Hello ladies! You have been so helpful to me in the past, you were the first ones I thought of to help with this problem. My daughter is a senior in high school, and is helping to organise a Christmas party for her JROTC class. The teacher that used to plan everything and provided the decorations etc. left at the beginning of the year, taking his supplies with him. There are about 90 kids invited, but they really only expect about 30 to show up. The party will be held ona Saturday evening. The problem is that aside from karoake they can't come up with any activities at all! They do have a Secret Santa planned, but that's it. So, if any of you could help with ideas for inexpensive decorating, games etc, I would appreciate it so much. They have to do everything themselves, so it has to be pretty simple to do!!! Thank you!
JROTC I remember the Christmas parties were so much fun!
I was involved with JROTC for all four years of my high school years.
At our parties we had the senior cadets come up with their own silly version of the twelve days of Christmas and they had to sing it in front of everyone parents and cadets at the party. Gift x change, sant to visit, and more silly songs....
Karoake is always fun but I went to a Halloween party this year and they had Rockband. I'm not sure where the party will be held but if you have access to a TV and Rockband (video game) I'm sure the kids would have a blast. One of the students might have the game and be able to bring it. For inexpensive decorating check dollar stores, craft stores and maybe even the dollar section at Target. Craft stores like Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Joann have great deals on their Christmas decorations right now. If you can get the kids to go out shopping for decorations on black friday you might even get some better deals. Let them know that the most important thing is that they are together during this holiday season, all the decorations in the world won't change that. Happy Thanksgiving!!
Ornament exchange is always fun...
Have you thought about a casino party or a Vegas night? They don't play with real money, just poker chips. They can use their winnings to go for prizes or something like that. My husband owns Monte Carlo Magic. Email him and he can give you more information (or call): ____@____.com or (817) Win-7777. He will supply everything: dealers, tables, stools, chips, etc. He has blackjack tables, roulette tables, let it ride tables and craps tables. He can also supply texas hold 'em dealers. He will ask questions like: budget, number of people, length of time, location, etc. He has done several high school lock-ins as well as many company parties and fundraisers. It won't hurt to call! good luck!
Maybe a scavenger hunt. They would probably enjoy that.
Well I was in NJROTC when I was in High School. Every year, we would all buy a $5 gift and do a present swap. One person would start and open his/her present then the next person would open his/her present. Once the second person opened his present, he/she could swap with the first person, and so forth and so forth. We always loved that! That was always the biggest hit. As seniors, we also made little gift bags for the younger siblings that showed up. For the decorations, they could probably ask parents if they have something to donate and/or they could go to some of the dollar stores and spend a little money on quite a bit of decorations. We also sang Christmas Carols! Some of the kids weren't too fond of that, but a lot of us were! Hope everything works out for your daughter and her friends!
See if anyone has one has of those digital cameras that docks directly to a printer and allow the kids to take pictures. Go to a party store and buy a few simple decorations to use as a backdrop and put a couple chairs in front of it and let them have fun taking and printing pictures. You could even just make the backdrop simple and just get or make a bunch of silly hats or costumes that they can use to dress up and take pictures. Maybe even ask the drama dept at the school if they have anything the kids can use. Ask the person that has the camera if they would be willing to buy a couple packs of picture paper to donate to the party if money is a problem.
As far as decorations for the room buy a bunch of balloons and blow them up themselves to cover the floor in all different colors. Buy a couple bunches of helium balloons tied with colorful ribbons long enough to hang down to their height and it will look like there are more decorations then there are. Christmas lights around the area where they will be doing the karaoke would be fun. If they are going to have multiple tables then put a few of each of the secret santa gifts on each table to be table decorations. Then when its time to exchange gifts they will have to run around finding their gift.
Hope this helps! Hope they have fun!
My daughter (18yrold) just went to a party where they played a "home made" game they called Three Rounds.
Each person was given pieces of paper and wrote down well known slogans, ideas, quotes, etc which are placed in a basket. All players sit in a circle and 2 teams are made up of every other player. A player starts the game by pulling a slip out of the basket and using words to get the others to come up with what's on the slip. Of course, he/she can't say any of the exact words on the paper.
For the second and third rounds the same papers are used and put back in the basket. I forget exactly what the second and third rounds are like, but I think the third round is acting it out like in charades.
She loved this game and said they hadn't had such a good laugh for a long time.
Reply to me if you want more info on this game and I'll ask my daughter to explain it again.
Games from my childhood:
Fruit basket upset - can handle a large crowd.
Charades
Skits or talent show
Musical chairs
Balloon popping hop game - tie a balloon to the ankle and people try to pop other people's balloons
It might be fun to just bring a bunch of card tables and card or board games and let the kids play games. Or import some adults (veterans?) that play dominoes and teach them Mexican train (wreck?) or Chicken Foot or whatever those games are!
Tri-ominoes, Pig Pen, Life, Chance, Parcheesi, Uno, Crazy Eights, Old Maid (paste some of their instructors faces on the cards?), Memory (make your own set of cards using army type pictures or instructors?), Rummy Kub(e?), regular Rummy, Boggle, Pictionary (use large dry erase boards and divide into two large teams)
longer games: Clue, Monopoly, Parcheesi, Chance, Life
Encourage them to switch tables after every game to intermingle.
Or do what my sister-in-law has us do every year after the Thanksgiving meal: we make some kind of craft - one year we made Christmas ornaments out of clay that had to be baked. Amazing creativity!
Have fun!
PS Ask a kindergarten or first grade teacher for inexpensive craft ideas! They're the best! Amazing people!
