I can't believe it's that time of the year again already! Another new year of youth group! So excited! We kicked it off the way we always do....with food, fun, fellowship, and all-out craziness!
Everyone received an elf party name to start the night off with. Using first letters of names and birth months, some names included Gingerbread Pointy-Toes, Tinsel Shiny-Shoes, Jolly Party-Popper, and Figgy Nipper-Nose. Too fun!
We had a great burger buffet and just chilled and talked about everyone's Christmas. Seems like forever since we were all last together. We needed some catch-up time. We also had cupcakes to celebrate Connor's 13th birthday which was today!!
Next, we headed outside for a fast-paced neighborhood scavenger hunt. We split into two teams and circled the hood looking for things such as...an address whose numbers add up to 20, a house where all the lights are off, candy canes, open windows, a "W" on a license plate, a gnome, a stray cat, an American flag. There were 28 items in all to find. Teams had 25 minutes to find as many as they could.
Then we came back home to make our tie-dye canvas Bible covers.
Then came a few crazy Christmas games. There was the candy cane pick-up relay where kids had to use a candy cane to pick up another candy cane from a line of string and then deposit it on another rope across the room. The team who transferred all 12 of their candy canes first won.
We had a marshmallow relay race involving oven mitts and serving spoons.
No winter lock-in would be complete without a snowball fight of course! A painter's tape line on the floor drew the bounaries and the tea with the most snowballs on their side of the room at the end lost.
The Hershey Kiss relay game had kids opening Kisses with oven-mitted hands, eating them, and then passing off the mitts to the next person in line.
The fattest Santa wore large sweatpants and a sweatshirt and allowed his teammates to stuff him full of newspaper as fat as they could in just 2 minutes!
And every Santa needs a beard! This relay had kids putting vaseline on their faces and then dipping their faces into a bowl full of cotton balls. The team with the most complete beards at the end won.
Next teams had to make the biggest set of reindeer antlers on their "reindeer" as they could using pantyhose and balloons.
We also had the build a snowman competition, where teams had 5 minutes to build the best snowman using newspaper, construction paper, and masking tape only!
Then it was time to head back outside for some sparklers and poppers.
Once back inside, we took some time to get a little serious and talk about our goals for the new year. We gave each youth a light bulb jar and 366 yellow BB's. We encouraged them to put one BB in the jar for every day they do Bible study in 2015. Matthew 5:14-16 says, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Basically, the bulb full of BB's we pray will serve as an accountability system for the youth. The more they are in God's Word this year, the more their light for Jesus will shine (hence, the yellow BB's). Parents, please encourage them to use the lightbulb and BB's!
We also did a service project and made some fleece baby blankets for local pregnancy centers to give out.
Throughout the night, we also had a photo booth and props set up for the kids. They had a blast with this! Here are some of those pics!
Then it was time to get ready for bed and wind down. Sleeping bags came out, PJ's went on, and the craziness came to a rest...as did the kids. We pulled down the big screen and put on the new TMNT movie for the kids before lights out.
Breakfast Saturday morning came with pancakes, sausage, and eggs...and some really sleepy kids! All is well that ends well! Back to our regularly scheduled youth meetings next Wednesday! Happy New Year everyone!
