5 Icebreakers for your Connect Group Christmas Party
The news is out! This year, Christmas in our church will be carried out via small, cozy, and in-person parties hosted by our Connect Groups (CGs) from December 1 to 22.
By Edmund Tan Ghim Meng
And what’s a party without a well-run icebreaker? We have five icebreaking suggestions for you, as you start planning your CG’s Christmas party. To make it easier for you to decide, a simple rating is offered for each option -- for ease of preparation, ease of including children in the activity, and the potential to rouse excitement. Where possible, tips are also provided.
Alphabet Line
How to play:
1. Form the guests and CG members into groups. Recommended group size: 5 - 8 persons.
2. Game master then briefs them on rules of the game:
Each group will form a line using tangible things that they have brought – any accessory they are wearing, anything in their bags, pouches and pockets, and any person.
The items must be arranged in alphabetical order – e.g. “A” for “Asus (phone)”, “B” for belt, “C” for coin, “D” for dollar (note), “E” for “Edmund” (if there’s a person named “Edmund” in that group), and so on.
What's a party without a well-run icebreaker?
Skip any letter if there is no item within the group – i.e., move to the next letter.
There should be no repetition of items. For instance, the group cannot place one Asus phone and claim that they have both “A” for “Asus” and “P” for “phone”.
3. Allocate around five minutes for the game. Stop when the time is up.
4. Get each group to share what they have managed to form. It would usually take about five minutes for all groups to complete their sharing.
5. The winning group is the one with the most items.
Minimal preparation: 5/5
Kids can play: 5/5
“Rah-Rah” potential: 3/5 (playing fast-paced music during the game might help)
Tips: When the game ends, gather everyone together first, then get each group to take turns sharing their line of items. That way, everyone is more likely to honor the presenting group with their full attention. Also have a CG member to help keep score (count the number of items) as each group starts to share; this will speed things up for scoring and announcing the winner.
Playing fast-paced music during the game might help.
Don't Forget the Lyrics (Christmas Carols Edition)
How to play:
1. Form the guests and CG members into groups. Recommended group size: 4-6 persons.
2. Game master then briefs them on key rules of the game:
He/She will be playing several Christmas carols, and will pause at a random point in each song.
Once the song is paused, the fastest group that raises its hand gets a chance to sing the song’s next line.
That group is only awarded a point if it sings the entire next line correctly.
If the answer is wrong, the remaining groups get a chance to give it a shot. The same rule applies – fastest hand raised earns the group this chance.
For fairness, all groups cannot refer to Google for lyrics – no handphone and tablets are to be used during gameplay.
The winning group is the one with the most points when the game ends.
3. Allocate 10 minutes for the game. Stop when the time is up.
4. Tally the score and announce the winning group.
Minimal preparation: 2/5 (need at least 12-15 songs for 10 minutes of gameplay, also need to plan ahead as audio-visual equipment is required and has to be set up)
Kids can play: 5/5 (have a good collection of carols that kids are likely to know)
“Rah-Rah” potential: 5/5 (be unpredictable – pause at unlikely parts of the song, or pause at two or three points if the song is sufficiently long)
Tips: Curate a variety of carols. Most people – including children – are likely to be familiar with Jingle Bells, We wish you a Merry Christmas, Hark the Herald Angels sing and Joy to the World. Conversely, you can ring the difficulty up a few notches with songs such as O Holy Night, Twelve Days of Christmas or Deck the Halls.
Charade (Christmas Carols Edition)
How to play:
1. Form the guests and CG members into groups. Recommended group size: 6-8 persons.
2. Game master then briefs them on rules of the game:
Groups will take turns to play.
One person from group to act or gesture the word made known to him/her – no word is to be spoken, and no sound uttered by that person.
The person’s group needs to guess the word correctly within a minute.
If the group makes a wrong guess, the other groups can attempt to guess the word. Fastest group to raise its hand gets to guess first.
Words will be related to Christmas.
The winning group is the one with the most points.
3. Allocate 10 minutes for the game. Stop when the time is up.
4. Tally the score and announce the winning group.
Minimal preparation: 3/5 (require at least 10-12 questions for 10 minutes of gameplay)
Kids can play: 4/5 (need a collection of simpler words that children can understand)
“Rah-Rah” potential: 3/5 (fast-paced background music might help; game master will have to make some effort to rouse the atmosphere during gameplay)
Tips: Tier your repertoire of words – “easy”, “intermediate” and “challenging”. You can play those in the “easy” tier (e.g. “angel”, “Jesus”, “star” and “Mary”) in the first three minutes, then the “intermediate” ones (e.g. “shepherd”, “gift”, “manger” and “light”) in the next four minutes, followed by the “challenging” words (e.g. “Magi”, “frankincense”, “peace”, and “savior”).
Passing the Parcel
How to play:
1. Gather everyone – guests and CG members – into a circle. There’s no need to divide into groups.
2. Game master then briefs them on th
e following:
The music will play in a while. They will pass the parcel when this happens.
The music will be paused at random.
When the music is paused, the person holding the parcel will have to answer a question (“get to know you” question).
3. Allocate about 10 minutes for the game. Stop when the time is up.
Minimal preparation: 1/5 (need much preparation – questions, music and audio-visual setup)
Kids can play: 5/5 (just need to curate some questions that are applicable to children)
“Rah-Rah” potential: 3/5 (will need some effort from the game master to rouse the atmosphere during gameplay)
Tips: The crux to this game lies in the questions. Be creative and pose some questions that get people to reveal just a little more about themselves – besides their names, occupations or favorite colors. For instance, you could try questions like, “What do you like most about the friend who invited you here?” or “Which Christmas carol do you like to sing most?”
Have a good collection of carols that kids are likely to know.
Blanket Game
How to play:
1. Form the guests and CG members into groups. Recommended group size: 6-8 persons.
2. Only two groups can play this game at any time. If you need to form more than two groups, rotate each group to play with the others – you can limit each round of play to just a minute before making the rotation.
3. Game master then briefs them on rules of the game:
Groups will take turns to play.
Each playing group will take up positions on one side of a (large) blanket or groundsheet.
When the blanket/groundsheet is raised, each group will select a member to move up and crouch/squat next to it.
On the count of three, the blanket/groundsheet will be lowered.
The two opposing group members must then call out the other party’s name correctly.
The one who does so first win a point for his/her group.
The winning group is the one with the most points when the game ends.
Be creative and post some questions that get people to reveal just a little more about themselves.
4. Allocate 10 minutes for the game. Stop when the time is up.
5. Tally the score and announce the winning group.
Minimal preparation: 4/5 (only require a large blanket or groundsheet)
Kids can play: 5/5
“Rah-Rah” potential: 4/5 (get ready for some shouting of names … all in good fun)
Tips: Give some time before this game (maximum five minutes) for everyone to introduce themselves to the entire party. If the players find this game too easy (they have no problem recalling the others’ names), you can spice things up exponentially by requiring them to call out their opponents’ name backwards – e.g., instead of “Edmund”, they have to call out “Mund-Ed”.
There you go! Feel free to pick and adapt any of these suggestions for your party. Most importantly, have a great time organizing the party with your CG, and do not forget to reach out and invite more friends.
Reflect & Respond
Reflect on how you and your Connect Group can get ready to host your party for the utmost best over the next few weeks.
Commit your CG's party to the Lord. Pray together more regularly as your CG and you make the necessary plans and preparations.
About the Author
A Trinitarian since 1995, Edmund has regularly served as a Traffic Marshal for over a decade. He is an avid student of improvement by profession and stumbled into the writer’s role by accident.
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