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* THIS POST CONTAINS BOTH AFFILIATE AND PRODUCT LINKS,
ALONG WITH LINKS TO THIRD PARTY WEBSITES MENTIONED IN THE POST.* 
Here's a Christmas-themed game I remember playing when I was a kid. Santa Beards!
I've played this game with both high school and middle school student. When I originally post the idea, I had just played Santa Beards with my high school students and it was a blast! I'm always wondering how our students will take to games that involve a little bit of a mess, this one went over huge! Let me share Santa Beards with you. HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED...
Let's Play the Game...
This is another simple game to play. With two teams, a guy team and a girl team (or whatever you want to set for teams), the object is to create a Santa beard out of the shaving cream. The bigger, longer, fuller, fluffier; the better! With the plastic table cloth, the possibilities are quite large. Students can create as long and as big a beard as they can! Set your time limit and go!
I was super excited that our student had fun with this one! The laughter that filled the room was pretty cool! And surprisingly, the aftermath wasn't too bad. The shaving cream stayed in our area and not throughout the church! That's a bonus.
You will want to have a few items on hand to help with the clean up. Paper towels, hand towels, and a bathroom in close proximity are things to think about. One more thought. This is not a game to play with whipped cream. Most whipped creams are oil based and might stain certain fabrics or even irritate skin. And no one wants to send students home with stains on their cloths or rashes on their faces. Stick to shaving cream because it is a water based product and washes out well, even if you get on the carpet. There you are, another simple, low cost game to add to your Christmas Game Collection! Thanks for reading! Merry Christmas! - jay 
Looking for Game Ideas? Here are a few of my favorite resources!
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* THIS POST CONTAINS BOTH AFFILIATE AND PRODUCT LINKS,
ALONG WITH LINKS TO THIRD PARTY WEBSITES MENTIONED IN THE POST.* 
A couple of years ago, when decorating our youth room for Christmas, I wanted to create something special as a backdrop for what we used as our "stage". We don't have a lot of space in our youth room for a large set up, but we did pretty well with a make-shift stage. The area includes speakers, TV monitors for media, some simple lighting, and a table or music stand which I teach from.
As a student ministry, we decided that we would decorate our youth room with an Elf theme. Students cut out snowflakes from white paper, constructed a huge paper chain, and set out to recreate the apartment and store scene. As the centerpiece, I thought it would look cool to have a couple triangular Christmas trees on our stage area.
Not long ago I watched a DIY video by Paul Turner, a fellow youth worker and creator of TheDiscipleProject.net. Paul posted a video that showed how he created some styrofoam letters for the stage/background. It was easy, inexpensive and a great way to add to the atmosphere.
You can see Paul's video, How to Make Styrofoam Letters, by clicking here. Paul's video, along with a pin I saw on Pinterest.com, became the inspiration to my colored trees! 
Materials List...
Here's what you need for the styrofoam Christmas Trees...
Christmas-Themed Resources
I chose the colors red, green, and blue because I already had colored lightbulbs in red, green and blue. The up lights I already had because it's what we use as part of our simple stage lighting. The colored bulbs help to accent the colored styrofoam.
Constructing the trees was super easy. Total, it took me about 6 hours to construct seven trees. Our students decorated the youth room for Christmas as another student and I set up the trees and all the wiring to create our stage area. Watch the video below to see how I created my styrofoam trees!
Thanks so much for check in for today's blog and DIY video! I hope that you have found the video to helpful and inspiring. I'd love to hear about your Christmas staging ideas and construction tips and tricks! Feel free to leave a comment below. If you have any questions about what I created, hit me up below.
Merry Christmas! - jay 
Tis the season for colored lights, pine trees, candy canes, and so good fun Christmas-themed ice breakers! That's right, youth worker, Christmas is here, and that means we have a chance to bring out some of our favorite Christmas-themed games!
This month I am reposting a few of my most favorite Christmas-themed games for students. So if you're looking for some last minute holiday game ideas, here you go!
During the holiday season, one of my favorite places to shop is my local dollar stores. I visit these stores and wander through the holiday aisles looking for ideas, particularly game ideas. A couple of years ago, while shopping, I found everything I needed for three of my favorite Christmas Ice Breakers! So let me refresh these old posts and let's share with you a few Christmas Games.
I call them my Reindeer Games, and I spin as a games Rudolph and his buddies might play way up north! I'll share the game and the directions, and provide a materials list along with any other tips or tricks to make the game successful. Let's kick off our Reindeer Games with our first game, Rudolph's Wreath Toss! I love Rudolph's Wreath Toss. I've played this game a number of times and it is always a huge success! Based on the tradition Ring Toss game we've all played as kids at our birthday parties. This is a super easy, super low cost game to play.
Here's What You'll Need...
Materials List:
Let's Play the Game...
So the game itself is pretty simple. Like the party game, the object is to toss the ring wreaths and land them on the antler or antlers atop the receivers head. Here's what I did.
The night we played this came we ended up with a tie. In our challenge, the girls were ahead in the points. So since both teams landed 5 rings we had an "all or nothing" tie-breaker. Each team was given 3, and only 3, rings which they were to toss one at a time. After they tossed their rings, it was over. No re-do's or second chances. If a ring hit it's mark, a point was given. If all three missed, that meant the end of their game.
The girl's went first. Three rings. Three tosses. Three misses.
Then it was the guys turn. The first toss was a miss. The second almost landed...but fell off. The third...A RINGER!!!! The guys went nuts!!
Simple. Easy. Low cost. And, Rudolph's Wreath Toss was a huge hit! Looking for more Christmas-Themed games, visit the TOOLSHED, and look for the Reindeer Games link. Thanks for reading. Merry Christmas, friends! - jay 
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Meet JayJay Higham is a veteran youth worker of over 30 years; having worked with students in the local church and Christian camping. Jay is married to Amy, his wife of 28 years. They have raised 5 kids, (4 boys and 1 girl). Jay is passionate about student ministry, family ministry, and connecting and networking with youth workers to help them serve their students with passion and excellence. Archives
September 2025
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