members of a certain gender. Deborah Carlson and Robert Malsack

VALENTINE’S DAY SCAVENGER HUNT

FIND

1. A picture of a person you would like for a Valentine.

2. A picture of something people give for a Valentine’s Day gift.

3. The word love.

4. A picture of something that rhymes with the word Valentine.

5. A picture of a romantic-looking couple.

6. A picture of a piece of clothing that is red.

7. A word or picture that describes your Valentine.

8. A picture of a red food.

9. A picture of anything that begins with the letter V.

10. A picture of a box of chocolates.

Permission to photocopy this page granted only for use in your own youth group. Copyright © 1997 by Youth Specialties. www.YouthSpecialties.com

Valentine Carols

(to the tune of Deck the Halt)

Deck the hall with hearts of gladness

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.

‘Tis the day we don’t want sadness

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.

Don we now a big wide smile

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. Sing we love in every mile

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.

(to the tune of Mistletoe and Holly)

Here we are, it’s dandy

It’s time for Valentines and candy

Big red presents

Val-en-tine cards

Saying we love you so.

Here we are and caring

It’s time for loving

And for sharing

Kissing sweethearts

Big bright red cards

Spreading love wherever we go

(men) Happy Valentine’s…

(women) Happy Valentine’s…to you

(to the tune of Jingle Bells)

Chorus:

Big red hearts, flowered carts

Coming through the post

Valentines from someone who

You know will mean the most

Dashing through the snow

In a four-door or a coupe

We have come to you

To knock you for a loop

Our songs we bring today

To take away your blue

Oh, what fun it is to sing

A Valentine to you

Chorus:

Big red hearts, flowered carts

Coming through the post

Valentines from someone who

You know will mean the most

(to the tune of O Christmas Tree)

O Valentine, O Valentine

We bring you love from Jesus

O Valentine, O Valentine

We bring you love from Jesus

His love is true in summertime

But also in the wintertime

O Valentine, O Valentine

We bring you love from Jesus

(to the tune of Jolly Old St Nicholas)

Jolly old St. Valentine

How’d you ever know

That we’d need a special day

To say, We love you so!?

Valentine’s is here today

So we thought of you

We’ll whisper how we love you so

That’s just what we will do…

(whisper) We love you!

(to the tune of We Wish You a Merry Christmas)

We wish you a happy Val’tines

We wish you a happy Val’tines

We wish you a happy Val’tines

And a happy heart day.

Good tidings to you

We’ll love you always