I was in charge of the Christmas Party last year at my church. I thought I'd share a few ideas of what we did. It was simple, but full of the spirit of Christmas. We featured the Nativity figures that were there the day that Christ was born as found in the New Testament. I had different people dress up and portray a story, thought or musical number dressed in that character. I also had a power point and videos that were shown throughout the program that helped keep the children's attention. Here is what the Narrator's Program looked like. The narrator was not seen but heard over the speakers in between the different parts.
Click on the Christmas Images below to download the images. You can use these in a power point presentation. I showed these images on a large screen when each person came on stage. For Jesus, I just posted the picture at the very end before the final video.
I also made a large wooden Nativity blocks and had the person that was acting out that character bring the figurine with them and after they talked they placed it in the large stable pictured below. By the end of the program, the nativity stable was complete.
This was the invitation that I created. If you would like me to custom design one for you, it will be in our Etsy Shop later on this week.
One of the things we used for decorations on the tables were crayons with this fun placemat for kids that I drew. Print on white LEGAL copy paper. You can purchase it from my Etsy Shop for just $2.99.
We also put up a simple paper backdrop on a chalk board in the foyer where we had signs that they could write on and take a picture of themselves and post to social media with the hashtag #aSaviorIsBorn
Here are the videos I used in the Program. I also used one at the very beginning before we at dinner. It is the cartoon one at the bottom.
This looks like a wonderful evening. As I read the program, you have “Mary – A Pioneer Story.” Can you tell me what that story was? I appreciate your help.
Meredith, I was looking at this Return to Bethlehem program. Did you ever find what the Pioneer story or Elder Holland’s quote about Joseph was??
This is the pioneer story. https://archive.org/details/reliefsocietymag57reli/page/897/mode/2up
Elder Holland’s quote is below in the comments.
I love your website! I do the church bulletin board
and your materials speak to me! THANK YOU!
In your program you listed a pioneer story and a quote bu Elder Holland. Would you let me know what those are? Thank you I appreciate your work on putting this together and shaing it
Here is the quote for Elder Holland, “I compare those feelings (which I have had with each succeeding child) with what Joseph must have felt as he moved through the streets of a city not his own, with not a friend or kinsman in sight, nor anyone willing to extend a helping hand. In these very last and most painful hours of her “confinement,” Mary had ridden or walked approximately 100 miles from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea. Surely Joseph must have wept at her silent courage. Now, alone and unnoticed, they had to descend from human company to a stable, a grotto full of animals, there to bring forth the Son of God. I wonder what emotions Joseph might have had as he cleared away the dung and debris. I wonder if he felt the sting of tears as he hurriedly tried to find the cleanest straw and hold the animals back. I wonder if he wondered: “Could there be a more unhealthy, a more disease-ridden, a more despicable circumstance in which a child could be born? Is this a place fit for a king? Should the mother of the Son of God be asked to enter the “valley of the shadow of death” (Ps. 23:4) in such a foul and unfamiliar place as this? Is it wrong to wish her some comfort? Perhaps this provides an important distinction we should remember in our own holiday season. Maybe the purchasing and the making and the wrapping and the decorating should be separated, if only slightly, from the more quiet, personal moments when we consider the meaning of the Baby (and his birth) who prompts the giving of such gifts. But for that very reason, I, like you, need to remember the very plain scene, even the poverty, of a night devoid of tinsel or wrapping or goods of this world. Shepherds would soon arrive and, later, wise men would follow from the East. But first and forever there was just a little family, without toys or trees or tinsel. With a baby—that’s how Christmas began.
It came from this talk: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/1995/12/christmas-doesnt-come-from-a-store?lang=eng
Hi! I love your Christmas program! Is there a way I could download an editable program script? We just need to change it quite a bit for our ward party. Thank you so much!
I don’t have that original document anymore. My external hard drive crashed! So sorry!
What did you serve for the dinner?
Yikes. That’s a good question. I can’t remember that was from many years ago. I will have to go back and see if I can find an email or something about the party.
Hello… I am interested in using your idea Return to Bethlehem for our Christmas program this year- 2023
I have a couple of questions for you.
1. Where do I find 1000 Nativity Movie?
2. A Pioneer Story – where can I find that? The church has so many pioneer stories I am not sure which one you used.
I am sure I will have a couple of other questions as I go along. I appreciate the fact that you have uploaded this information for those of us that need help.
I always start months before to prepare for this program. It is never to early to start.
Thanks in advance. Mary Woodward