Last year, we didn’t have a Christmas party for Latin Club, but this year, with our record 110 students registered as club members, I thought it would be nice to have one. We ended up doing a cookie/candy swap (think Secret Santa, but sugary things only) with a $5 limit.

It was a huge success! We had around 50 students RSVP (so they could participate in the swap), and more showed up for the party itself. We held the party on a Friday afternoon immediately after school, and it was over in about 30-45 minutes (the perfect length, in my book).

I tried to let the students do most of the planning and setup/cleanup – here’s what worked for us if you’re thinking about doing something similar next year.

• We set the date a few weeks in advance and made the RSVP deadline a Monday for the Friday party.
• One of our Latin Club secretaries made the Google Form we used for the RSVPs. The questions asked:
  • Name, grade
  • Will you participate in the cookie/candy swap?
  • What cookie/candy do you want?
  • Note: next year, we will take out the “do you want to participate” question, since the whole point of the RSVP form is for people who want to participate in the swap. We also need to add on a question about allergies and dietary restrictions – two of our students who have severe, life-threatening nut allergies didn’t include this information in their responses, but their Secret Santas needed to know, especially because one of these students wanted chocolate chip cookies.
• Another secretary made the Sign-Up Genius for our Latin Club Leadership members to bring food and drinks. This included cookies, candy canes, popcorn, pretzels, etc. I brought the serving bowls and platters.
• I sent out the Secret Santa assignments via email. This was the most labor-intensive part for me. Next year, I need to include a tactful reminder to only buy the gifts requested, since we had at least one student get something they didn’t ask for (it was actually something they really didn’t like).

On the day of the party, students brought their food and gifts to my classroom. They dropped their things off on two carts we borrowed from the maintenance crew. One thing I was a stickler about was making sure the gift was packaged at least minimally (I brought gift bags, tissue paper, gift tags, and bows from home); at the very least, they need to put their “To” and “From” on the gift tag. We didn’t do a big ceremony for the swap, since there were so many kids – we just trusted them to only grab the gift labeled for them off the table.

We held the party in a small section of our cafeteria that can be partitioned off. When we were done, a group of our National Latin Honor Society students took care of the clean-up so they could earn thirty minutes of their required two hours of service hours to the Latin faculty.

Like I said, this was a huge hit. The kids all had a great time, and it was a nice way to spend some down time with them. Next year, we might incorporate some charity aspect into the party (bringing a high-need item for a homeless shelter or a canned good with their gift, for example); it depends on what the kids want to do.

I hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday season – see you next year!