How about adding a charity aspect. Possibly every child that brings in a toy for donation get their name in a drawing for a large item. How about a Ho-Ho-Ho Contest, Reindeer Dance Contest, Reindeer Calling contest (like a pig calling, that might be a hoot to see how kids think reindeer are called). The best from each grade wins a prize, local senior groups may be willing to volunteer judges. I think Reindeer games may be a great theme for Games. How about making some sort of "horns" for a kid to wear on their head then they carry rings a distance and see if they can dump them into a bucket. How about guess how many presents are in the sleigh. This could be a paper sleigh hung on the wall with lots of small squares stuck on it.
Each year the cub scouts have a breakfast with Santa, we do most of what is discussed here, but we also have a small chance auction, where people buy tickets 3 for a dollar and get to pick what they would like to win. There are sometimes toys, and cookies.All donated by businesses or the parents. We also do what we call a lucky buck. You get a jar and have anyone who wants to partipate, write their name on a dollar bill, at the end of the event a dollar is pulled out and the winner gets half of what is in the jar.
ALong with small crafts tables, we also offer face painting. This is the big hit at our event. The kids can't get enough of it. We also raffle off about 10 baskets of different goodies. All the items are donated by local and national vendors. And we get some really cool stuff! The parents like that part. This is my favorite event and has proven to be very popular at our school. Hope your succeeds too! Good luck!
In addition to the picture with Santa and some small craft items, we also have face painting (you can get a pink nose like a reindeer, or a christmas design on your cheek) and we run a game called Santa's Beard Game (but now for the life of me I cannot figure out why we call it that)! Kids buy chances for twenty-five cents and are able to reach in a box and pull out a small mini-candy cane with a label attached. The label indicates either small, medium, large or extra-large. They then are able to choose a prize from the table corresponding to the label on the candy cane. Of course, they get to keep the candy cane. As you can imagine, this game has the longest line!
We are meeting this week to discuss our annual Santa's Breakfast. We are trying to update this event as it has begun to be dull and uneventful, so any ideas are wanted! We are changing to a pancake breakfast instead of muffins, bagels, etc., and we do have a Santa who is wonderful with the kids. The problem is that the activities are no longer exciting- decorating frame for Santa pic, making Christmas cards, Christmas tattoos and that is about it. The girl who was previously in charge, has stepped down, so it needs a breath of fresh air. What does everyone else do? Thanks!
