It's almost Christmas and you're feeling a little stressed, Very Busy Teacher?

And you don't want your club's Christmas party to overwhelm you?

Keep it simple and you'll be fine.

YIKES!

You say you have to put on a Christmas party for your high school club, but you can't handle any more stress right now?

HERE'S THE THING

You can put on a Christmas party for your club without going crazy. Sing a few songs, eat a few cookies, make a gingerbread house... Nice!

DECORATIONS

Your classroom probably already has some decorations up. If not, get a couple of artistic students to draw something Christmassy on your whiteboard for you.

• If you want to make Christmas decorations with your students, you will find ideas at Pinterest.

FOOD

Put out some Christmas cookies on paper plates. Get a liter or two of a red beverage and a liter or two of a green beverage and set them out with some cups and ice.

• If you feel like baking Christmas cookies yourself, Real Simple has some good recipes for you.

MUSIC

Sing a couple of Christmas songs. Find a nice, long YouTube video you like and play it through your computer’s speakers. After singing, let the music play in the background.

• This is a two-hour Youtube video of Christmas background music.

GIFT EXCHANGE

Have a little gift exchange. There must be fifty ways to do this. I suggest simply numbering the gifts and then drawing numbers out of a hat to determine who gets which gift.

• Teaching with Simplicity has suggestions for inexpensive gift exchanges.

GINGERBREAD HOUSES

If you want to build gingerbread houses, have the students bring in kits. They can get them at Walmart, Target or Amazon.com.

• Here's a link to the Amazon kits.

TIME TO GO

When the houses are finished, wish the students a Merry Christmas and send them home. Well, maybe you could sing Tom the Toad before they leave.

• You can easily find the lyrics to Tom the Toad online. Sing to the tune of Oh, Christmas Tree.

MORE

Can you do more than this? Like trim a tree, for example? Of course!

But we're aiming at a very manageable get-together here.

Not lame, but not the ultimate Christmas party, either.

But please add any activities you like, Very Busy Teacher!

DISCUSS

You have a question? Have an idea you would like to share? You’d like to make a comment? Discuss this resource with other teachers at https://www.facebook.com/CarolinaElearning/.

To discuss, please join us at https://www.facebook.com/CarolinaElearning/.