How to Host Your Family's
Festival of Giving Holiday Party
This holiday season, like everything else in 2020, is going to feel different. Our plans and traditions are shifting due to pandemic-era limitations. Yet more than ever, we all feel the urge to connect in meaningful ways with far-flung friends and family.
Let us help you transform Doing Good Together’s popular Festival of Giving into a fun, meaningful (and yes, virtual) family holiday party.
It takes a little planning and a little patience, but the end result – a chance to make memories while you make a difference – is well worth it.
Below, we’ll walk you through seven steps to host your digital holiday party for friends and family members of all ages. For the past month, we’ve been hearing from our Festival of Giving participants. We know that grandparents love to watch their grandkids in action. Cousins have a blast chatting during projects. And even skeptical teens occasionally get pulled into family dance parties when the Okee Dokee Brothers and the Alphabet Rockers are involved!
We invite you to buoy the spirits of your loved ones by hosting this one-of-a-kind holiday party!
May it give you all something joyful to plan, share, and enjoy.
May it help meet real and pressing needs in our own homes and our communities.
And may it spark a new tradition of giving and connecting across great divides.
7 Steps to Hosting Your Family’s Festival of Giving Party
1. Save the Date.
Keep your gathering relatively small so you can have conversations and connect meaningfully while you work through your festival activities. Work with your intended guests to find a time and day that works for everyone. We recommend setting aside two or three hours to work through your favorite Festival of Giving activities.
2. Choose your platform (a.k.a. your party venue!).
The free version of most of these platforms will work just fine for a small family holiday party. Of course, Zoom has gotten a lot of love lately, and although the free version kicks you off after 40 minutes, you can jump right back on. Families are also connecting using Google Meet, Skype, and Facebook’s Messenger Rooms, especially with 10 to 25 guests.
3. Personalize your festival.
Have fun browsing DGT’s Festival of Giving offerings. Choose your top three or four activities to try together. Below, we’ve created a sample holiday party agenda and supplies list.
Sample Agenda
1. SING-A-LONG with the Okee Dokee brothers to kick off your event. Share your screen so your family can enjoy the video.
2. Create the FESTIVE NATURE WREATH using the template in your activity guide (page 13) while listening to music together.
3. Watch the video by Voluntourist about the Love for the Elderly project. Share your screen.
4. Decorate coloring pages and letter templates in your activity guide (pages 20-22) to send to isolated elders. Enjoy a cup of cocoa and decide how to share your creations.
5. Chat about other ways you can help each other and the rest of your friends and family feel loved and connected during this time.
6. Color your own worry monster and peaceful pet posters from your activity Guide (pages 7, 8, and 9).
7. Practice Loving-Kindness Yoga together with the Peace Out Podcast and end your holiday party with a virtual hug.
Sample Supplies List
For your party:
Cocoa or cider
A traditional snack or dessert
For your wreath:
Nature items for your wreath
Cardboard (12-by-12 inches)
Marker
Hot glue
Pushpin
String
Scissors or boxcutter
For your Letters to the Elderly:
Markers, crayons, or colored pencils
Envelopes for posters/letters
Stamps
This, of course, is just one possible agenda. You could instead, open your event with an Alphabet Rockers dance party, decorate bookmarks together to share in Little Diverse Libraries, and play Bucket-Filler Bingo. Or, invite your family to vote on their favorites and make your agenda accordingly. Then send guests their supply lists so they can be ready!
4. Offer tech support.
Be sure everyone knows how and where to sign in to your party. Some family members may need extra help getting their platform up and running.
Be ready to walk them through the process if needed.
5. Build anticipation.
Generate enthusiasm by assigning your guests some fun pre-party work. For example, here are a few ways you might challenge your guests:
Create holiday-themed pet animal costumes (or stuffed animal costumes) to kick-off the party.
Do one kind or generous thing for their community and share these activities at the start of the event. This way the ripples of kindness will begin even before your holiday party starts!
Share favorite holiday songs to help build the party playlist for your group to share before, during, and after the event. Many platforms have a built-in way to share music over the app, so you can synchronize your listening. For example, here are instructions to listen over zoom.
Create a 2020-themed holiday ornament or decoration, homemade of course.
6. Dress up! Or dress down.
This is your opportunity to dress for a party, even though you’re not leaving the house. Bust out your favorite holiday wear and invite guests to do the same.
Or lean into the moment and host a pajama-themed holiday party!
7. Add holiday flare.
Challenge guests to give one another a bit of holiday glamor. Encourage everyone to set up elaborate decorations in their video space, or challenge guests to find a fun digital back ground to put everyone in a holiday mood.
Bonus: Consider fun extras!
When you’ve finished all of your favorite Festival of Giving activities, you could also:
Watch your favorite holiday movie together using the Google Chrome extension, Netflix Party.
Sing holiday karaoke with YouTube.
Send kids on a holiday-themed scavenger hunt.
Play charades or Pictionary or other games from this great collection by Mommy Poppins.
We would love to hear about your family’s favorite festival moments! We’ll employ them to inspire more families to make a difference. Please share on social media with #ShareKindness and #DoingGoodTogether and tag us @doinggoodtogether.
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The recommendations we offer are based solely on our mission to empower parents to raise children who care and contribute.