Spread holiday cheer among students with festive school Christmas party ideas that you can recreate in no time with readily available craft supply materials, store bought treats, and easy-to-find ingredients. From DIY keepsake holiday ornaments to creative holiday snacks and edible crafts, these doable Christmas ideas will sure impress teachers and students alike.
DIY Pinecone Christmas Tree
A DIY pinecone Christmas tree is an adorable classroom craft idea students can complete using a handful of craft supplies - acrylic paint, super mini pompoms, glitter star sticker, cotton ball, and wood slices. Attaching the pinecone to the wood slice needs to have adult supervision, as this step requires hot glue. Once the tree is completely dry, invite the students to place their creations in clear bags and attach a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays tag to gift it to someone special.
Mini Gingerbread Houses
Bring the tradition of building gingerbread houses to the classroom with an exciting decorating station for the students. You can either build the houses in advance or let the students glue the parts together and decorate their houses using candies and other sugar decorations, such as peppermint, spice drops, sugar wreath, mini M&M's, and candy canes.
Rudolph Hot Cocoa Cup
Allow the students to create their own Rudolph hot cocoa cup using corrugated cardstock for the sleeves, googly eyes, red pompom for the nose, and brown pipe cleaners for the antlers. Fill up the reindeer cups with a bag of chocolate powder and mini marshmallows to create the ultimate hot cocoa kit the kids can enjoy at home.
Paper Plate Christmas Tree Decoration
Have the students help get their classroom ready for the holiday season with festive Christmas decorations, such as a DIY Christmas tree whirligig. The kids can work in groups to bring this fun decoration to life and hang them around the classroom.
Pom Pom Christmas Photo Ornament Keepsake
If there's one thing parents absolutely appreciate, it's when their kids bring a personalized Christmas ornament they made at school. It's a special keepsake for the parents to treasure for years to come. By tracing circular, square, or star shapes on a piece of cardboard or thick cardstock, they can have the base for their ornament. Have the kids glue as many pompoms to cover the cardboard base and allow it to dry completely before attaching the photo and twine. Remember to assist the students with the steps in which a craft knife and hot glue gun are required.
Christmas Crackers
If you have been saving paper towel rolls lately, the holiday season is the perfect time to put them to great use and create fun crafts, like these Christmas crackers, for instance. You may choose to create one large cracker or two smaller crackers by cutting the roll in half. Cover one end of the empty tube using scraps of wrapping paper and tape. Fill it up with Christmas goodies of your choice, then cover the other end to make sure all the goodies stay inside the tube. Wrap your crackers with festive wrapping papers and tie off the ends with ribbon.
Holiday Slime Jars
Slime making is a great hands-on classroom activity the students absolutely love. Consider setting up a slime making station in which the kids can make holiday inspired slime in the color of their choice and decorate their own jars - Santa, Rudolph, The Grinch, and Snowman are the popular most-loved holiday characters.
Santa Hat Cookies
If you are looking for an easy yet wonderful snack idea for a classroom Christmas party, these Santa hat cookies require little to no preparation. Simply add a small dollop of buttercream to the top of the cookie, top it with a fresh strawberry and finish it off with a tiny dab of buttercream to create a Santa hat. Arrange the Santa hat cookies on a platter and have milk available for an exciting milk & cookie time.
Watermelon Christmas Trees
Using holiday cookie cutters, you can create festive fruit snacks for the students like these watermelon Christmas trees. Consider other fun holiday shape options--candy canes, stars, gingerbread man, and Christmas ornaments. The possibilities are endless when you have an array of cookie cutters and fresh fruit.
Celery Reindeer Peanut Butter Snacks
Celery makes most kids cringe, but when it's dressed up as reindeer for the holiday season, the kids might be willing to take a bite or two. These celery reindeer peanut butter snacks make a healthy snack idea that combines a crunchy veggie, good fats, and protein. You may consider swapping the peanut butter for sunflower butter in case there are students with peanut allergies in the classroom.
Penguin Sandwich Cookies
These adorable chocolate dipped penguin sandwich cookies are a great holiday treat idea to bring to a classroom Christmas party. The ingredients can be easily found in the baking and snack aisle of any supermarket--Oreo cookies (or any other sandwich cookies), M&M's in two different sizes, chocolate wafers, candy eyes, and Airheads. You may choose to bag them separately before the party.
Snowman Donuts
These pre-packaged snowman donuts make the perfect edible holiday craft for a classroom Christmas party activity. Three craft supplies are needed for this craft idea--permanent markers (black and orange), ribbon for the scarf, and black cardstock for the hat.
Christmas Tree Veggie Platter
It's all about the presentation. Impress the students with a Christmas inspired veggie platter. Kids feel more inclined to try a healthy snack when veggies are presented in such a fun and festive way.
Christmas Ornament Classroom Door Decorations
Decorating the walls or the classroom door with students' photo ornaments will definitely get the class in the holiday spirit. Request a photo of each student by emailing the parents in advance in preparation for the Christmas ornament making at school.
The Grinch Holiday Punch
Create the ultimate The Grinch holiday punch for the entire class to enjoy. Gather the ingredients--lime sherbet, soda, fruit punch and red sanding sugar--along with a large plastic punch bowl and ladle. Make it kid-friendly and opt for clear acrylic cups to serve The Grinch punch to avoid glass breakage.
Classroom Advent Calendar
A classroom advent calendar is a big team effort project that can be done gradually in class each day leading up to the month of December. Instead of filling up the small bags with holiday sweets, include surprising ideas such as playing for an extra 5 minutes during recess or write sweet holiday greetings to the janitor who keeps their school nice and clean every day.
Holiday Character Headbands
Get the classroom in the holiday spirit with festive holiday character headbands. Encourage the students and teacher to sport their headband during the classroom Christmas party or during lunch break to spread holiday cheer.
Making Spirits Bright
There are many ways you can get involved to help with a school Christmas party. If you are a parent, consider volunteering to get the classroom party-ready for students. From setting up craft stations to organizing and assisting with the Christmas school games, your time will be very much appreciated by the teachers and students.
