ICEBREAKER: SPROUT ROULETTE
7 MINS
METHOD: To prepare for this game take a small box of chocolate truffles and remove a couple of them. (Why not reward yourself at this stage for your wonderful work over the course of the year by eating the ones you remove?) Next, take a couple of sprouts, lightly boil them and allow to cool (and dry) before dipping them into some melted chocolate. (You may want to double dip to make sure any imperfections in the first layer of covering are covered). Lightly dust the finished product with some cocoa powder, and voila, chocolate sprouts, that look uncannily like chocolate truffles. In fact if you’ve done it well they should be virtually indistinguishable from genuine confectionary. (If your skills as a chocolatier are slight, you could substitute Ferrero Rocher, carefully unwrapping a couple of the aforementioned treats that an ambassador might share, and rewrapping your sprout surprises in the original wrapper, again so they are indistinguishable from the genuine chocolates).
Next, number each chocolate in the box and place pieces of paper with each number on folded up into a bag or hat. If your group is larger than the number of chocolates you have, then pad it out with some blank pieces of paper, ensuring each young person has a piece of paper. Pass the bag/hat around and get each young person to take out a piece of paper, reveal to them that this number represents their prize and corresponds to a chocolate in your prize box. Add, almost as an after thought, that a number of the chocolates might not be quite what they seem.
Enjoy watching the young people take their chocolate one at a time and bite into it, share their delight as they realise they have a genuine chocolate, and relish their healthiness if they end up with one of their five-a-day...
MORE: Sprout roulette can also be adapted to be the ‘reward’ for any game that you play - simply offer a choice of chocolates as the prize to your winners. (As with all food based games make sure you are aware before playing of any allergies among your group and tailor the game accordingly. Also be sensitive to any young people with issues around food).
REASON FOR THE SEASON: Presents are fun. Jesus got presents from the wise men. He may have been disappointed with myrrh and frankincense. Link this to their disappointment as they discovered a sprout in their chocolate.
'MIRACLE ON 34TH TREE' OR 'THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS TREE'
10 MINS
METHOD: Divide your group into small groups and present them each with a pile of Christmas decorations - the gaudier the better. Tinsel, candy canes, lights, fairies, stars, baubles everything and give them five minutes to turn one of their team into the tackiest possible Christmas tree. (If you want to turn the lights on, think about using battery operated lights rather than mains powered ones, as these can get hot).
REASON FOR THE SEASON: Just as we decorated the tree with tinsel and pointless decorations, so we often dress up our lives with hollow baubles. With Jesus we don’t need to do this.
SNEAKY SANTA
15 MINS
METHOD: Before playing this game ensure that you have some form of noisy Christmas headgear - eg a santa hat or reindeer antlers with bells on - these are normally available at the Christmas shops that spring up everywhere at this time of year.
Pick a number of your young people (at least two, aiming for about 10% of your total group size). Explain that these lucky volunteers are going to represent the recipients of Father Christmas’ generosity. Get them to each take off one shoe and heap them together in a pile at one end of your meeting space. Seat them on chairs dotted in the middle of the room and blindfold them. Explain that they are going to be visited by Santa (who was reputed to have put money in the shoes of three poor girls about to sold into prostitution) and that he will return their shoes to them. They have to try and detect his coming, like small children lying awake on Christmas eve.
Ask everyone else to sit on chairs around the edge of your meeting space, and silently nominate someone as Santa. This person then has to put on the noisy headgear, make their way to the pile of shoes, pick one up and attempt to silently place it under the chair of its owner. While they are sneaking around the people in the middle have to listen hard for their whereabouts, and if they think they’ve found Santa they are allowed to point to where they think the Sneaky Santa may be. If they are correct then Santa is caught and has to sit down, but if they are incorrect their guess is used up for that round and they have to hope that one of the other shoe people can detect that Santa. If Santa successfully delivers a shoe nominate a new sneaky Santa who has to put on the hat, pick up a shoe and attempt to deliver it etc...
Give each person a new guess each time you have to chose a new Santa. Reward any successful Santas with a mince pie, or carrot for Rudolph. (If you have played the sprout roulette game expect some paranoia as to the contents of the mince pie at this stage!). Once all the people in the middle have their shoes back remove the blindfolds and pick another set of people for the middle.
REASON FOR THE SEASON: Jesus likes Santa.
BRITAIN AND IRELAND'S NEXT TOP REINDEER
5 MINS
A very simple game to finish with. Divide your group up into small groups of three to six. Give each group one pair of tights and a big handful of un-inflated balloons. Instruct them that they have five minutes to inflate the balloons, stuff them into the tights and turn them into the best possible pair of antlers which one of them then has to wear while you or another leader judges the ‘best reindeer’.
REASON FOR THE SEASON: Reindeer have antlers. Rudolph was a reindeer. Rudolph’s red nose guided the other reindeers through the sky. Likewise Jesus guides us.
Jimmy Young leads Soul Connect, an ecumenical youth work organisation in Dorking, Surrey.
