Christmas Minute to Win It Party (Plus Printable)

So I had other plans for today–I have a to-die-for overnight breakfast casserole that’s perfect for Christmas morning. All set, all ready to go. And as I’m sure so many of you are experiencing right now, this week has been crazy–it’s the end of the semester for my kids, so all sorts of projects and loose ends are due. Kids are wild. Teachers are tired. Parties. Concerts. Nativities. Field trips. End-of-the-year doctor’s visits (gotta use up that flex spending!) Shopping. Decorating. Baking. Star Wars. There’s a lot going on. So when I snapped a picture yesterday of the Minute to Win It party favor’s for my daughter’s classroom Christmas party and posted it on Instagram, it was completely on the fly.

Everything had happened down to the wire I had not thought it through–I really should have done a whole post complete with lots of pictures demonstrating all the different games. But. I got so many requests for games and the printable and what I put in the goodie bags and ultimately to put it on the blog that that’s what’s happening today–be sure to check back on Monday for that breakfast casserole. This post might be a little too late for many classroom parties (are people in school next week? Somewhere? Anywhere?), but you could always use them for family, friend, church, or neighbor parties.

• As far as logistics/scorekeeping goes, I’m just not going to keep score in my daughter’s class; I think it’s going to be too complicated and I want to make sure lots of kids have the chance to play. I’m sure there are ways to make it work…I just couldn’t find one that worked for me!
• My friend who’s kind of a master of Minute to Win It said to roughly plan on 5 minutes per game. The setup of some games will take longer than others, some games can easily be replayed, etc. We’re planning on 45 minutes of games, so I planned 9 games.
• I wrote each child’s name down on a popsicle stick and then I wrote down each game on another set of sticks. I’ll have a “winner” from the previous game choose the next players and the next game.
• I also organized exactly what I needed for each game and put them in individual games to save time and help things not be too crazy. So I counted out cotton balls, spoons, bowls, etc. I put every game in its own bag, even if it was self-contained (like the package of Oreos). On the outside of each bag, I wrote the name of the game and how many players I had playing each game, but that’s totally adjustable, too. To make sure everyone gets lots of chances to participate, there are two games that are easy for everyone to play.

I got games from various places–around the internet, from friends, etc, things I came up with myself (although I’m sure there are variations all over the place). There are a gazillion games floating around and many of them are very easily modified if you need to change them.  This is what we’re doing:

• 10 Pin Elephant: Place a tennis ball in the bottom of a pair of girl’s tights and place the tights on the player’s head. Arrange 10 empty water bottles in some way where they won’t touch each other when they fall and then the player needs to use the ball to knock over the bottles. (2 players)
• Suck it up: Place some M&Ms in a bowl and the player needs to try and transfer as many M&Ms as possible from one bowl to another, using a straw to suck them up. (5 players)
• Scoop it up: Place 6 ping pong balls in a bowl. The player has a spoon in their mouth (handle side in their mouth) and needs to move the balls one at a time from one bowl to another. (2 players)
• Ornament Passalong: 5 players per team have the straight end of a candy cane in their mouth. The first player has an ornament on the hook and the players need to pass the ornament down the line, not using their hands. (10 players; 2 teams of 5)
• Frosty the Snow Nose: Cover each player’s nose in vaseline. The players need to transfer as many cotton balls from one bowl to another (only one cotton ball at a time) using only their nose. (5 players)
• Junk in the Trunk: Place 6 ping pong balls in an empty Kleenex box (tear out the plastic) and tie the box around each player’s waist, hole-side out. The player has 1 minute to shake all the balls out of the box. (2 players)
• Christmas Tree Stack: Each player uses 1 hand to make a Christmas tree with 21 cups—7 upside down cups on bottom, 6 on top of that, 5 on top of that, etc. (3 players)
• Cookie Face: Each player places an Oreo on their forehead. Not using their hands, the players need to slide the cookie down their faces and into their mouths (Everyone)
• Defying Gravity: Each player has a balloon. They can’t grip the balloon and the balloon has to stay moving for the entire minute without hitting the floor (Everyone)

I bought a lot of things in larger quantities, so there was a lot of stuff leftover and I decided to put together some goodie bags so the kids could teach their families some of the games over the holiday break. I included:

• Cotton balls
• A candy cane
• 2 mini bags of M&Ms
• 1 straw
• 1 6 pack of Oreos (I would have done the two-packs, but the store was out)
• 1 balloon
• 1 whistle for refereeing (I know, the parents are going to hate me. I kind of hate myself already.)

I placed everything in a clear cellophane goodie bag, tied it with a ribbon, and then added a card with a brief description of all the games:

You can print these out on cardstock, cut them into quarters, then punch a hole and tie them onto the bags–click here to get the printable!

I’m hoping to add some pictures and/or videos over the next few days, but if you have any questions or ideas, please let me know!