Tes, it's early but help me plan a Preschool Christmas PArty

[cchavez]

I need simple, inexpensive ideas....parents will donate items but I will wind up covering a good portion. I want to do a book exchange...should they wrap the book?

I wanted to do pin the carrot nose on the snowman or red nose on rudolph but then I would have to give prizes.....

So we need a craft and a food activity....once again...simple and inexpensive is the key. :)

Thanks!

[sariana]

Hmmm...

Ask that the books be left unwrapped. Spread them all out on a table. Play Pin the Nose on the Snowman because that sounds really cute. Whoever gets the closest gets the "prize" of getting to choose the first book. This also could work for second, third, however far you wanted/needed to go.

In the past Target has carried those foam kits for snowmen and other winter themes. They're kind of cheesy, but they're simple, and preschool kids seem to like them. I think I got a kit last year for about $10 that had enough supplies for 24 snowmen.

For the food activity, you could do a snowman face. A baby carrot for the nose, of course. Use half an English muffin (or anything round). Spread it with cream cheese or cottage cheese for the snow. Use other vegetables for the eyes and mouth. (Red pepper pieces for the mouth? Olive halves for the eyes?) My son's 3-year-old Mommy & Me did something similar, and I thought it was really cute.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Last year we did a snowman craft that went over well. I took a picture of each child and had them printed (I went in about a week before the party to get this done). We then got disposable plates (I think we used styrofoam) and cut out 3 parts for the snowman's body and attached with some paper binding tacks (sorry, I don't know their real name!). The kids put their face on the snowman's head then they decorated using all sorts of fun stuff like glitter, yarn, buttons, pom-poms... The parents liked having something with the kid's picture. The idea of the picture can be applied to lots of other crafts.

We also had the kids decorate mittens made from cardstock using the above supplies. When done we strung them around the room on some yarn, like a fun winter garland.

If you can do Christmas and are not limited to winter like we were, the kids could make collages out of old Christmas cards. You could have the families donate them and maybe suppliment with a box of cheap ones from Target or the $ store.

Snack- cookies and hot chocolate (served at a kid appropriate temperature). I know I brought in something more healthy but I can't remember what it was. You could have the kids decorate cookies as an activity. That's always fun.

Beth

[hellokitty]

For the book exchange, I'd have the parents by a gender neutral book and wrap it. And then do that game, can't remember the name, where you play music and keep passing the books (everyone sitting in a big circle) and when the music stops, that is the book you get. That way, it is, "fair" and nobody feels like they got stuck with the last books that nobody else wanted to pick, etc..

Something else that is fun is some sort of jingle bell project, like a necklace. My kids LOVE jingle bells and if it is ok by the school rules, read a book like the polar express and you can even give them the bell on a ribbon, like it is the bell from the book.

[Cheburashka]

How long is the party going to be? My cousin went to a party last year with a book exchange, it went pretty much the way hellokitty described. They decorated pre-baked Christmas cookies (from some of the pictures, it looks like more frosting and sprinkles wound up in the hair/on the clothes than on the cookies though) that they took home. They also made thank-you cards for Santa, for when he dropped off their presents, just using construction paper, stickers, and markers. The volunteer parents had to help with the cards, because some of the kids wanted to write the message themselves, and some of the kids didn't. They ended with storytime, and the teachers read a few Christmas stories while parents picked kids up.