Party in a Box

Prepare for this party several weeks in advance by collecting boxes of all sizes. Look over the game rules to get an idea of the kind of boxes you'll need. Save them as you empty them, ask the children's parents to save them, and ask store managers to save them for you. Prepare six bean bags (six socks full of dried beans or corn kernels or pebbles). Ask church members to donate shoe boxes and small toys and toiletries to fill the boxes. Choose an organization where you will donate the boxes when they are assembled. Decorate your room with wrapped boxes and ribbon streamers. Visit eChurchDepot.com for additional decoration ideas.

Up And Over

Divide into two teams. Place bean bags in two shoe boxes and put lids on the boxes. The members of each team stand in a line facing the front of your play area. The leader gives the first person on each team a shoe box with a bean bag inside. At the starting signal, the first player on each team person passes the box back over his head. The second person passes it back through his legs. Continue to pass the box back in this fashion (over head, through legs, over head, etc.) to the end of the line. When the box gets to the last player in line, he runs to the front of the line and starts the passing process over again, passing it over his head. If anyone in line drops the bean bag or box, he must pick it up and give it to the first person in line again. If anyone in line passes over his head when he should have passed through his legs, etc., the box goes back to the first person in line. The winning team is the first team to have all their players back in their starting positions. Sing OH, HOW I LOVE JESUS.

Bag In The Box

Place an open box about ten feet from the first person on each team. Have the children each toss three bean bags into the box. After the bean bags are tossed, retrieve them and give them to the next person in line. A leader keeps score for each team. See which team can toss the most bags into the box. Sing I AM A “C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N.”

Refreshments

Prepare boxes of refreshments for the children. Each box will hold a cookie, a napkin, and a juice box. Have volunteers say a prayer of thanks before the snacks are served. Recycle the snack boxes to use for the next activity.

Pack The Box

Fill the empty shoe boxes you've collected with a number of small gift items, school supplies, and toiletries to be donated to a local mission or to an organization such as Samaritan’s Purse (samaritanspurse.org). Set up an assembly line so each child picks up a box and then fills it with assorted items (one item from each section of the table).

Devotion

Before the party, fill one box with trash. Fill the other with enough candy for each child to have one. Wrap both packages. Show the children two wrapped boxes. Talk about boxes being used to wrap packages. Ask the children if they can always tell what is in the wrapped presents. Read I Samuel 16:7, explaining that God makes it clear that He doesn't look at what people are on the outside, but at what they are on the inside. He sees each child exactly as he or she is. Let the children guess what’s in the wrapped boxes. Then show them the boxes. Let them look inside. Say, “Sometimes we look nice on the outside with the clothes we wear, but what comes out of our mouths can be like this stinky trash.” Challenge the children to be kind and loving to others on the outside so people will be able to tell that they love Jesus. Encourage them to do and say things Jesus would do and say. Explain the purpose of the gift boxes they packed for charity. Let them know that the toys and gifts they provided will help others to have a special Christmas. 


Close in prayer.