HOW TO THROW A CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS PARTY

This party was for the kids, by the kids. With parental oversight, but the goal was for the children to learn by doing.

1. Set a date and time. Set an alternate date in case you are unable to procure a meeting place. Hint from experience: don't choose the Friday or Saturday just before Christmas.

2. Decide on the approximate number of people that will be invited.

3. Based on that number, reserve a building. A local church, community center, or VFW Hall may be possible sources of inexpensive rentals.

4. Set your budget -- in stone. If you set an approximate budget, it will run over and over and over. Set it once and stick to it, even if it means making do in some places. Decide who will fund the budget -- a set amount from each family? each family according to its ability? money from a previous fundraiser? each committee funding their own expenses?

5. Decide who will be doing what. Typically, you will need the following committees: decorating, entertainment, food, invitations. Let an adult chair the committee, with children choosing on which committee they will serve. Even very young children can participate. You might also want to designate someone as official photographer.

6. Let the children divide into their respective committees and begin planning! The adult chair oversees their planning (helps them budget their time, money, etc), but the plan is for the children to make the choices and do the work.

Some committee chair hints:

Invitations -- If you have a color printer, these can be done very nicely on a computer. Have one person receive all the RSVPs, regardless of whose guest is responding. Send invitations to everyone in your homeschool group, too. It is a nice gesture, and a good reminder of the time and place.

Entertainment -- Make certain to have not only stage entertainment (plays, carols, talent, etc), but paper entertainment for the down times. Christmas-themed puzzles are good. Make certain that if you are requiring the PA system or mikes, you have previous permission to use them. Games which are appropriate for all ages are a big hit. If your group is smaller, you might want to play the white elephant gift exchange. Your entertainment chairman will also serve as Master of Ceremonies, and will basically "run the show."

Decorations -- Simple can be elegant. White tablecloths, greenery interlaced with mini candycanes and highlighted with red gift boxes and glittery bows are one option. Snowflakes cut from paper are easy, but beautiful, and allow your youngest children to be full committee members. You could also do paperchains. If you have only older children, candles might be nice if your facility allows them. One neat thing to do is to put a long low table in the middle, cover it with paper, and put out cups of crayons. This keeps the little ones occupied and in sight.

Food -- In keeping with the simple can be elegant theme *s*, nix the suggestions for pizza, soda and chips that you will invariably get. That teaches them very little except how to open a package. Set different menus for hor's doevres, meal, and dessert. It helps a great deal if these are all finger foods. Much can be made in advance, and the food committee can arrive a few hours early to finish preparing. Make sure the jobs are split evenly so no one is carrying too much of a load.

Here is the schedule that worked for us:

6:00 Party begins
6:15 Children's Play, which they wrote, acted and directed themselves
6:30 Hor's doevres served
6:45 Musical entertainment
7:00 Dinner served
7:20 Games
7:50 Dessert
7. Clean up. While you might be able to get all the kids to clean up, it's a lot easier to do so with them in the main room and the moms and older girls cleaning. Many hands make light work. If the food committee strives to clean as they cook, cleanup will be a lot faster.

8. Don't forget to lock the building and return the keys.

9. Go home and collapse in peaceful slumber :-)