The Christmas holiday is over and with it a sense of relief. You dashed around and finished all of your shopping on time. The holiday gatherings are over and the food has been eaten.

You should have an immense sense of relief but there is always that nagging sensation of being let down. Perhaps it is time to take some recreational fun for you and your loved ones. New Years Eve is one of the biggest party days of the year.

Adults around the world celebrate the end of the old year and the beginning of the New Year. Small, intimate gatherings or large celebrations bring out the party animal in us all. There are plenty of places to visit on this special night each year and it can all seem confusing if you attempt to do this at the last minute.

You may be the club sort or simply want to host your own New Years Eve party. The choices are endless and can be anything you want it to be. If you are unsure of what to do on New Years Eve, this article is for you. You can get ideas on what to do to ring in the New Year in style.

What is the history of New Years Eve?

Celebrating the New Year is not a modern tradition. This history begins with the Babylonians hosting festivities that lasted for days to mark the first New Moon after the First day of spring each year. But you have to keep in mind that the calendar in which modern humanity uses has changed over the years through the whims of different rulers.

It was not until Julius Caesar developed the Julian calendar that the days began to coincide with modern festivities. Over the centuries festivities have marked the end of the old year with the birth of a new year. Each culture has had different ways of celebrating this rebirth.

What are New Years Eve cruises?

New Years Eve cruises are exactly as the name implies. It is a cruise aboard a ship that is out to sea or in port on New Years Eve. Most cruise lines are operational during this time period and offer package deals for families and individuals wanting to ring in the New Year in a different manner than the typical party.

Cruise lines may have a ball or some type of party that fits in with any traveler’s desire. You can elect to cruise the Mediterranean or the Caribbean waters. The choice is completely up to you but make sure you book your trip in advance because space fills up quickly.

How far in advance should I make New Years Eve plans?

If you have been invited to a party at a nearby destination or friend’s house you will want to RSVP quickly as a courtesy to the host or hostess. If you intend to book a package deal, travel abroad or take a cruise you will want to book your vacation as far in advance as possible to avoid the rush.

This is especially true if you are flying. Some hotels offer last minute packages to sell out unused rooms but you do not want to count on this as part of your determining factors in where to go. It is best to have your New Years Eve plans in place at least by Christmas. I have young children and they cannot be awake until midnight. What can I do to celebrate the New Years with them?

Many parents of young children fool their kids into thinking midnight has arrived by setting the clocks forward. You can turn the channel to a television station in another part of the world that is on a different time zone.

Most small children do not realize the difference between nine o-clock and midnight. If you feel uncomfortable with the deception then just explain to them that they are not old enough to stay up until midnight.

Children under the age of seven will fall asleep before reaching the magic hour. You can let them try to stay up as late as they can and chances are they will have the time of their lives just with that extra bit of freedom from a regularly scheduled bedtime.

Are there inexpensive parties and trips for New Years Eve?

If you cannot afford a trip out of area there are usually many local parties in your neck of the country. Local country clubs, hotels and resorts often have New Years Eve festivities. Some airlines and travel agents have last minute deals to popular resorts.

It is always better to make arrangements before New Years Eve but if you cannot there is always the possibility of last minute packages that become available due to cancellation. You will have to stay diligent but you can have a great time ringing in the New Year.

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Easily the best way to find Party Games and Ideas is to obtain a copy of the free “Gifts For Kids” Guide which describes with illustrations hundreds of specially selected gift ideas including party games.

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The Elf on the Shelf Christmas and Elf Magic traditions are sweeping the nation — for good reason. They offer a delightful way to build excitement for the holidays, and keep children on their best behavior. Here is how they work.

The “official” Elf on the Shelf, Elf Magic Elf or a another elf, arrives at your home early in the Christmas season to spend the holidays with your family.

Each night the Elf on a Shelf returns to the North Pole, while your children are sleeping, to report to Santa regarding their behavior.

While the Elf on the Shelf Elves have a more staid reputation, the Elf Magic Elves are a mischievous bunch, and have a tendency to make a mess or pull a crazy stunt while everyone is asleep. Your kids will love to wake up each morning and see what trouble the Elf got into the night before.

Here are ten ideas found around the internet and from local families to inspire your elf:

Elves Love to Do What Your Kids Love To Do

Elves adapt quickly to a household, and many mornings are found busy with the favorite activities of the kids who live there. Reading favorite books, playing games (including the Wii or Nintendo DS), having a tea party with best-loved dolls, and riding skateboards are all favorite Elf past times.

Elves Are Into Computers and Social Media

Elves in homes with teens have been known to have email, Facebook and Twitter accounts to keep an online eye on the kids and send funny emails, status updates and tweets. Many elves also seem to surf the internet late at night, finding fun new sites for the kids to enjoy.

Elves Love to be in Pictures

Apparently, Elves are very good at self portraits. Many families have found their digital cameras full of pictures of their Elves in all kinds of crazy poses.

Elves Often Have A Driver’s License

If an Elf cannot be found in the morning, the car is the first place to look. Elves are often found in the driver’s seat, sitting on a stack of pillows or books. The car may be parked backwards or in a crazy position, and in some cases even down the street or in a neighbor’s driveway. Typically, Christmas music is blaring through the speakers and the gas tank is mysteriously closer to empty than before.

Elves Write in Journals

Elves and children often learn more about each other and build bonds by writing letters back and forth. Some Elves arrive with a festively decorated journal to keep all the correspondence in one place. It has been rumored that some Elves only write backwards, so children must hold the note up to the mirror to read it. A few are conversant in Pig Latin or other codes that older kids must decipher.

Elves Tell Potty Jokes, Too

Bathroom humor spans all languages and species. Elves love to turn the toilet water green (with food coloring), decorate Christmas trees in underwear, toilet paper kids rooms or whole houses, and write on bathroom mirrors with mom’s lipstick.

Elves Spell Their Names - Everywhere!

Each Elf has a name. Some are named by the children they watch. Others arrive with a note introducing the Elf. Either way, all Elves seem to love to leave their signature as often as possible. Maybe the Elf’s name is written in Cheerios, flour, or chocolate syrup on the counter. Other times in toothpaste on the bathroom mirror. Best of all, in food coloring on freshly fallen snow.

Elves Love Things That Remind Them of Home

Cotton ball snowball fights are a favorite past time of elves. Also, Elves often make elf sized snow angels. If real snow is not available, then Insta-Snow or flour make good substitutes. A favorite game for Elves is Candy Lane. If the house does not already have a copy, Elves have been known to bring one from the North Pole as an early Christmas gift.

Elves Do Not Always Come Alone

What could be better than an Elf on the Shelf? Several Elves, of course. That means the mischief can multiply and children awake to elaborate scenes of Elf mayhem. Maybe a poker game or baseball or football match or a play with Elves in costume (borrowed from other dolls).

Elves Play With Their Neighbor Elves

So many families have their own Elf on a Shelf during the holidays that Elves join with neighbor Elves to increase the fun. Many neighbor elves have been waiting together at the bus stop for their children to arrive. Other Elves host a Christmas party for neighborhood kids.

As you can see, the possibilities are endless for your elf tradition. Happy Holidays!

Terri Chadick invites you to introduce the Elf on the Shelf holiday tradition to your family this Christmas season. Go to http://www.lifepluskids.com/elf-on-a-shelf to find out more. (c) Copyright — Life+Kids, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Easily the best way to find Party Games and Ideas is to obtain a copy of the free “Gifts For Kids” Guide which describes with illustrations hundreds of specially selected gift ideas including party games.

Find the best party games, themes and decorations. See more at:

Best Party Games and Ideas

Christmas! The season which celebrates the birth of Jesus; when we spend time with family and friends, indulging in too much good food, and attending endless parties. It’s a time of great joy yet it can also be a time of great stress. One of these stresses may be the organisation of a church, office or club Christmas party. Here are six of the best Christmas games for groups, if you have the task of planning a party for a large group.

You may like to start with a Christmas icebreaker game where people can be introduced to each other and everyone can begin to enter the joy of a party. “All I Want for Christmas” is one example, where players sit in a circle. One player starts by saying “My name is… All I want for Christmas is…” The next player states their name before saying “All (name of first player) wants is… All I want for Christmas is…” Players continue around the circle. Any player who cannot repeat the list of everyone’s name and gift is out. You may like to restart the games when the list gets to about 10-12 names to make it a little easier.

Another element of many Christmas parties is a time to exchange gifts where each person brings one gift to a required value (say $5). This can be done by conducting a simple raffle, but why not make it into a game? One of the most popular and fun Christmas gift exchange games is the “Left Right Christmas Game.” Again, players sit in a circle, each holding a gift. The games leader narrates a story. Each time the word ‘left’ is mentioned, players pass their gift to the left. Similarly when the word ‘right’ is spoken, gifts are passed to the right. At the end of the story, each person opens the gift they have at that time.

One of the more active Christmas games for groups is “Balloon Relay.” Two teams line up at one end of the room. One team is given a red balloon and a wooden ruler. The other team has a green balloon and ruler. Team players must bat their balloon, using only their ruler, around a chair at the other end of the room and back in a relay.

Younger children may enjoy “Christmas Card Hunt”, where each child is given half a card. They must find the matching halves of the Christmas cards which have been scattered around the room. The first child to find three matching halves wins the game.

A Christmas carol game is an interesting way of testing your knowledge of Christmas carols in a team game format. There are a number of games you could play. One example involves one player from the team who is given the name of a carol and must draw a picture. The rest of the team must guess the carol and sing the first verse within a one minute time limit.

Finally, “All Tied Up” is another one of the active Christmas games for groups. Each team forms a circle and is given a ball of twine (one red, one green if possible). The first player winds the twine once around their waist and passes it to the next player who does likewise. The first team to wrap themselves completely in twine wins.

For further details on these and more Christmas games for groups please visit our website.

Andrew owns Family Games Treasurehouse which has over thirty ideas for Christmas party games. Visit http://www.family-games-treasurehouse.com and sign up for our free newsletter to download our ebook, “25 Family Dice Games”. This article is copyright but may be freely republished provided the text, author credit, site links and this copyright notice remain intact.

Easily the best way to find Party Games and Ideas is to obtain a copy of the free “Gifts For Kids” Guide which describes with illustrations hundreds of specially selected gift ideas including party games.

Find the best party games, themes and decorations. See more at:

Best Party Games and Ideas

Christmas is a great time of year and throwing a great party will serve to enhance the holiday for everyone. There are so many different kinds of holiday party that you can consider, but no matter which type you choose you will want to have lots of Christmas party games.

You have been planning your party for at least half a year. You have the decorations, the food, and the Christmas favors still you feel like you aren’t going to be ready until you find the right games for everyone to play.

There will be many different games to choose from and they are all going to be dependent of several factors such as the age group of your guests, the amount of people that are in attendance, and the gender of the people at your party. Once you are certain of all these factors you will be ready to choose your games.

Christmas party games:

During the holidays there are going to be many parties thrown. If you are going to have a party, you will want it to stand out from all the other parties that are being hosted. There is no better way to achieve this then by having some fabulous games for everyone to play. There are a wide array of games that can liven up your festivities.

1. Christmas movie trivia: Divide your guests into teams of four and give each team to go off by themselves with index cards and markers. Each one of the teams needs to come up with the same amount of Christmas movie trivia questions and put it on the card along with the answers on the back. Once that is finished you can have one member from each team take turns reading the cards and trying to stump everyone. The team with the most right answers wins. You can have pre-made goodie bags handy to pass out to the winners.

2. Name That Christmas tune: You as the host can divide the room up into two teams who will take turns guessing Christmas songs with only a line being read to them by you. The winning team can each have some type of Christmas favor as a prize.

3. The stocking game: This is done by filling several stockings with the same things and tying the tops of them shut. Divide the room into several even teams and give them the stockings, a pen, and a piece of paper. Set a timer and see which team has the most correct answers written down before the time is up. You will be amazed at what some of the guesses are.

4. 26 ways to say Christmas: Pass around a piece of paper to each person and have each person write out the alphabet going down one side. Have each person write down a Christmas related word that begins with each letter. The person with the most words will win the biggest prize of the night. It can be anything such as a holiday ornament or something else that is special.

Throwing a great Christmas party is a lot of fun. By being well prepared and having lots of party games your party is sure to be a hit.

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Easily the best way to find Party Games and Ideas is to obtain a copy of the free “Gifts For Kids” Guide which describes with illustrations hundreds of specially selected gift ideas including party games.

Find the best party games, themes and decorations. See more at:

Best Party Games and Ideas

Although it is now more decades away than I care to admit too often, there were four things I loved most about my childhood Christmases in England:

1. the excitement of the Christmas gifts being put under the Christmas tree, and then the family opening of the gifts on Christmas morning;

2. the food; all the special sweets being put out Christmas Eve; Christmas Lunch with the turkey, lots of roast potatoes, brandy butter, and Christmas pudding being set alight at the table;

3. all the Christmas ornaments and decorations going up before Christmas, and most especially putting up and especially the Christmas tree ornaments being put on the tree; and,

4. the games we would play.

Food, though, did play a major part, and still does in English homes today. So, really, it is no surprise that food even became part of the Christmas ornament repertoire. Food, in one form or another, became part of the decoration of Christmas time.

From my memory, edible Christmas ornaments were usually in the form of chocolate with a silver or gold colored wrapping that sparkled on the tree. Chocolate coins were popular, sometimes more than one in a brightly colored string bag dangling temptingly from the Christmas tree.

I must admit, any edible ornament on the tree became a prime target, as I anxiously awaited the all clear from my parents to start devouring whatever I wanted.

Later, though, a greater variety of edible Christmas ornaments emerged, such as candy canes; then, as the popularity of edible ornaments increased at Christmas, people started to use their imagination to make their own, or the local baker would make more elaborate ornaments for sale.

Cookies, or at least cookie dough, make a good base for ornaments, as they are easy to cut into shape. You can use your imagination on adding the color, such as with Smarties or other colorful sweets. Adding a frosting effect is not too difficult either.

If you do make dough based ornaments to hang on the Christmas tree, remember you will need to make a hole in the cookie before it cools; that’s the way the cookie doesn’t crumble. Then when they do cool, you can thread a decorative ribbon to hang them on the Christmas tree.

The Christmas tea table is often adorned by the prime edible ornament, the Christmas cake. The prettier it is, the better it is for decoration once lunch is out of the way. Cake decoration is only limited by your imagination. However, you can think of other things that are less common to adorn the table as an edible ornament. If you are skilful, you can create simple models with ginger bread, moving up a level from the old gingerbread man.

You will find lots of ideas online and in the stores, but if you can come up with something original, that is even better. Just let your imagination go and see what you come up with. At least, if it does not look too good, you can just eat it before anyone comments!

This Christmas ornament article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner author of the Xmas-Ornament.com website.

Relax, get in the Christmas spirit, and read Roy’s new Christmas Story, for adults or children, about Santa Claus and a little girl living on the edge of a tropical rainforest.

Easily the best way to find Party Games and Ideas is to obtain a copy of the free “Gifts For Kids” Guide which describes with illustrations hundreds of specially selected gift ideas including party games.

Find the best party games, themes and decorations. See more at:

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A scavenger hunt is a game played by two or more people. The game can be played against individual or competing groups. A list of things to hunt for is given to the participant. Before the allotted time runs out, he must complete the list the fastest in order to win. There are different types of scavenger hunt. There is the photo scavenger hunt which makes use of cameras, while on the other hand computers are needed to play the internet scavenger hunt. There are many scavenger hunt ideas out there that you can play. They are only limited by your imagination. Here are a few examples.

Pirate Scavenger Hunt

First you need to create pirate costumes for your guests to wear during the scavenger hunt. You can also ask them to come in their own pirate costumes. Or better yet, make simple props for your guests suggesting the theme. Props such as pirate hats (hats with a skull and crossbones design), eye patches, hooks in place of hands and a hanky around the head would do. The list of items too look for should also be in keeping with the theme. Hide items like skulls, treasure chest, pirate flag, anchor, ropes, gold bars, jewels (fakes of course), pearl, paddle, captain’s hook, guns, swords, parrot, and gold coins. Set a time limit for the players. When the time is up, the game is over.

Costume Scavenger Hunt

List characters as many as the players or as many as the competing groups available. You can come up with your own characters or take different professionals as characters (Doctor, Police, Footballer, Astronaut, Music Conductor, etc.). You can also use famous politicians, athletes or celebrities as characters. List all the items or props each character will need in order to look the way they should. Other than their clothing, the props could be a football for the footballer, stethoscope for the doctor a wig for a particular celebrity and many others. Make sure each character has equal number of items to look for. When you have this all ready, assign a character to each player or draw lots to determine who will be what. The players will have to search for all the costumes or props their designated character needs which are written on a list they will be given. They put on every item they will find until everything on the list has been found. The fastest to do this shall be declared the winner. At the end of the scavenger hunt, all the players should be wearing their costumes and props. The costume party has begun.

Bible Scavenger Hunt

The list of this scavenger hunt consists of Bible related tasks or items. Take a picture with a man named Abraham, for instance. Find someone who can recite to you the verse John 3:16, someone who can sing Amazing Grace with you or someone who can answer some Bible trivia. A video camera will be needed on this scavenger hunt to record the people you could find.

Discover more great scavenger hunt ideas and learn how you too can run a successful hunt. Visit http://www.scavengerhuntsecrets.com

Easily the best way to find Party Games and Ideas is to obtain a copy of the free “Gifts For Kids” Guide which describes with illustrations hundreds of specially selected gift ideas including party games.

Find the best party games, themes and decorations. See more at:

Best Party Games and Ideas

Planning a Christmas party for your family and friends? Add a bit of spice to this year’s event with festive party themes and game ideas! Whether you’re hosting the family get-together, planning the office Christmas party or having the gang over for some Holiday cheer, you’ll find the perfect party plan here!

Get Creative!

Deck the Halls with Christmas Balls! It’s a make-your-own-ornament party. Set-up a table with styrofoam balls, fabric paint tubes, sequins, glitter and all the decorative trimmings. Each guest can make their own ornament to take home. Take secret ballot votes for the best homemade Christmas ball, winner get a prize!

Decorate your own Holiday cookies party. Have tubes of colored icing, a variety of sprinkles, cinnamon candies, gum-drops and coconut (for Santa’s beard) setup on a table or work space. Bake a batch of sugar cookies and let the fun begin! Any cookies will do but Christmas themed cookie cutters make great cookies for decorating.

Trim the Tree Party. Necessary items — tree decorations and one bare tree. This one is a blast that leaves you with an interesting tree and one less Christmas chore! Have all the ornaments, tinsel and tree trimmings visibly laid out and let your guest put them where they may (hopefully on the tree!).

Wrapping Races. Say that fast three times. Setup a wrapping table with gift wrap, ribbons, bows, tape and a few oddly shaped boxes or items. On your mark, get set, wrap! Your guest will race each other to see who can wrap their box first. How about prizes for the best and worst wrapping?

Yummy! This one’s a twist on the cookie decorating theme. Instead of cookies your guest will build a gingerbread house! Make the gingerbread molds for one large house or a few smaller houses. Set out all the trimmings and icing and let the fun begin! This is great for gourmet-type friends and family gatherings.

Something for the Guys! Teed Off Christmas Party. This one is great for all those golfers who are sidelined during the winter months. Setup various miniature golf “putting greens” for a rousing round of indoor golf. Use plastic balls and creative putting green “holes”. Make it competitive — every guests who makes a hole in one guests a prize!

Poker-night with a Christmas twist. It’s regular poker night but this game is played for a good cause.. Your guest will play for their favorite charity. The winnings for the night will go to the chosen charity. This party theme is perfect for a large group or organization who want to make a charitable donation during the season. All the winnings can be pulled for one or more charities.

Scrooge’s Feast. It’s a past, present and future party! This one is great for couple groups. Each couple hosts a different stage of the dinner. The hors d’oeuvres are at one house, the entree’s at another and the desert yet to come at the final destination. If you’re smart about planning this you can invite three groups of friends and skip any meal preparations.

Family Fun! All together now. It’s a Christmas caroling party! You and your guest will traipse through the neighborhood singing their favorite carols. Best to get approval from your neighbors first. Maybe some of them will invite you in for a bit of Christmas punch. This is another great charitable activity for organizations. Caroling in nursing homes or hospitals will bring some grateful merriment to the receiver and giver alike,

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! It’s a snow party! This one is for the kids and kids-at-heart. Know a perfect hill for sleigh riding in your neighborhood? Or maybe a great spot for building snowmen? Have your guests bring their own sleigh or have a few on hand. Setup sleigh races, a best snowmen contest and a best snow angel contest. Take pictures with your digital camera during the fun. Head inside for a warm cup of cocoa and share the pictures with your guests. There’s sure to be much laughter at their snow antics.

Christmas Puzzle Party. How about a Christmas puzzle party. Do you have a group of friends that like to solve puzzles or mysteries? . Send each guest a piece or two of a puzzle. When they arrive the puzzle is partially put together. The guest take guesses as to what the end puzzle will be and have to find where their pieces fit. This is great for groups who may not know each other well. This theme is sure to get your guest interacting. Great for guest who may not know each other well.

Got Milk? It’s a cookie exchange Christmas party! Each guest brings 6 dozen of their favorite holiday cookie along with 12 copies of the recipe. Other food is to be served since the cookies are not for eating but for exchanging. When the exchange starts, each guest introduces themselves and their cookie and tells any story about the recipe such as “My grandmother’s, grandmother passed this recipe down….” or “I burned the first two batches, then switched recipes…”After the introductions each guest circles the table picking out 2 to 3 cookies from each batch. Everyone leaves with a container full of different cookies. This is great fun and a great way to find new cookie recipes.

There you have it! Twelve Holiday party themes for a fun and festive party full of Christmas party games and merriment! So put up the mistletoe, make the guest list and get the party started!

Terri Hunziker founded GamesAndLetters.com. Games and Letters provides hundreds of print-and-play games — Christmas party games, bridal shower games, baby shower games and more! For immediate access to hundreds of fun games and ideas for your next party, visit, gamesandletters.com

Easily the best way to find Party Games and Ideas is to obtain a copy of the free “Gifts For Kids” Guide which describes with illustrations hundreds of specially selected gift ideas including party games.

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Best Party Games and Ideas

Christmas is a time to gather with friends and family to enjoy the spirit of the holidays. Unfortunately it’s also a time when the chaos of the season can render us frenzied and exhausted. There are gifts to buy, a home to decorate, cards to mail, cookies to bake, combined with harried work and school schedules. It’s no wonder that most people forgo the hosting of parties; with no time seemingly left in the day it seems the smartest sacrifice to make. But with a few creative Christmas party ideas, you don’t have to abstain from the party spirit any longer.

Christmas party ideas do not have to mean a full-blown catered event smack in the middle of the holidays. Instead, host a wine and cheese holiday cocktail party for a few hours on a Friday night. Have everyone bring their favorite wine; you supply a small variety of delicious cheeses; light the fire; put on some holiday music and you’re all set. You do not need to invite hundreds of people either. Invite a few couples and make it an intimate party for six or eight.

Also, when thinking of Christmas party ideas think dual function. Throw a tree decorating party where guests are invited for appetizers and drinks while helping to decorate your tree. Or have a cookie swap where guests are invited to bring their favorite batch of holiday cookies. Everyone leaves with a delicious selection of holiday cookies and all it cost them was the making of one recipe.

Other Christmas party ideas include the combination of community service with the celebrating of the holidays. Gather friends, family, and neighbors together to help serve food in a shelter or sing at a nursing home. Then gather at someone’s home afterwards to have pizza and hot chocolate. This can be a wonderful way to teach children the true spirit of the holidays.

Another great example of some Christmas party ideas is the after-holiday party. A Christmas party does not necessarily have to be held prior to Christmas. If it’s just too much to think about a party amidst the craziness of the holidays then hold an after-Christmas party where guests can relax after the holidays. This could easily become a seasonal tradition that your guests anxiously await!

Christmas party ideas are unlimited. If gathering together for the holidays is important to you then make it happen. A little bit of creativity and planning will create the Christmas party that no one forgets.

For advice and tons of ideas about the upcoming Christmas visit our ezGuide 2 Christmas.

Easily the best way to find Party Games and Ideas is to obtain a copy of the free “Gifts For Kids” Guide which describes with illustrations hundreds of specially selected gift ideas including party games.

Find the best party games, themes and decorations. See more at:

Best Party Games and Ideas

Christmas decorations should not stop with the indoor variety. If you can, you should do some outdoor decorating as well. It makes your neighborhood look nice. It gives your neighbors, as well as passer by’s something nice to look at, it gives you a reason to be proud and it is just plain fun decorating.

You really do not have to spend tons of money, either. You don’t have to decorate every corner of your house. If you just decorate part of your house, say your front porch and the rest of the front area, it can be enough decorating. Of course, if you have the extra money or if you find some great deals on decorations, there is nothing wrong with decorating your entire front yard and your entire house.

As with any project, as you begin thinking about decorating and forming your plans, begin with paper and pen. Make a list of what you need. You may even want to go through your decorations you all ready have. Many items will last for many years, if you take care of them properly.

After you gather your products, remember one vital thing, not all decorations are made for the outside. Look at the attached tags and make sure all lights and all other electric items are actually made for the outdoors. If the item is an indoor decoration, do not use it. Indoor decorations are not made for the outside climate. They are not made for moisture and are a fire hazard. You don’t want a fire to ruin your holiday season or anybody else’s. You also should examine all plug ins. They need to be in good shape and all wires should be in good shape, no frays or cuts in them. If you see a cut, throw away the product. You may be tempted to tape it up with electrical tape. Resist the urge. Moisture could still get inside and a fire could occur.

Be sure to add outside lights to your list. It doesn’t matter what style you use. They can be rope style, bigger, older, looking style lights or twinkling lights. Before you go to the bother of hanging them up, be sure they all actually work and that they blink, if they are suppose to blink. Do this before you start climbing that ladder. Speaking of ladders, make sure it is safe and securely positioned on the ground before climbing. Now begin placing the lights in all those wonderful places. You can buy special clips or you can make your own holders using nails and strong rope. Hang them in any way that you like best.

Finally, do not forget to decorate your porch a bit. String some garland on the porch banisters. Hang a pretty wreath from your front door. Place an outside Santa or Snowman in your yard. Then stand back and enjoy your final creation, your own festive look, with your own Outside Christmas Decorations.

Jeffrey Meier at Jam727 Enterprises at http://www.thearticlehome.com blog offers even more detailed information on a wide variety of topics.

Easily the best way to find Party Games and Ideas is to obtain a copy of the free “Gifts For Kids” Guide which describes with illustrations hundreds of specially selected gift ideas including party games.

Find the best party games, themes and decorations. See more at:

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The nativity and the birth of Jesus Christ are the fundamental part of Christmas. It’s the story of Mary and Joseph travelling to Bethlehem to be counted for the census. Poor Mary was heavily pregnant and had to ride on a donkey. When they got to Bethlehem all the inns were full, and Mary and Joseph spent the night in a stable, where Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Son of God. Angels, shepherds and three wise men from the east came to visit Jesus, who was lying in a manger. This is the traditional image we have of the nativity scene.

To make a cardboard nativity scene all you need is…
Loo roll tubes or other tubes, scarps of paper and coloured card, glue, scissors, felt tip pens, cotton wool, and a few sequins for decoration.

To make the figures…
The loo roll tubes for the main body of the figure. Wrap coloured paper around your tube so that it completely covers one half of the tube. This becomes the body and the bare tube becomes the figure’s head.

Cut out two small rectangles from some card, these become the arms. Stick them into place n the figure’s body, towards the top of the coloured paper. Stick a ‘D’ shaped piece of flesh coloured card on the end of the arm to form a hand.

Draw on the figure’s face with felt tip pens. You can also draw on clothing details or patterns.

Extras…
The shepherd holds a crook, its a hooked tool which shepherds use to put around a sheep’s neck as a sort of temporary lead to guide the sheep where the shepherd wants it to go. Cut a long hooked shape tool from card and stick it standing upright in the shepherds hand as though he was holding it.

The three wise men wear crowns or a turban. Cut these out of coloured paper and wrap them around the top of the wise men’s heads. Decorate them with sequins to make them look jewel encrusted.

Joseph holds a lantern. Cut a long stick with a ‘V’ shape at the top. Stick this into Joseph’s hand so that it is standing upright. This pole is to suspend the lantern from.

To make the lantern, take a small, rectangle piece of card and fold it in half so that the top and bottom of the lantern are together. Cut slits along the folded edge. Open up the card and now curve it round so that the two side edges meet and slightly overlap stick these two side edges together. When the glue has dried off a little, give the lantern a little squeeze so that the lantern forms ‘< >’ Shape. Insert a roll of flame coloured paper into the lantern, glue and trim so that it fits snugly into place. This makes the lantern glow as though it were lit. Stick on some threat or a thin strip of card so that the lantern can be hung from Joseph’s pole.

Sheep are made by covering a loo roll tube in cotton wool. Cut out a face shape from card to stick on one end of the tube. Cotton buds form the sheep’s legs and feet. Cut a cotton bud in half to form two legs, glue all the legs into position.

Jesus is made from a rolled up piece of card, with coloured paper covering his body.

The manger is made from a loo roll tube. Cut the tube in half lengthways to form two guttering looking parts. Cut one into leg type shapes on each side and stick the two half tubes together, back to back.

Arrange all the figures on a table to recreate the nativity scene.

You could also attach a thread from your figures and hang them from

See nativity images at http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk/how-to-make-cardboard-nativity-scene.html Christmas makes and fun stuff at http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk/ you can also write Santa a letter telling him what you would like for Christmas, he always replies http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk/write-letter-to-santa.html

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