Practical lesson – Christmas bows

Christmas presents almost always come with a Christmas Bow. Gift wrap, ribbons and bows are used to decorate and draw attention to the gift. It is not the bow that is important, but the gift that it adorns. It is sad that so many people are enjoying all the Christmas wrapping and decorations, but have forgotten the gift – God with us – Emmanuel – the birth of Christ.

Christmas bow games

• Christmas Arch Pass – In this game, teams race to pass Christmas bows from one end of the line to the other while holding hands. Divide the youth group into teams of 6-10 youth and have the teams line up next to each other. At one end of the line place six Christmas bows and at the other end have a basket where they can drop the bows. Give them the following instruction: “With your left hand, grab the right wrist of the person to your right.” Teams must get through all the arcs to the end and then back, without disconnecting to win. They can only touch the bows with the right hand. If an arch goes down, the team must retrieve it while staying connected. If the chain breaks, all currently passing arcs must return to the beginning of the line.
• Gift Exchange Pass the Christmas Ribbon – Played as “hot potato” Pass a bow around the circle while listening to Christmas carols. When the music stops, whoever is holding the bow can pick up a gift from under the tree and place it on her lap or under her chair. The game continues until everyone receives a gift. If the music stops and someone is holding the bow and already has a gift, move on to the next person to the right who hasn’t received a gift yet.
• christmas bow hunting – This is like an Easter egg hunt, only with Christmas bows! Hide all the ties in one room or around the house and have everyone search for them.
• christmas bow fight – Place a long jump rope or rope in the middle of the floor to divide the room into 2 equal halves with one team on each side. Each team starts with the same number of bows. Set a timer for 2-3 minutes, and when the game starts, the participants will pick up the ties and throw them across the other team’s room. When the timer goes off, everyone drops all bows and counts how many bows are on their team’s side. The team with the fewest number of bows wins.
• taboo word – Everyone is given a Christmas bow to pin to their shirt at the start of the party or event. A word is chosen that not everyone can say. (eg Santa Claus) If someone says the taboo word to another person during the event, he must give him his Christmas bow. They pin the bow to their shirt along with any others they have collected. They all end up trying to get the others to say the forbidden word. At the end of the event, the person with the most Christmas bows wins.
• Christmas Bow Tree Race – Juniors are divided into two teams with the same number of players. One person from each team is designated as the giveaway and stands at the opposite end of the room from their team. In running, one person at a time on each team must grab ONE rope from a basket and run to the “gift” and stick it on their arms or head. Youngsters can only stick bows on the arms and head. The team that places the most bows on the gift in a given time wins. Falling ties don’t count.
• Christmas bow balance – Prepare two baskets of ribbons of various colors in each one. The baskets must contain an equal number of bows of each color. As you call out a color, the next person on each team runs to their basket, puts as many of the specified color ribbons on their head as they like, and walks back to their team. If even one bow falls off, they have to try again. Say the colors in random order. At some point the game calls and the team with the most bows wins.
• christmas bow stroke – Tape two lines to the floor at opposite ends of the room as goal lines. The teams blow the arcs along the floor to the opposite goal and back. The first team to complete the relay wins.
• christmas bow grip – Play like the normal Spoons game, but replace the spoons with Christmas Bows. In the center of the table, place one bow less than the number of players you have. Shuffle a standard deck of 52 cards and deal 4 cards to each person. Ask everyone to take one of their cards and discard it to their left simultaneously. However, the person to the dealer’s right must put one of his cards on the table to start the discard pile, while the dealer draws a new card. Repeat this process of all moving to the left. In each round, the dealer must pick up a new card and the person to the right of him must add it to the discard pile, in order to have a continual influx of new cards. The first person to have 4 of a kind (for example, the 4 aces or the 4 nines) has to pick up a bow. After this, all other players must do the same, with the slowest person running out of bow and out of the game.
• Put the bow on the gift – In this Christmas version of the classic children’s game Pin the Tail on the Donkey, blindfolded children try to hold the bow where the ribbons intersect on a gift-wrapped box.
• Christmas Bow Toss – Bows are thrown into gift boxes wrapped and labeled with various point values. If it lands on top of you, the points. You can play harder to hit targets that are worth more points.
• Christmas Bow Fan – One Contestant from each team must stand behind a Christmas bow with a gift box. When the clock starts ticking, each contestant can begin to enliven the bow with the gift box. The contestants and the gift box may not touch the bow at any time or the game will be over. To complete the game, the competitor must get the bow in a designated end zone area (square hit on the floor) within the 60 second time limit. The arc must come to a complete stop without leaving the designated end zone.
• Christmas bow sneakers – Youth are divided into two teams facing each other at opposite ends of a table. The goal is to blow up the opponent’s end bow for one point.
• christmas bow tag – Using a glue gun or a piece of tape, stick the bow to a clothespin. You will need two for each participant. When you start the game, give each person two of the bows as they enter. When everyone has their bows, tell them that you are giving them two minutes to get rid of their bows. The only way for contestants to get rid of the bows is by pinning them to someone else. Award a prize to the person with the least number of bows. Ice Breaker Idea: After playing the game, each person must tell one fun fact about themselves for each bow they have pinned. If they don’t have bows, they only have to say ONE thing about themselves.
• Christmas Bow Target Practice – Place a series of rings (or crowns) hanging from a rope like targets. Have the youth take turns trying to shoot bows through the various sized rings or hoops for points. The smaller the target, the higher the points.
• Christmas Bow Collector – Each young person is blindfolded, given a large wooden spoon and placed inside a large gift-wrapped box with the lid removed and filled with Christmas bows. They should also hold a similar box on top of their head. At the given time, the blindfolded youths compete by using the spoon to stick bows into the box on their heads while everyone else watches. Many times empty spoons will be delivered to the head and many times the box will be lost. When time runs out, the young man with the most bows in the box on his head wins.
• Christmas bow plummet – You will need small bows, Vaseline and bowls. Place bowls a foot apart, with bows placed in 1 bowl. When the clock starts, each contestant can dip their nose in Vaseline and try to make a bow with their nose. Players can only apply Vaseline by dipping their nose in Vaseline. The player must deposit the Christmas bow into the final container directly from the nose without it coming into contact with any other body part or object. To complete the game, a player must be the first to transport 5 bows from the starting bowl to the ending bowl, with all 5 Christmas bows in the bowl at the same time.
• Mind Meld Christmas Bow – Put a Christmas bow between the foreheads of two people and race to the finish line.
• Christmas toothpick relay with bow – Each young person has a toothpick and must pass a Christmas Ribbon through the line of young people to the end of the line. The first team to get through all the ties to the end wins. Hands are not allowed.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

• Describe some of the Christmas presents under your tree.
• How are they wrapped? What colors are the ties?
• What are some of the things we need to wrap a Christmas present?
• Gift wrap, ribbons, and bows are used for decoration. How many of you would like to receive a bow for Christmas? Just a bow?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

• What are some of the things we think of when we think of Christmas?

Christmas is not about the decorations. It’s about the gift. With Christmas comes many decorations: there are Christmas trees; there are Christmas lights, Christmas carols, candy canes, angels, nativity scenes, Christmas cards, Christmas bows, wrapping paper, and even Santa Claus and elves. But these, like a Christmas bow, are just the decorations. They are not the most important thing about Christmas. Christmas is about the greatest gift: it is about Jesus.

It’s sad that so many people are enjoying all the Christmas wrapping and decorations, but have forgotten about the gift.

Read the Christmas story from the Bible:

Matthew 1:18-25; Matthew 2:1-12; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:1-20.

MAKE IT PERSONAL

How many of you never open your presents at Christmas? You just leave them with all the wrappers under the tree, never to find out what’s inside. Many people enjoy all the wonderful things about Christmas, but have missed the Christ in Christmas. The gift of Jesus, of peace with God, of salvation is never received and remains as a simple object of contemplation or as one more adornment.

Unless Jesus is received into our hearts, the gift may well remain an unopened gift under the tree.

Let your light shine so bright that people know that the true gift of Christmas is not in all the decorations, but in Jesus.