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Christmas Tree Cake. Bake cake in a 9-by-13-inch pan. Cool and leave in pan. Frost with pink icing. Let harden. With a toothpick draw a Christmas tree and fill it in with green icing. Decorate the tree with candies.

Peppermint-stick ice cream

Cider or milk. If you serve milk in small half-pint cartons, the children can use the cartons to make gingerbread houses.

DECORATIONS

Use a Christmas tablecloth, napkins, cups and plates.

Giftwrap a box filled with enough candy canes for everyone. Use this as a centerpiece. The children have to guess what's inside the box, and then have the birthday child open it and distribute the contents. Give clues to help the children guess.

Hang paper chains over the table.

FAVORS, PRIZES, ITEMS FOR TREAT BAGS

Gingerbread cookies with the children's names on them, jingle bells (tie them on the children's shoes when they come in), candy canes, Santa Claus stockings, tree decorations, simple homemade aprons with the children's names written on them with a laundry-marking pen, milk-carton gingerbread houses made at the party

For more ideas, click here!

INSIDE GAMES, NONCOMPETITIVE

1. Make paper chains. On the first link of each chain write the child's name. Attach all the chains together with paper clips and see how far it stretches. At the end of the party, remove the paper clips and give each child his or her part of the chain to take home.

2. Make paper Christmas tree ornaments (older children can try origami designs) and decorate a tree with them.

3. Have Santa Claus visit the party and talk with each child. Take Polaroid pictures to send home with everyone.

4. Make milk-carton gingerbread houses. Each child needs a small, rinsed-out milk carton and a piece of cardboard. Set out assorted colored candies, graham crackers,and cans of colored, premixed,store-bought icing (homemade icing is not sticky enough). Give the children butter knives and tell them to stick the graham crackers onto the milk cartons with the icing to make roofs and sides.
Dip the candies in the icing to decorate the houses.

5. Frost Christmas cookies and decorate.

INSIDE GAMES, COMPETITIVE

Guess how many ornaments are on the tree? The child with the closest guess gets a prize.

OUTSIDE GAMES, NONCOMPETITIVE

Candy Cane Hunt. Play like a Candy Hunt. Hide one candy cane for each child. Everyone keeps the one he or she finds. At the end, ask everyone to help find the missing canes.

OUTSIDE GAMES, COMPETITIVE

Christmas Scavenger Hunt. Play like a Scavenger Hunt. Listed items to find might be a red bow, a Christmas card with Rudolph on it, a gingerbread cookie,
a piece of wrapping paper with holly on it, a jingle bell, and a candy cane.