The holiday season is approaching and with the holidays come festivities. Throughout the year, your athletes participate in intense practices, workouts, and competitions. The daily cheer grind can be hard and there is no better way to celebrate their hard work than with a holiday celebration. Hosting a holiday party for your cheerleaders is one of the best ways to spread holiday cheer and encourage team bonding.
Jingle bells and jollies aside, organizing a holiday party can be time-consuming and if not planned correctly, more stressful than fun. If you are looking for holiday cheer party ideas, we have a list of fantastic suggestions to make this season’s festivities the best yet!
Create A Theme
A party would not be complete without a theme!
Christmas lends itself to a world of opportunities for a festive-themed party, whether you want to turn a practice into a party or invite your athletes to a fun after-hours event.
Ugly Christmas Sweater Party
A bit of a cliche, but oh, so much fun! Your athletes will have a blast wearing a tacky Christmas sweater while competing with each other about whose sweater is the “ugliest” winner! Even if you choose to forego the competition, you will undoubtedly have a good laugh!
PJ Party
The weather outside is frightful 🎶 and nothing beats getting comfy in Christmas pajamas and having a cozy time indoors, watching Christmas movies, and sipping hot chocolate. Your athletes will have a chance to unwind, laugh, and talk about anything and everything that does not have to do with cheerleading practice and competitions!
Trim My Tree
A “Trim My Tree” themed party is a fantastic way for your cheerleaders to show their personalities. Are you too busy to put up a Christmas tree at your cheer gym? Or perhaps you need some new decorations to celebrate the festive season?
Why not host a “Trim my Tree” themed party and ask each member to bring one ornament to decorate the tree?
Put on some festive music and carol the night away while helping your gym “dress up” for the occasion and the upcoming holiday season.
If charitable actions are a big part of your holiday plans, use the Trim My Tree activity to create a tree to be auctioned. A beautiful Christmas tree where donations go to charity will be in high demand at your gym. [ –> Learn how to accept charitable donations within Jackrabbit]
Christmas Characters Party
Invite your guests to come to your party dressed up as their favorite Christmas character. From the three wise men to Ebenezer Scrooge, Santa Claus to the hard-working elves, and Grinch to Rudolf, this is a fun party where everything goes!
Team Building Activities
A list of holiday party activity ideas would not be complete without some team-building activities on the menu! So, here is a list of activities you can include during your holiday party for your Cheer gym members.
Gingerbread House Competition
Nothing quite like a competition to help boost your team’s energy! Break your guests into two groups and have them practice their candy-house-building craftsmanship. Set a time limit and see how fast and how well team members can work together to create their Gingerbread house. The prettiest, sturdiest, fanciest-looking house wins! (And if it tastes good, then you are all in for a delicious treat!).
White Elephant
The “White Elephant” team-building activity is an all-time favorite and will undoubtedly encourage your athletes to bond and laugh while trying to ‘steal’ one another’s gift.
Ask everyone on your party guest list to bring one wrapped gift (unique, funny, and even bizarre gift wrappings are advised!). Put a monetary limit on it to make sure everyone’s gifts are around the same value.
Place all the gifts in the middle of the room and have your guests draw numbers to determine the order they get to pick a gift from the pile. The first player picks a gift from the pile and unwraps it for everyone to see. As they go around in order, the following players can either choose to unwrap a new gift or “steal” a gift from a previous player. However, a gift can only be stolen twice! After that, the gift is frozen and has to be returned to the last player who took it.
Jingle Bell Shake
Do you want to have some serious laughs while practicing a few cheerleading moves? The jingle bell shake will force your guests to get up and shake it till the winner is announced!
You will need an empty tissue box, 12 jingle bells, and a piece of string. Cut out a hole on both sides of the empty box and thread the string through it. Place the bells inside the box. Tie the jingle bell box around your waist against your lower back. Get up and move around until you shake out all the bells from the box. The first one of your guests that completes the task within 1-minute wins!
Christmas Drawings
Kicking up the Pictionary game a notch, this activity will have your guests struggling to draw a picture on a paper plate above their heads!
Yes, you read that right, and it is a hilarious game to play at a party.
Each player will hold the paper plate above their head and will have to draw a line designating the floor, a Christmas tree, ornaments on the tree, and a star on top. And to make it even harder, throw in a fireplace drawing to see who manages to draw it next to the tree and avoid the fire hazard! Award two points for every drawing accurately done. If you want to make the game even more interesting, you may deduct a point for mishap drawings (the tree not touching the floor, the ornaments not on the tree, the fireplace touching the tree, etc.)
Charades
Who doesn’t love charades? Pick an all “Holiday Movies” charades theme and watch while your guests work together as a team to solve the charade riddle.
Other Festive Activities
If you are set on your Christmas party theme and if you have a range of team-building activities in tow, then you are pretty much set. However, if you are looking for a different type of holiday party activity to add some spice and variety to your festivities, check out these ideas below.
Bow Decorating
Whether on a wreath, Christmas tree, mantle, door, or staircase, a bow is one of the festive season’s stables. So why not invite your guests to decorate their own fancy bow during your holiday party? Bring ribbons, holly, spools, gems, and some glitter, and watch your party transform itself into a festive workshop.
Cookie Decorating
Sprinkles and icing, ‘tis the season for cookies! Hosting a cookie-decorating holiday party for your cheer gym means that your guests will have something sweet to take home when everything is said and done.
Holiday Carols
Crank up the music and ask your guests to sing some Christmas or holiday carols! Christmas is not the time to be shy, and your athletes will have a party to remember (despite the loud cacophony that may ensue).
Holiday Scavenger Hunt
Everyone loves a good scavenger hunt, and nothing shouts ‘team spirit’ louder than trying to solve the clues with your members until you find the treasure. So plan a holiday scavenger hunt as an added activity and elevate your holiday party to a new level.
Embrace The Festive Cheer!
If you plan to host a holiday party for your cheer gym, the holidays are just around the corner so embrace the festive cheer and start planning! Use this holiday party as an opportunity to bond with your athletes and have some fun outside of practice.
Looking for additional holiday planning resources for your cheer gym? Check out Jackrabbit’s (link to jackrabbit.com/cheer page) top tips for prepping your business for the holiday season and end of year. [–> Get additional holiday resources]
Whatever you do, just remember to embrace the festive cheer and spirit! Use this party as an opportunity to bond with your cheer gym’s members and have some fun outside of practice and cheer moves.
After all, the holidays really are the most wonderful time of the year!
