Easy holiday party ideas everyone will love
Our Director of Social & Content Marketing and mom of two Leslie Dyste shares holiday party ideas kids (and parents) will love.
When my first son was a baby we set out to have a holiday party every year. It was going to be our tradition - cramming all the babies from our mom group onto a couch for a picture worth a million words. And those photos and parties are what memories are made of! Of course we took a few years off with the Pandemic - but now that my boys are 6 and 3, I’m kicking myself back into planning gear.
I’m sharing the activities I’ve rounded up for our upcoming holiday party that I’m sure will keep my little guests of all ages (and their parents) engaged, festive and happy. My goal is easy and fun - it doesn’t need to be complicated! I hope an idea or two will work for your holiday party too.
Hot Chocolate Station
In addition to offering heartier apps and kid’s foods, a hot chocolate station will be sure to draw in party guests. I’m planning to pre-make the hot chocolate and keep it in a warming pitcher (not too hot!) I’ll place festive mugs and a “hot chocolate charcuterie” board nearby complete with mini marshmallows, chocolate spoons, Whipped Cream, sprinkles and candy canes. There are plenty of Pinterest worthy ideas so you can keep it as classically simple or go as ‘Elf’ worthy as you want!
Foil Fun Holiday
Two words - Foil Fun! It’s the most crowd pleasing art project I’ve ever come across (and I promise that’s not just because I work for Skillmatics). I am certain Foil Fun Holiday will take center stage at our holiday party. It’s fun for kids ages two (with some parental help) through tween - I mean even adults too! What’s not to love? Foil Fun comes with 16 picture canvases and 100+ stickers. Children will simply press the foil onto the stickers, and peel away for wow-worthy art. The best part - it’s mess-free! Since I’m having 12 kids at my party, one pack of Foil Fun will be enough for everyone to complete a sparkly masterpiece of their own. I may even bring a couple packs as an activity for my son’s 1st grade classroom holiday party!
DIY Table Cloth
Kraft paper table cloths are the best hack around! I’m buying a roll to cover the kids’ table. I’ll just add a basket of markers (pro tip: be sure to have plenty of duplicates of the same colors), along with some Christmas stencils. This makes the flow from the activities to dinner a little more seamless as we get the kids seated to eat. No rules - they can begin coloring whatever they want at their spot of the table!
Holiday Charades
It may feel simple and overdone - but I have a feeling my 6 year old and his crew will love this. Even the younger siblings will be on board with a little help. You know the drill! Simply write holiday themed words (kids are familiar with) on folded up papers and add them to a bowl - I’m thinking Santa, Dreidel, snowman, Rudolph - We’ll split up into two teams - kids can be teamed up with parents when needed! First team to five points wins! In fact - our Skillmatics learning team has created a festive printable just for this purpose!
Minute to Win It Bows Game
I’m borrowing this idea from Get Your Holiday On for a ‘Minute to Win It’ festive bows game! I’m hoping weather will cooperate because we can even take this one outside to get out some wiggles. Players will be divided into teams of two. One player will have a bag of gift bows - and the other player will turn around so they aren’t facing player one. The timer will be set for one minute as the players try to add as many bows to their teammate’s back as possible. At the end of the timer - the team who added the most bows wins!
For guests who linger later into the evening I’ll have our family favorite games at the ready including Guess in 10 Animals and Rapid Rumble!
Leslie Dyste is the Director of Social and Content Marketing at Skillmatics. Leslie lives in the Bay Area, with her husband and two young boys. Both boys agree mom has the “fun job” as they take their roles of product testers very seriously.