Seeking Ideas for Tweens and Teens at Company Christmas Party

I do art projects and scavenger hunts with kids this age. It's best to have an adult designated who will rally them into the activities. Let me know if you need more details.

Also, since you mentioned that you were a photographer, the idea came to me to do something with polaroid cameras. If you have a larger budget there is a guy in Austin that rents an instant photo booth. I think it's called "just say cheese".

The girls will talk and the boys will want something to DO.
Video games... pizza, ping-pong, fooseball.
White elephant gift exchange.
and a "supervisor". Have fun!!

Wii, Wii, Wii- love the idea of buying one or two (assuming there is a budget) and giving them away as door prices at the end of the night. Guitar Hero is FAB- they love to watch their friends play as much as they like to play. The girls love the Dance, Dance Fever games. Maybe one of each. My 13 yr old has been to poker night at her friend's house- so Texas Hold Em is a good idea- have a dealer in charge and print up simple instructions. Make it easy- where the dealer can help the players- and have a prize for the grand winner.
BUNKO! That is a great way to get everyone to sit together- they'll move around and meet new people. Also would require an adult or two in charge. Maybe some of the older teens could be hired to help w/ the younger ones? That would make going to the party less "lame". They have to go but at least they'd get paid. And I appreciate that the company wants to have the teens/tweens there- that's a hard age to get "babysat" and it's hard leaving them at home at that age, too,sometimes.

I assume there is a budget for it...?

* Decorate gingerbread houses
* Hire a bead store to give a "bead party" on necklace/bracelet/ earring making (call to see if one of te local bead stores offer traveling bead parties outside of the store. I've heard of it, but am not sure which will do it)
* or, same idea but give the kids disposable cameras and hire someone to do a scrap book party. (Here are some Austin vendors: http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en-us&a...)
* Make a life size candyland board game that the kids can walk through and play themselves.
* Offer a station of paper airplane construction for the boys. Lots of books on how to make fancy paper airplanes... See if someone will be the "advisor" to man the station.
* Station for christmas ornament painting & decoration
* Maybe hire horse drawn carriage to give rides...? (Offer hot chocolate or warm apple cidar)
* Give them dreidles and show them how to play (without the religious explanation)... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreidel... Play with pennies or candy.
Nun - nim - "take" - the player takes one from the pot
Gimel - gib - "give" - the player puts one in the pot
Hey - halb - "half" - the player takes half of the pot, rounding up if there is an odd number
Shin - shtil - "still" (as in "stillness") - nothing happens and the next player spins
The game may last until one person has won everything.

* Hide paper notes & clues around the location and have groups go on a treasure hunt. (as in you give them a clue that they have to figure out where to go and find the next clue, etc., until they find the final treasure...)

Have fun!

I did a party for my daughter's 10th grade class and came up with some ideas. Food, food, food! Depending on how many kids there are, a game of Twister is fun. It will help loosen the kids up. I set up a bucket of dry ice. Put dry ice in warm water, and it creates a smoky effect. You need to be careful with that, because the dry ice is compressed carbon dioxide, and is so cold that it will burn you if you touch it - use tongs and let the kids look but not touch. Put a fan behind it to blow the "smoke" around. The kids loved it. You can find dry ice at some grocery stores for under $2 a pound; get 5#.

"Bored stiff" is what tweens and teens do when their parents are watching. I agree, a separate space for them, they are much more likely to interact with each other if the adults aren't watching. Video games is definitely what they are into, electronic anything. I agree, a college student will be more likely to get them involved, maybe a youth pastor, someone who is experienced in getting teens to engage.

Many will have their own phones, game-who can send the fastest text message. Who sent the most during the party to other people at the party, this way they exchange phone numbers.

Get a few to video tape the adults, but tell them they have to be creative, not the old interview type questions.

Make Gingerbread houses out of grahm crackers, easier than ginger bread.

Rock band or guitar hero - definatly a hit

A scavenger hunt, with teams, going about the room to find things hidden.

Setup an area for the kids to play interactive Wii games. I hear guitar hero is the big thing now. My Aunt is doing this for Thanksgiving. All the teens and tweens will be in the basement.

good luck.

Is there a seperate small space/room you can decorate and set up just for them? I mean maybe they can have their own space and have their own Christmas Elephant gift exchange. Maybe play musical chairs with Christmas music and the winner gets a small prize. Also letting them do Karaoke amongst themselves is always a hit! It would also be nice if maybe you had an "adopted" family for the holidays (a family in need) where everyone chipped in with a small gift, then you could have the kids wrap them while they talk amongst themselves and eat cookies and punch, etc... Anyway, these are just a few suggestions, I hope you all have fun at the party!

I would set up a tween/teen only area and have interactive games like guitar hero, Wii fit (or any Wii game), board games, and comfortable seating like bean bags.

I'm not sure of the budget or layout of the space; but is it possible to rent a little larger space and then use a partition to divide off the tween/teen space so they can also enjoy their own music. Most hotels have ballrooms that connect and you can use the partition to divide the main ballroom from the tween/teen room. I know with this economy some companies are cutting back a bit; but I thought I'd add this suggestion anyway.

Ok, realistically, two words. Video games. Someone needs to set up a couple of gaming systems and tv's. Offer games that are for their age group. Make it a competition? Offer a prize for the winner at the end of the night. That is what tweens and teens do when they hang out together. I would make their area unique with floor cushions, etc. Off to one side of course.

I would just think of what "kids these days" are into. It seems to me that they usually like gaming, movies, music and the like. I would think if you could seperate these kiddos into a seperate space, put an adult in charge (perhaps a seperate friend not associated with the company)and let them do their own thing. Teens are pretty good with coming up with ideas that they think are "cool". Maybe a board game tourny? Heck, kids nowadays are so smart, you could probably get away with some Texas Hold "em!!! I'm kidding!!! I say ask the kids....they know better than us "ol' ladies!!!"

Have Fun!!!
Margaret :)

How about renting a karaoke machine and renting a wii & t.v.?

Hi J.,
I have 3 young adult kids all of which had parties. We had great success with a ping pong table and competition, lots of "their" music, card tables with cards, Scattegoris(a game), etc.
Also if it is possible, I recommend their own table set up for different foods. Taguitos, chips and salsa, chicken wings,etc., are inexpensive and helps to make the kids feel like you have given them alot of thought and consideration.
If they have different stations to go to it will give variety.
Good luck!
B.

set up one or two of those wii dance/karate competition type things where you have to move and the camera tracks your movements. Well, you can tell I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I saw one at a party 6 years ago, and the kids young and old seemed to have a blast.

There's always twister. ha ha ha

I've never been to a company Christmas party where children were invited, and truthfully, I've never heard if it. But if they are set on inviting kids, and depending on the time of the party & location, I would try to offer them a specific area with their own space & ways that they can interact together. Chances are that none of these kids know each other, so that's why they've been bored in previous years. If he can come up with some "ice breaker" type activities for them to get comfortable around each other at the beginning of the party, then he could just do a Christmas dance type thing (like what many middle & high schools have annually). But my best advice is to see if this year the party could be employees & spouses or dates only. That way you don't have to worry about what to do with the kids & the parents can have a fun night out.

As the party begins place (you can use sticky name tags) a character name on the back of each guest. Each person must guess who is on their back. They have to ask other people yes or no questions... Example, is this a human? Is this an animated character? Is this male, female? Is the person alive? Pick popular characters for tweens or teenagers, Beyonce, Will Smith, Sarah Palin, Harry Potter, Barbie... this is a great way to meet tons of people.

Activities
Karaoke machine, Guitar Hero (purchase this and then you could give this away as door prize at the end of the party), Scavenger Hunt, Charades. Hire a Caricature artist. Play Bingo for prizes or gift cards to ice cream places, burger places, movies, book stores etc. To run these activities, hire a few College kids for a few hours, this way all the adults can enjoy the party.

What about some games. Like twister and I bet some adults would join in on the fun. See if you can rent the Dance Dance Reveloution game. Or find a friend that has it and set them up in a corner. Not to shove them in a corner but have there own space. Also if they are handing out favors/gifts at the party see if you can get some of the tweens to help out. Print out surveys that help them get to know each other. Crafty things always went well. Like making christmas. Mostly let them do there own thing. Hope you get some great ideas.

karoke would be fun.

If there is space where the party will be make a separate area for the tweens/teens. They will be more comfortable that way. Have food they will enjoy; pizza, hot dogs, french fries, chips/dips, etc.

Entertainment: See if you can find a company that will rent video games for the night. Either TV based hook-ups or big console games like in an arcade. If room allows ping-pong, pool table. Card games such as uno or board games are always fun. I worked at a summer camp this summer and the kids loved the air hockey table. There was always a line to play it. Make sure the games are free or have a supply of tokens for them to use.

Check in to hiring some adult supervision. They are not going to want baby sitters, but uniformed guards might make them feel important.

The church I grew up in had a rec room for the youth group. We had a pool table, foosball table, pingpong, video game center (with the original Atari, that's how old I am), suffleboard, and a pin ball machine. We also had a sitting area with couches.

Another idea is to purchase Christmas crafts and have them set up in stations for the kids to do. Girls will especially like this. Surprisingly, a lot of boys do to. Oriental Trading (www.orientaltrading.com) has great craft kits you can buy and they are very inexpensive. For my summer campers I got some plastic shoe box size boxes and set up each activity in its own box. I typed up and taped the directions on the top of each. Make sure you have plenty of tape, glue, scissors, markers, crayons, etc. for them to use. Kids today love to fold paper too. I couldn't keep plain paper out for their free use because of this. I had to divy it out sheet by sheet or they would use my supply up each day during their free time.

My campers loved goop; water, corn starch, and elmer's glue. We made up several batches of it for rainy day time. We kept them in gallon size baggies. It can be divided up for how many people want to play with it. HOWEVER, it is very messy. You won't want to do it if they will be in nice clothes. I had kids that would end up with it all over their shirts and would have to change. BUT, it would occupy them for hours.

I hope these ideas help. Have fun with it and Merry Christmas.

you could go to Orientaltrading.com and check out their craft things. They are very reasonable in price and most only need glue.They also come in the mail in about 3 days. We have a LOT (18) of kids (different ages)in our family and this is what we do. They love having a project to take home. Just a thought.

Hi J., all the ideas that you have gotten sound great. I just want to add one thing. Because I have a few Jewish and Muslim friends, I think that it is important to point out that maybe not all the guests will be celebrating
Christmas so be courteous if you decide to do a craft that involves Christmas decorations. Try in some way to incorporate a craft that is compatible to all faiths. Ask your husband if any of his coworkers are any thing else other that Christian. Just to be on the safe side. Have fun.

Video games and couches set up for the kids to mingle. They will love it!!! Hook up a playstation and there won't be to many complaints. ( : Good luck!

Not sure what kind of company your husband works for but if you could have a set up for them specifically with a computer for kids to play games or a tv with Wii or PS3 or even board games, radio or dj for teens and food, like pizza, mac and cheese, sandwiches, cookies,cupcakes, drinks, smoothies or sodas.

maybe if you had a guitar hero section or wii the kids love these games

This is late but adding to the idea chosen....My nephew and my son both do this they have their friends bring their xbox or playstations and they usually have the same games so they'll have the games going on each one and have play offs. Not sure how it works but its like winner play winner type thing moving from set to set.

dance mats. Everybody enjoys them. You can even have teams and they have a dance off. Also singing star which is where all get to try their singing talents. We went to a b'day party where both games were and even adults tried to join in. It was alot of fun.!!! Have a great party with lots of fun!!!!!

Hire someone who can be there and can help just to make sure they are having fun at thier own Christmas party. Music they like, food & drinks they enjoy, games that they can run, jump, & play (dance contest), maybe some tv's set up with wii's, playstations, or xbox's, movie area. I don't know how much room or money, but I could go on for a while with different ideas.

Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution are definitely the way to go.

You could get a dj and they could have a dance (or just premake a music mix for them). Even young kids like this. Or you could have cookies there to decorate, but mostly girls would like this (boys under 8 or so would, too). You could also bring in a tv and play a movie for them.
You could bring in a sitter and have several games they can play.

why don't y'all try to get the older kids involved with the party itself? have face painting and a coloring book table/or craft table with none messy crafts and let the older kids entertain the younger ones. they might not like being "babysitters" but i bet they will appreciate getting to be in charge of doing something to help pass the time. we have tried this at our parties in the past and it usually works out really well! also, a good source of not expensive craft/colors/coloring books, etc. and other ideas can be found at "Oriental Trading Company." You can shop on line and find all sorts of different ideas. Or, since you are a photographer, maybe get a few cameras together and let the kids take pictures of the different things going on at the party and then y'all could create a picture album of the party for everyone to view.....
good luck with everything...

My husband makes video games for a living so whenever we have a party our friends bring their kids... of all ages. Nothing makes the kids happier than a pool and video games played on a big projector. Wii games and Rock Band are wonderful because they get multiple people involved at once.