Some of my most favorite events during the year are Christmas teas, brunches, and celebrations. The décor, outfits, food, and activities are always joyous.
Here are 7 tips to ensure your next Christmas event is a knockout.
1. Create Christmas activity tables.
If you’re new to the church, sitting with strangers can create awkward moments. One of the ways to help people feel more comfortable and included is to offer fun activities. Set up a table and invite attendees to decorate Christmas cookies. Or color pages. Or engage in a project that serves the local community.
2. Announce raffle and door prize winners with a slide.
Let’s be honest: announcing your door prizes or raffles one by one, explaining the prize, and waiting for someone to retrieve can take a toll on your attendees and the energy in the room. Instead of plowing through the awkward silence, hand-pick winners while people are eating, singing, or listening to a presentation.
Create a slide where you can pop in the raffle numbers or winners’ names and place it on the screen. People will still shriek, shout, and celebrate each other’s wins.
3. Offer a classy holiday photo booth.
Create a photo booth background that’s unique and fresh using ideas from Pinterest. Participants will want to hold onto the photos year round.
4. Invite ministries to host a holiday lounge.
At Irving Bible Church near Dallas, Texas, church ministries decorated seating areas in the lobby where women could mingle, talk, and sit. Each little area was separated by dividers and decorated with a different holiday theme. This provided cozy nooks to chat as well as introduced participants to ministries in the church.
5. Use the event to raise funds for ministry and outreach.
Many events use the funds from raffles to raise money for a specific non-profit. One fabulous idea is to ask participants to bring gift cards from a retailer, like Amazon, that will be used to care for members of the church who are in need during the upcoming year. One church in Tampa who uses this model gathers enough gift cards to care for church members for half of the year.
6. Invite table hosts to go big on their decorations.
Tables decorated with candy, cookies, deserts, elves, and yes, even tennis balls, remind us of the unique gifts and colorful expressions of so many. Invite women who may be on the sidelines of serving to participate and take ownership in the event through table décor.
7. Use this outreach event to reach inward, too.
Holiday celebrations provide an opportunity for those on the sidelines of serving to become more involved. Invite those who aren’t as engaged in your church to play a role—especially those who love the holidays. And don’t forget those jolly name tags. Since your event will likely attract many throughout the community, reduce social awkwardness by inviting everyone to wear a name tag.
I’d love to know what unique ideas, activities, and approaches your church uses to host unforgettable holiday celebrations. Please post below!
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