Christmas Parties: Hope, Safety and Dignity
Growing with Hope (RENACSENIV Venezuela).
Child without borders (Together for Children, Kenya).
Celebrating God’s love and the gifts of His Son (Mwanza Children Action Network, (MCAN), Tanzania).
There is Hope (Bicol Children’s Ministries Network, Philippines).
Merry & Ready: A Safe and Joyful Christmas Party for Jesus (Eastern Samar Child’s Rights Advocate Net, Philippines).
These are just some of the titles given to this year’s Viva-supported Christmas Parties – and strongly indicate that this programme is a lot more than an excuse for nice food and some fun, however welcome that is! There are many ways that Christmas parties have strategic value, alongside making a real impact in the lives of at-risk children.
Photographs with thanks from Together for Children, Kenya (bottom left), and CarNetNepal (bottom right).
As Viva celebrates our 30th birthday this year, our future direction is focusing on three areas:
Active Networks: Viva will collaborate with networks running funded programmes.
New Networks: Viva will support new networks to begin.
Connected Networks: Viva will facilitate a global network of networks.
Active Networks
Christmas parties are a simple, low-cost, high-impact initiative that align well with these strategies, particularly ‘active networks’. Networks appreciate how they contribute to meeting the needs of at-risk children holistically, as Iman, the leader of MCAN, enthusiastically notes: “What I will do differently at the next event is to encourage more organisations to participate in the Christmas party.” Do enjoy this video, featuring a lot of very noisy, happy children - and a trip to the zoo!
How a Christmas party comes together
Christmas parties bring children from different backgrounds, churches and organisations together for a day to celebrate God’s love and care, where they can hear the Christmas story. Viva provides a small grant to the parties as a contribution toward costs. To receive funding, networks must complete and submit a short, simple proposal form requesting the party name, budget, and plan. Parties also emphasise working together, not different churches or organisations running isolated events - but uniting, using gifts, ideas and resources from different members. This process builds best practices by inviting networks to plan strategically and with children at the centre, as they have to respond to questions such as:
How will you involve children themselves in the planning and implementation of the party?
Christmas parties also help networks stay active by positively impacting children in multiple ways, as the party highlights below demonstrate.
Holistic
Christmas Parties usually involve sharing a meal together and fun activities such as games, music, performances, songs, dancing, storytelling, or puppets, offering children an opportunity to be creative and have the opportunity to play - meeting their physical, emotional, relational and spiritual needs. The network coordinator from Red Viva Chaco in Argentina noted, “An important learning is the value of recreation within the Viva Navidad party, since it was one of the activities that children enjoyed the most, especially because they do not always have the opportunity to participate in this type of game.”
Exposure and new experiences
Children enjoying the zoo experience in Tanzania
The zoo experience was novel for the Tanzanian children, and this kind of exposure is really timeless. A Viva staff member who volunteered with CRANE in Uganda many years ago still remembers the excitement children experienced going to ‘Didi’s world’, a local amusement park in Kampala, that would certainly have been a novelty for the children from low-income families who were invited.
Safeguarding
Many networks maximise the time they have with children gathered together to teach them about topics relevant to their wellbeing, particularly safety. In the Alliance of Children’s Ministries in Negros, Philippines, children were told a story about ‘Pete the penguin,’ a character from Operation Safe Manual: “It was then processed as a psychological intervention for children who had been experiencing trauma.” In another Philippine network, Rizal Children’s Ministries Network, the Christmas party was used to showcase its essential work on Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children, a key component of its youth network, Y4S. Again in the Philippines, the Eastern Samar Child’s Rights Advocate Network taught children a simple song titled “Ready, safe, let’s go,” which served as a guide for children in the event of a typhoon. These are not typical ‘Christmas’ messages, but they are incredibly helpful for children who are often at risk of harm.
Faith-building
The Christmas story is told creatively to help children understand the significance of Jesus’ birth. The Alliance of Children’s Ministries in Negros (ACMN) network in the Philippines has been implementing a programme called ‘Christmas Parties for Jesus (CPJ)’ for years, with an emphasis on inviting children who do not regularly attend member churches. They were very encouraged this year to meet a boy, Rave, as reported by the network coordinator, who “was one of five kids who attended a party five years ago, and now he is already serving in the church that invited him to CPJ... A young man with a passion to serve Jesus in the ministry for children, encouraging children with his testimony of how he came to know Jesus, because he was invited to join a party. It was the Christmas party for Jesus.”
Physical needs
Children displaying their lovely new school bags
Aside from the enjoyment of eating together, providing children with a nutritious meal could be the best they have had in a while.
Additionally, in some cultures, gifts for children focus on play or pleasure, but at Christmas parties, they are often very practical – for example, this year CarNetNepal gave warm jackets to children, and Viva India gave school bags.
Child participation
Because the proposal and reporting format emphasise child participation, this helps embed it as a good practice from the start, and the feedback shows that all networks ensured children participated in planning and running the parties. It has been encouraging to see how networks have embraced the idea of children playing a central role in all aspects; for instance, in a previous year, SCAR in Zambia noted, “We learnt that always children should be part of the budgeting process, because they know exactly what can make them happy.”
Child leadership development
A child sharing a Christmas message at the MCAN party
All of the networks report positively about how Christmas Parties build leadership skills in their children. In the MCAN party, “Child MCs navigated the programme, introducing segments and keeping the audience engaged,” as well as leading the music and activities.
The party for Peace Team Cambodia (PTC) was fully organised and led by children, and the big impact this had on them, and the confidence and agency it built, is seen in their feedback: “It is very privileged for us as we had the chance to lead a big group, this verifies that we can have another chance to lead a big thing.”
Programme integration: Child ambassadors
Another benefit of Christmas Parties for networks’ collective action is that they can serve as a platform to integrate other initiatives and provide opportunities for children to apply skills they are learning elsewhere. For example, Together for Children, Kenya, reports that “Most of the child ambassadors (a separate programme) were in charge of all the programme, including registration, devotion, praise and worship, indoor and outdoor games and food distribution. Waste Clean-up was conducted by all led by the child ambassadors.”
Outward focus
The emphasis on inviting unreached children to Christmas Parties helps them think outside themselves and brings in children who don’t currently benefit from any network activity. At the party run by Peace Team Cambodia, a group of such children who had no previous contact with the network, were reported as saying, “We are so excited and appreciate this event. The children at this event were very welcoming, respectful, and friendly.”
Photos below with thanks to Peace Team Cambodia.
Inclusion
A simple way to emphasise inclusion is to ask about children with disabilities in the proposal and reporting formats as below, so that networks are encouraged to think intentionally about this.
How will you make your party accessible to all children, including children with disabilities?
In the parties run by Treasures of the King, Cuba, out of 100 children who attended, 12 children had disabilities.
Dignity
When children receive a gift and are invited to participate in such a celebratory event, this helps them understand their worth. “The party served as a vital reminder that children are seen and valued. My advice is to prioritise dignity in the celebration by ensuring every child receives a personalised gift or a moment of individual recognition,” Iman, director of MCAN.
Children at ESCRAN’s (the Philippines) Christmas party
Similarly, “Through a tale about Jesus and a short reflection on digital safety, the children were guided to recognise their worth and the importance of creating secure, loving spaces. Their active participation, supported by parents, guardians, and volunteers, reflected joy, curiosity, and a growing awareness of their dignity and faith,” Mindanao Children’s Ministries Network, Inc, the Philippines. For children who often face daily struggles, a Christmas party is a place where they are reminded that they are worth investing time, effort and resources in.
And so much more…
We are delighted that this year’s Christmas Parties helped so many partner networks be ‘active’ and have a presence in the community; the Treasures of the King network in Cuba noted, “We are being light, and that is noticeable in each community.” However, Christmas parties also play a role in how Viva supports new networks and helps them connect regionally, nationally, and globally. More on this will be shared, along with a full Christmas Party report, in a future article that shows the breadth of the impact.