Happy New Year & a few games

We brought in the New Year in Oil City this year with First Night Activities and Fireworks. But during the holiday activities, we found times that the kids would get a bit rowdy and we needed activities that any number could play and still have a good time. Here are a few ideas that we used that you may still have time to use. 

The first 2 are Christmas Scavenger hunts, but they have a little different twist.  The first is Christmas Tree Scavenger hunt. This is great for a tree that none of those playing the game helped decorate. We used Grandma' s tree, which none of the grandkids have ever helped decorate. I carefully looked all over the tree- high and low- then I stood back and would call the following- I need an angel playing a trumpet ornament. Then the first one to find it would point to the ornament. Or I need a gold 3d star. I tried to be as specific as possible. This is great for trees that have ornaments that have been collected from different people or different places. The more unique the ornaments the better for the hunt.

Another Scavenger hunt that can be used 2 different ways is the Christmas Scavenger Hunt. This is one where it needs to be ok with the homeowner to move decorations and then carefully put them back. You can provide a list to groups of kids and they have to go and collect the items and then at a designated time return with the items found and compare. The team with the most wins.  Or you can have a caller that calls out an item and the person who comes back with the item called gets points. You keep score of who gets the most items back to the caller first for the score.  Here is a list of suggested Christmas items, but remember that we don't want to break anyone's decorations so check first before starting this game - it could be high energy so be careful!

- a pine cone, an ornament hook, a red sock, a holiday postage stamp, a Christmas cookie cutter, a Christmas songbook, a strand of tinsel or garland, a twig from a real evergreen, a holiday towel, a Christmas tree ornament, a winter boot, a book that tells the story of the 1st Christmas, a warm slipper, a piece of popcorn, a Christmas stocking, a candy cane, a bow from a package, a red candle, a homemade cookie, a Christmas video, a Christmas cookbook, something in a star shape, a Christmas card, a bulb from a strand of Christmas lights. You can always add specific items from the home that you are playing the game, be creative

Another Scavenger Hunt that we use at my house is the Manger Scene or Nativity Hunt. I have a good number of nativities around my house in various forms. Porcelain, wooden, felt, glass,etc. So I send the kids on a 5 minute hunt and try to find as many Nativities as they can find. Then I have them lead me around the house and point out the various Nativities. Usually they miss a few along the way and I get to point them out, or later in the day someone will say "hey we missed this one"

But these are just a few quick, few supply games to play  when you need to kill a little bit of time before dinner, or just for fun with the Christmas decorations. Have fun- we did, but the kids return to school tomorrow, so back to the routine.