1st grade Christmas party help

Okay, yes, I'm a slacker as the party is the 21st :lol:

I'm planning on the kids having a 3 or 4 stations - cookie decorating, face painting - and then I need a few other ideas. The party will only be about 45 minutes (end of the day). Oh, and of course, we don't want to spend much money. I haven't asked for volunteers yet but the Halloween party almost had too many - I'm sure that won't be a problem.

Thanks!

 

oops, can't get the OP to edit:

Also, wondering if you organize a class gift to the teacher for Chrtistmas and/or end of year or if you just stay out of that and each kid does his/her own thing?

 

What about a station to make an ornament. I think in 1st grade, they had doves cut out and then they used glue and glitter to decorate it. Or maybe a pincone bird feeder with peanut butter and seeds. You could do some kind of snowman made out of cotton balls. Crossword puzzle or word search with Holiday words. Last year, I just looked up some ideas online for their Halloween stations since I helped with that party. I bet there are a ton out there.

Oh, none of our classes have ever had everyone go in on one gift for the teacher. It was all individual if people wanted to do something.

 

We do a class gift. We are collecting $10 for the teacher and $5 for the aide. Then the class parent buys the teacher/aide a gift card. We do the same thing at the end of the year. I know some parents also get the teacher a gift on their own.
I know for my girls classes party, they are doing some type of craft.

 

Just a little note...do you have laws that limit the gift? That might be something to look into. Our state passed a law that we cannot give a teacher a gift valued more than $50 and no group gift more than $150 in order to avoid showing favoritism. Baloney if you ask me. Teachers are grossly underpaid for the job they do and should be heavily rewarded at Christmastime if parents feel the need to do so.

Sorry, off my soap box now. I just wanted to throw that out there because I know someone else posted on FB the other day that their state has done it also.

 

The three schools I was involved in all did their own thing. I will say at the times I was a support teacher (taught pull out Resource Room), we did not have 'room parents' and did not get as many holiday gifts. As a 'main' classroom teacher I got cards and/or gift from the majority of the class. As a support teacher-- it was more like 20-40%.

I think that a group gift is a good idea....but the support teachers could potentially really get left out. They work as many hours and as hard as the 'primary' teachers.

Even a card saying your kiddo loves art, music, Special Education, Gifted, Gym, etc is meaningful.

I will be sending my kiddos a present for their primary teacher (10-15$) and a small token (think really small 1-5$) for the other teachers and the aides that work with my children.

Yes, it adds up. But those adults are a HUGE portion of my kids days M-Fri. I want to know I appreciate them.

I agree with the ornament thing, BUT DO NOT DO anything with NUTS! I know that it is a strong allergen and my DDs school has a few kiddos that have nut allergies!

Also, how diverse is your school? If it is not a Christmas party---but a holiday/seasonal party. I would maybe do a table/center on different holidays. Maybe one table teach how to play dreidel, a table for making an ornament , a table to try/make a Kwanzaa craft, sample a rice dish for Winter Solstice or Chinese New Year, etc.

It is just me, but I love to expose my kiddos to other cultures and ideas. Yes, we celebrate Christmas- but it is also very cool to see my kids develop an understanding that other people do different things, and those ideas should be respected.

Schools go over board in being totally inclusive and worrying about offending that they really miss the boat on informing kiddos on other cultures. The more we know about other people, the more accepting people tend to be (reduces bullying and fear of the unknown).


If you are going for a more Seasonal Theme: snowflake soft foam craft (available in bulk from Michaels, Jo Ann, Oriental Trading Company), snowmen out of pom pom balls and other crafty stuff, snowflake stamp/ink art, snowglobes (small objects in a small sealed jar filled with glitter and water), finger paint white patterns on blue paper, mitten/glove matching activity, snowball (rolled socks) throw contest, weight the snow (cotton) guessing station.

If you are going for a Generic Christmas theme: make patterns with stickers (mittens, snowflakes, Santa, reindeer, etc) on strips of paper, decorate a mug (2.99 each at Micheals), ornaments, make handprint wreaths, make cookies (no bake??), use winter/holiday themed cookie cutters to play with playdough, make fun headbands (antlers with pipecleaners), Holiday candy sort or weighing station, Guessing/Estimate Jar (fill with whatever- M&Ms or trinkets) and guess amount, How many ____ is it big? (use a holiday ruler to measure things), pin the nose on Rudolf or Santa

Wow- that would never occur to me! All the areas I taught in did not do group gifts....but individual gifts never went past $50!! It was usually 5-20$ or a nice card. Everything was appreciated to be honest.

I will tell you, I would not make cookies or other food. We were told not to consume baked goods from students for health reasons...but I always wrote a nice thank you note anyway.





I game my students books for the Holiday gifts (whatever they were celebrating)! As a teacher, I would have loved to books to add to my classroom library and/or gift cards to purchase books!

Coffee/coffee gift cards are popular.

 

What about a little craft station. They can make Candy Cane reindeer with googly eyes, pipe cleaners and red pom poms for the nose.

In the kids preschool, I'm going in with some of the moms. For first grade, I think I'm getting a gift on my own.

I also found a couple of fun games to play:


Rudolph Dash
Supplies:
Vaseline
Cut circles out of red construction paper

How To Play: Have child put Vaseline on their nose and then put the red circles on their nose. Relay race to the finish with each new person adding their red nose. If nose falls, go back to bowl and add more Vaseline and reapply nose.




Santa Says
How To Play: Played similar to Simon Says. The player up is "Santa". Player will say "Santa says hop on one foot". The children will hop on one foot. Player will say "Stop". The children are to keep hopping on one foot until player says "Santa says stop". Repeat for additional activities such as take one baby step forward, step backwards, turn around, sit down. Sometimes Santa will say "Santa says" and sometimes he won't. It'­s a fun game to play with young children.






Fill the Christmas Stocking
Supplies:
Stocking, spoon and bowl for each team.
Wrapped candy.

How To Play: Divide into teams. Have children line up at one end of the room. At the other end, hang a Christmas stocking for each team. Place a bowl of candy and a spoon in front of each team. Each child takes a turn taking a candy from the bowl with the spoon. They then carry the candy on the spoon to the stocking and drop the candy in the stocking. Race back to the next person in line, give them the spoon. First team to fill the stocking wins!

 

For two years I did "Holidays around the world". One station was the US where they did a Christmas craft--usually something from Michaels with the foamy sets. Another station was Israel, where they played the Dreidel game or made dreidels, the third was China, where they decorated red envelopes and stuffed them with coupons they made (in lieu of money). The forth station was the "airport lounge" where they got their snack. They would rotate between the stations with a passport that was stamped at each location.

 

We are doing: Magnetic snowmen that they color. they are wooden snowment and magnets on the back, also Reindeer head pieces (paper bands with hand antlers, pom pom noses), reindeer food (oatmeal plus glitter), a foam book mark (Kit from oriental trading) and then we are playing hot potato using wrapped gifts.

 

I was taken aback because my girls are in the same class and I adore their teacher so I could easily go over this amount. I guess I'll only spend $49.

What an awesome idea!!

 

:laughing: LOL. How about 49.99??


$50 for TWO kiddos is about $25 a kiddo....which is not unusual, sounds high to me just based on my own personal experiences- but not crazy high. ( 5/10/20$ gift cards have been common in years past with the teachers I worked with).



I think it may depend on the area you are in , personal budgets, and standard expectations for the area ( cost of living, area that PTA does gifts, room parents do gifts, higher/lower socio-economic levels, gift cards vs gifts).

I recall a similar thread last year and I, personally, was amazed at the wide variance of 'standard' holiday appreciation (teachers, hair dressers, mailmen, etc).


My entire Holiday budget is $500 for my immediate family (DH and the two girls),12- 15 family members, and a handful of friends, plus teachers---- so to spend $50 per teacher gift is just not going to happen, especially since they have two teachers (regular and student teacher) and one of my DDs has a personal aide that I would like to get something for.

I totally appreciate my girls teacher (having taught myself) and will include a nice note with the gift.

I actually asked their teacher if she had a 'wish list' since I can get more books, supplies, etc with a coupon or deal than a gift card. But she said, after 10 years she has what she needs. So I likely will get a gift card- which I just cant stretch as far a books, games, etc.


Historically, I taught/lived in areas that were in areas that families just wouldnt have the $ for a gift beyond a token of appreciation. It will be interesting this year for us--- we have had some culture shock. The school the girls are attending is much more affluent than any that we have lived/worked in before. I hope our smaller gift of appreciation is taken in the good spirit it is intended. I love love the teachers the girls have and think she has done a great job (and, yes- I think she is underpaid for what she does.)


I have never seen a law passing how much could be spent on teacher gifts, it was never really an issue/concern to be honest in the areas we were in.



HERE and HERE are fun websites with some ideas for classroom parties.

 

Thanks everyone for your input! I ordered these gingerbread notebooks for the craft. I also ordered some things for us, including these glitter holidat tattoos We, of course, don't need that many so I was thinking it would be fun to use some for the party too. Has anyone done that before? I don't know if that type of thing would be allowed.

 

Love your ideas! :Clap: I'll bet those will be hits. You'll have to let us know how it turns out.

I totally agree budget plays a huge factor. Part of her gift ($22 worth) is 2 educational games that she had on her wish list when we had family game night recently. So I feel good spending the $$ and knowing she will get something she can use in the class with my girls. We also got a Dunkins g.c. and are making some ornaments. :good: