Top 15 Community Christmas Event Ideas

Community Christmas events are joyful holiday season highlights where the magic of the Christmas spirit is felt. These events manifest the power of togetherness and unity into fun moments and special memories. From health to emotional well-being, the benefits of a close community are significant—and events are a great way to spark connection and bring your community closer through shared interests.

Discover the wonder of bringing your community closer together during the holidays through one or more of these community Christmas event ideas.

Ugly Sweater Party

Give the ugly sweater a holiday refresh of crafted creativity! At this party, guests bring in their own plain sweaters and decorate them with embellishments such as ribbon, bows, and little ornaments. Holiday symbols and figures, eye-catching patterns, and merry messages are all for the making upon the canvas that it is the sweater. Set up craft stations full of supplies, and guests will be turning their sweaters into cute holiday fashion statements.

Gingerbread House Decorating

This is a long-held tradition—and it’s no wonder: making a gingerbread house is a fun activity that gets the kids involved and working alongside their parents. For a sweet result, no less! Gingerbread house kits are available in stores and can make preparation a breeze. You can also have the gingerbread house pieces made by a skilled neighbor or local baker, which will save money compared to using kits. Have a set of house pieces made for each family who participates in the decorating. And provide ingredients for each house, including icing, gum drops, and candy canes.

If participants want to show off the fruits (or sweets in this case) of their labor, they can! Gingerbread houses are good to sit for a couple of weeks in the open, where they can be admired and have pictures taken.

Christmas Crafts Workshop

Christmas crafts can be fun for both kids and adults, and the creations can live on in homes for seasons to come. The homemade ornament they made in your workshop might become an essential decoration on their Christmas tree for every Christmas.

Try paper chains for an easy craft project. Provide colorful paper to make into chains resembling familiar Christmas palettes and imagery, from a red and green alternating pattern, to Santas and snowmen. For the latter, provide additional craft supplies like googly eyes and cotton balls to make the faces that will be at the top of the chain.

For a memorable craft project, you can’t go wrong with a homemade ornament. Consider ornament styles like glitter globes or hand-painted ornaments. Let the imaginations of children run wild as they find ways to make the ornaments their own.

White Elephant Gift Exchange

This classic game is waiting to be turned into an event that will bring entertainment, and some laughs, to the adults in your community.

Although the game can be played under various rulesets, and is known by different names, these are the basic rules for the white elephant gift exchange: each person brings a wrapped gift to put into the pool of gifts and draws a number for the order of grabbing gifts; everyone sits in a circle facing the gift pile, and the player who drew the lowest number gets to pick from the pile first; the next player to grab a gift has the next lowest number, and so on; each following player can either grab a gift from the pool or steal a gift from another player who’s already grabbed a gift from the pool; players who’ve had their gifts stolen can choose to steal someone else’s gift or grab another from the pool; after all players have had a turn to choose a gift, the first player can swap their gift for a different one; players whose gifts are stolen during this round can steal from someone else; the game ends once a player chooses not to steal a gift.

The tradition of the white elephant holds that players bring ridiculous or unwanted Christmas gifts to swap around in the group. You can also encourage a different theme instead, like bringing only homemade gifts.

Gift Wrapping Party

Seeing wrapped presents under the tree can spark curiosity and excitement—but wrapping the presents isn’t always so exciting. Turn the task of wrapping into a community Christmas event where friends, family, and neighbors wrap gifts in good company. This party is also an opportunity for members of the community to improve their gift wrapping abilities by learning from others. Ask people to bring treats so that delectable holiday flavors can be shared around. Consider wrapping stations for the separate parts of the process, where one group does the wrapping and another can set the presents up with ribbons and bows.

Tree Lighting Ceremony

There’s no better way for a community to kick-off the holiday season than a tree lighting ceremony! Celebrate the start of the season with your community gathering around the tree while they’re treated to music, hot cocoa, and caroling. Then, see the Christmas spirit come alive as the lights turn on.

The community Christmas tree is a triumphant symbol of the Christmas spirit. Manifest that spirit in the most exciting way possible with the Majestic Mountain Pine Christmas tree! This breathtaking display is a sight of Christmas splendor for everyone in the community to behold, worthy of its spot at the top of the list for best-selling commercial Christmas trees in the USA.

Holiday Movie Trivia Night

Test your neighborhood’s knowledge on Christmas classics at holiday movie trivia night. Set up teams and award holiday-themed prizes to the team that performs the best. You can give prizes for other trivia accomplishments as well, such as answering the most questions about animated movies correctly.

Set up a pleasant atmosphere that will have guests happy to spend time in the trivia space with the warm inviting glow of LED Christmas lights.

Christmas Cocktail Mix-Off

Let your neighborhood’s adults become merry mixologists in a Christmas cocktail mix-off. Pick a few judges, come up with categories for winning, such as “most creative” and “best-tasting”, and put determined competitors against each other in the quest to make the most mouth-watering holiday drink. Think variations on well-known drinks like eggnog, hot toddy, and martinis for these festive cocktail creations.

Christmas Karaoke

How do you breathe new life into classic Christmas tunes? Christmas karaoke is the answer! Find the Christmas crooners among your community as you encourage your neighbors to belt out their favorite holiday tunes. Hand out some hats and antlers for a fun vibe. Start this event with the Christmas cocktail mix-off above, and adult guests will have some social lubricant to let loose, get on the mic, and have a great time.

Cookie Decorating Contest

As an alternative, add-on, or separate event to the similarly sweet gingerbread house decorating, a cookie decorating contest brings friendly competition to the realm of holiday treats. Bake a batch of cookies, provide toppings like icing and sprinkles, and establish the rules. Make cookies of a uniform shape that everyone can put their own delicious designs on, ask everyone to make the same design to see who does it best, or come up with your own way to play.

Holiday Costume Party

Have guests dress for the occasion as holiday characters, such as Santa, elves, and reindeer. Guests who show up without a costume can get in on the fun too: offer a set of costume antlers or a Christmas cap to spread the cheer. Throw your holiday costume party in style by having a festive fashion show, and reward the passion for holiday fashion by offering prizes for the best costumes.

Build-A-Snowman Competition

If the question is, “do you want to build a snowman?”, then the answer is a resounding “YES” at this event. Invite your community for frosty fun in a snowman building contest. This event is lovely for snowier communities because of the flexibility it offers: the competition can be held throughout winter into February, and can be held at an outdoor community site such as a park, or competitors can be allowed to decorate on their own property as judges tour the neighborhood and check out each entry.

Tree Decorating Competition

Christmas tree decorators in your community rejoice—the tree decorating competition is their place to shine. Offer chances to win in a variety of categories, as well as a top 3 for best tree. Showcase these trees and the process of decorating them in a community space, such as a community center or park. Entice decorators by providing small trees that they’ll decorate on. For those who want a leg up on the competition, point them in the direction of stunning high-quality, pro-grade Christmas lights—and if they really want to elevate their display, mesmerizing RGB smart lights are the way to go.

Tree Trimming Party

Also called a tree decorating party, this event gives every attendee a place in the form of their own ornament on the tree. Every attendee’s personal contribution is on display at the tree decorating party, all coming together to form a unique, unforgettable tree that can show the truth in that age old saying, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.

Christmas Scavenger Hunt

Your community becomes the place for adventure in the Christmas scavenger hunt. Hide holiday-themed items around the neighborhood; use local landmarks, history, and holiday traditions as clues for community members to latch onto as they stay hot on the trail of each hunt item. Place multiple duplicates of each item so that a number of community members get to stay engaged and on their own hunt. Mark clues and treasure with appropriate signage.

Tips for Planning Your Community Christmas Event

• Set a clear budget to cover supplies, food, and decorations
• Choose an accessible location that can accommodate the size of your event
• Bring joy to any and every event with the right decorations, such as garland, wreathes, and lights

Community Christmas events bring people closer together during the holidays, making the neighborhood a special place where members of the community foster connection and enjoy all of the benefits that come with it.

When you’re ready to decorate for your events or your own Christmas displays, then discover the difference that high-quality, pro-grade decorations can make! And we’ve got your back with experience in the Christmas industry that spans over five decades. Get in touch at [email protected] or give us a jingle at 1-800-391-5280 and speak with one of our qualified Christmas Designers today!