This season calls for extra creativity and out of the box thinking. As we navigate Advent and Christmas during the pandemic it is hard some of our favorite traditions won’t happen, but that doesn’t mean you’re out of options. We’ve shared a few ideas about holiday planning in a pandemic, but here are 5 more ideas to ensure your families savor this Advent and Christmas season.
- Create an Advent box for the family. You can mail it, deliver it, or even have a drive-thru pick-up for the families to receive their Advent box. The box can include an Advent family devotional, crafts, games, or service projects ideas families can do together. See a sample of an Advent card here.
- Provide a virtual Christmas service packet. The packet can include a Christmas card from the pastor, packaged treats for families to enjoy, a custom Christmas ornament with a church logo or a Bible verse, or even candles/battery operated candles for the online candlelight Christmas service.
- Invite kids and youth to a Zoom Christmas party! You can host a Christmas scavenger hunt, play Christmas charades, do virtual cookie making, or even coordinate a secret Santa in advance and open presents together.
- Host a virtual 2020 gingerbread house contest. Invite kids/youth to sign up for the contest. Send out the rules and the ingredients needed for the contest with a Zoom link. Give students 30 minutes to make their gingerbread house. Have the participants vote on their favorite gingerbread (they can’t vote for their own gingerbread house!) and the winner gets a prize sent in the mail.
- Giving Tree 2020. Host a toy drive for kids in needs. Your church can be a community drop off site for a toy drive. Invite your families to make a winter care package for the homeless in your community. Partner with mission organizations and see how you can support missionaries in other countries.
Lydia Choi is a wife, mom of three kids, and a pastor. She currently serves as the Family Resource Pastor for five campuses at Timberlake Church in the Greater Seattle area of Washington and an Associate Campus Pastor at Timberlake Church Issaquah. Lydia specializes in children’s ministry, intergenerational ministry, and being a missional church.
