Practical Lesson – Gift Wrapped Christmas

We are drawn to gifts extravagantly wrapped with red bows and colored paper. But it is not the packaging that we treasure, but the gift. Sometimes the wrapping can give clues as to what’s inside, but sometimes the gift inside is a complete surprise and totally unexpected. The first Christmas gift was also not wrapped as the world expected. The Jews wanted a mighty warrior with a sword in one hand and a king’s crown in the other. But instead, God sent his greatest gift: an innocent, helpless, and vulnerable baby, wrapped in diapers, not wrapping paper.

Gift wrap games

• all wrapped up – Tear up various types of Christmas wrapping paper and place it inside a large sheet. More is better. There are two rounds in this game. In the first round, each group wraps one of its members in duct tape (STICK SIDE OUT) from the ankles to just below the arms. Arms should NOT be wrapped. Be sure to emphasize STICKY SIDE OUT. The first team to fully wrap their teammate in making tape with no cracks at all wins. In the second round, first, throw all the torn wrapping paper on the floor of the play area, and then the teams work to wrap the wrapped player in as much wrapping paper as possible. After a couple of minutes, tell the teams to stop. Rewards the team with the most encircling player attached to their teammate. Make sure to take group photos!
• Christmas dice gift exchange – Have everyone sit in a circle and start with a treat. Play a Christmas carol while passing 1 to 3 dice (separate them). Each person rolls and passes the dice. If they roll a six, they can exchange gift-wrapped packages with whoever they want. At the end of the song, they all hold the package in front of them.
• christmas unwrapping– Wrap a gift with several layers of paper and strong tape to make it difficult to unwrap. Youth line up and then roll double sixes on a pair of dice, run to a baseball bat, swing 5 times around the bat, then go to the gift and put on a beanie hat, snow/ski gloves, and then start unwrap the gift. – The first to do it wins the prize. As soon as they get to the present, the next person can start rolling the dice to start the process all over again. When someone new arrives in the present, they must first stop, remove their clothing, and then run back to the end of the line. The young man who successfully unwraps the gift gets to keep it.
• Christmas closing– You will need a lot of wrapping paper, some tape and a bow for each team. The goal is to be the first team to completely wrap someone up and place a bow on their head like a giant Christmas present. Make sure your students don’t forget to make a written gift tag for who the gift is and who it is from. You can have a prize for the most complete wrapped as well as the most creative and best wrapped. Be sure to take some photos along the way.
• Christmas Wrapping Paper Party – Cut out squares from several different patterns of Christmas wrapping paper. You want to have a square for each person in your group. Put them all in a box with a small hole cut in the top. You’ll also want two of the squares to be identical in design and pattern, but all the others to be different. Fold each square and place it inside the box. Let each young person choose a square. Once everyone has a square, announce that the first two people to find matching squares will win a prize.
• gift ball – Save used wrapping paper, bubble wrap, cardboard, plastic wrap, and packaging scraps to create a ball. To create the gift ball, start by wrapping a small prize or even money in a piece of used wrapping paper. Add an additional layer of wrapper and bits of packing to create a ball, securing firmly. If you’re short on wrapping paper, you can also use magazines, plastic bags, newspapers, and other things you have around the house. Add a few layers of these in between the wrapping paper layers. You can secure the layers with any kind of ribbon, yarn, string, and leftover pieces of tape, etc. You can add candy and small gifts to the ball in additional layers as you go. The more the better so that everyone has a chance to get something. The bigger the ball the better, especially if you have a large group. To play, have the youth group members sit in a circle with the gift ball and a pair of dice. A young man begins to unwrap the ball as fast as he can while the player to his left rolls the dice repeatedly until he rolls a 7. When he does, the ball is passed to him to unwrap and the dice are passed to the next player. The peeling off of layers and the rolling of the dice continue until someone finally reaches for the prize and claims it as the winner. You can make it more challenging by having the player wear winter gloves.
• guess the gift – Gift wrap a variety of common objects and label them with numbers (socks, ornaments, a candy cane, holly, pine cones, bells, an angel, Jesus in a manger, a can of eggnog, a Santa hat , a reindeer), a cookie, and any other common Christmas items you can find. Pass out the presents and give each person a little time to feel the presents and guess what is inside each one. Give them a sheet of paper to number and write down their guesses. The kids who make the most correct guesses are the winners.
• relay of wrapping paper – Cut out the front images of several old Christmas cards and hide each piece in a separate box. Wrap the boxes for gifts. Divide the youth into two or more teams and place the stack of wrapped boxes on a table at the other end of the room. You should have a set of boxes and a picture for each team. The first player on each team runs to the table, unwraps a gift, takes a picture of it, and runs to their next teammate. The rest of the team gets a turn until all the pieces in the box have been unwrapped. Teams must then compete to correctly assemble and identify their image. The first team to do this wins!
• Wrapping Paper Snowball Fight – Take a bunch of used wrapping paper and roll it up into balls. Divide the room in half or quarters so you have a team in each section. Throw the crumpled wrapping paper in the middle of the room. On the march, the youngsters throw the balls of wrapping paper at each other and at other sections as fast as they can. When time runs out, the team with the least amount of wrapping paper in their section wins.
• Penguin Giveaway Race – Divide the young people into two teams. Have players at the front of the line place a gift-wrapped box between their knees and walk to a designated spot and back. The next in line does the same until all the young people have had their turn. If the gift falls off, they must start over and start walking again. The team that finishes first wins.
• Siamese twin breed for gift wrapping – For this Christmas game you will need a box, wrapping paper, scissors and ribbon for each team. Divide your youth group into pairs who will stand next to each other with one hand free and the other around their team member’s waist (as if they were one person with two hands, a left hand and a right hand). . The object of the game is to see which team of conjoined twins can wrap their gift (correctly) in the shortest amount of time.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

Unfortunately, because God came to us wrapped in a human body and not in his majesty and glory, many people on the first Christmas missed him. The gift was not wrapped as expected. There was no special welcome, no special preparations, no grand entrance, and, in fact, there was not even room for him in the inn or an actual bed to sleep in. The son of God was wrapped in rags and lying in a manger, a trough.

Imagine focusing on the Christmas wrapping paper and hoarding the wrapping and losing and throwing away the gift.

Unfortunately, today, too many people in the world are so focused on all the wrapping of Christmas – the gifts, the joy, the celebrations, the wishes for peace – that they forget the true gift: that God sent his Son to save the world. .

What matters is not the outer packaging, but the gift inside and what we do with it.

We don’t have to earn a gift, work for it, or do anything other than receive it. Read Romans 2:8: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith; and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-”
Read Luke 2:1-20

The people to whom God first spoke about the birth were pastors. In general, the herders were the poor, the unemployed, the powerless, the less educated, the uneducated, perhaps even the marginalized. Often, when we buy gifts for others, we reserve the best gifts for the special people, the ones who are sure to give us something in return, the ones who are our favorites. But the gift of Jesus was first announced to the shepherds, to those without titles, to those who could give little back.

God had given the world a gift that he didn’t think it wanted or needed, and certainly not as expected, and he gave it to a group of people who weren’t the mighty, the rulers, or the most admired. It was a seemingly ordinary gift, in ordinary wrapping, given to ordinary people.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

the pastors

Read Luke 2:1-20

* Why do you think the angels appeared to the shepherds and not to someone else?

* Could the shepherds have chosen to accept or reject the angels’ invitation? What did they choose to do?

* How long do you think it took them to decide?

* Why do you think it was important for them to see Baby Jesus firsthand?

* Why did the shepherds leave everything to go find out about a baby? Why were they so excited?

* What does this baby mean to them?

* What does this baby mean to us?

* Why was the birth of Christ a Good News?

* What are some lessons, truths, attitudes, and responses we can learn from pastors?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

* Do you still feel in awe when you consider God’s gift to the world, or has it lost its shine? Are you more focused on Christmas wrapping or the gift God sent?

* What do you expect for this Christmas?

* How can you have a deeper first-hand experience with Christ this Christmas?

* What can you do to help others see through all the holiday wrapping and see clearly the real Christmas gift?

* The gift is not actually taken until we choose to receive it. It is of no use to us unless we take it for ourselves, unwrap it, and make it our own. Have you received the gift of Christ in your life?

SCRIPTURES

Luke 2:11-12 (NIV) – “Today a Savior, the Messiah, the Lord, has been born to you in the city of David. This will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”