Classroom Christmas Party Ideas with an Elf Theme

It's that time of year when everything gets so busy!  I love the Christmas season, but it's a lot!  It's especially fun and super busy in the classroom.  We always have a winter party on the last day of school.  In the last two districts I have taught in, the last day was a 2 hour day in which we could have our party.  I used to do the whole traditional classroom Christmas party, but for the last few years I started doing station rotations.  It made such a difference!  Everything was organized, not chaotic, and the students had so much fun.  I like to do a theme for the whole day.  I have done a reindeer theme and an elf theme, so this year I finally decided to put them in a resource to post in my TPT store.  I usually do 4-5 stations, but I added more to the pack in case you needed them to stretch out all day.  In this post, I will share some tips and all of the stations to you can do for an elf-themed holiday party.


Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!



Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

You don't have to do decorations, but if you decide that you want to, I have included some printable banners and signs.  I usually just have my tree up and I add plastic tablecloths to their tables for easy clean up.  One year, I grabbed the wrapping paper that kids can color on, and it was perfect to put on their tables!  They colored while they waited for me to be all set up!

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

For the past several years for food, we would order biscuit sandwiches from Hardee's or McDonald's ahead of time and a parent would pick them up.  I would just ask for drink, plate, napkin, and cup donations from parents.  If you want to do the snack and drink ideas from the pack, you can send this parent note home a couple of weeks before.  I also included blank editable ones for whatever food option you want to do with your class.

Again, you can do these stations all day or shorten them to fit a certain time.  You can do all the stations or some of the stations.  You may not want to do them as stations, but do them as whole group activities.  I tried to make them flexible enough to fit your needs and time constraints.  If you do stations, I would give them at least 20 minutes per station.  I included numbers that you can add to each of the station signs so that students can follow the order you have set in place when it's time to rotate.

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

When students come in that morning, I like to have something ready to go for them to do, so they can color this elf picture while they wait for the day to begin.

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

Pull out all of your elf books!  You may want to read one to get your day started and your students into that elf mindset.  If you are doing stations or activities all day, you can sprinkle these elf read alouds all throughout the day.  After the first read aloud, you can also have students fill out an elf application before going to their stations for fun!

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!


Now let's look at the stations!  Each station is super fun and not standards-based.  They need a day to just have fun with their friends.  They have worked so hard all year!  Each station has a sign.  I used a binder clip to sit it up.  At each station, I would have all of the materials needed and ready to go.  Have students take their art box with them, because they will need them for some of the activities.

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

At the elf craft station, they will make these simple but cute elves.  Have each of the templates copied and ready for them to cut.  You can print my example and hang it for them to copy.  After each rotation, have them sit whatever they made on their desk so it will be ready to pack at the end of the day.

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

My students always love BINGO.  Each student will get a different board.  Have one student be the caller (they can rotate for each game).  You can have counters at this station for them to cover their boards.

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

For the STEM station, students will build elf traps.  You may want to put the book How to Catch an Elf at this station.  I made this station very adaptable so that you could use whatever you have on hand to build the traps.  On the direction sign, write the materials that students can use.   They can use the little elves to model how their trap will work.

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

For the directed drawing station, print and hang the steps for drawing the elf.  Leave a stack of white paper for students to use.

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

At Santa's Toy Shop, each student will get this toy line mat.  They can build toys with their Play-Doh, and then put them on the toy line.

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

In your classroom library, put out a tub of holiday books for students to read.  They will love buddy reading with their friends!

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

There are two color by number options for you to choose from.  Students will solve the addition fact and color the space the correct color.

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

Again, you can do these snacks or come up with your own.  These are just really easy and fun.  Students will make an elf hat with a waffle cone, green icing, and marshmallows.  Make sure to tell parents to get the cones that are flat on the bottom.  

For the hot cocoa, this is the easiest recipe in the world!  Just pour chocolate milk into the slow cooker.  It tastes delicious!  Make sure you get it going in enough time for it to be heated up.

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

The great thing about these stations is that students are independent while you can do other things that need to be done for your next activity.  If parents come, you can have them go with their child's group.  They can lead them in each activity.  

I can also use the last rotation or two to get my holiday decor taken down and the room cleaned up.  We always had to have our stuff down fairly quickly, so it makes the day much more stress free.

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

You will have to let me know if you decide to throw an elf party!  It's also a great time to send your classroom elf off with this fun party.  I hope your students love this party as much as mine have!  Click HERE or any of the photos to grab the party pack.

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!

Classroom Christmas party with activities, ideas, craft, directed drawing, games, snacks, and more!






























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