Pioneer Christmas Food & Activities

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I covered all of our decorations and set up for our Christmas in Nauvoo Church party in this post, and here I’ll cover what we did for food, activities and our spiritual program at the end. I am a firm believer that a good ward social stands on three pillars: good food, thoughtful decorations, and a planned activity and/or program. Not everything has to go according to plan (in fact, it rarely does), but nonetheless- you need a plan my friend! Don’t worry, that’s what I am here to help with.

Looking for a unique ward Christmas party idea? This Christmas in Nauvoo theme includes pioneer decorations, activities, and simple planning ideas.

Christmas in Nauvoo Menu

For our menu we wanted to try and conjure those old fashioned, homemade vibes. After much debate we decided to have the meat provided for us and had a local place smoke and provide tri tip for us (yum!). It was a big expense but I had saved our activity budget all year for this purpose. We also bought some hams and had members of the ward warm them up and bring them. The relief society also bought a bunch of frozen corn and prepared that in bulk to serve as a side. We had members of the ward sign up to bring homemade rolls, funeral potatoes, and pies. We were going to do a pie contest but didn’t get around to really organizing it in the end.

Here's a sample menu for a Christmas in Nauvoo or Pioneer Christmas church party — Menu consisted of: tri tip, ham, potatoes, rolls, corn & pie. Have I mentioned that we encouraged people to come dressed in period attire?

Christmas in Nauvoo Activities

As a mother of four boys I am always conscious of having something for the kiddos to do. The alternative, it seems, is that they run in circles in the gym playing some version of tag/hide and seek under tables and through chairs and nearly knocking over every elderly lady in attendance. I had an itinerary for the evening with loose time frames to follow to keep it moving along. It was as follows:

5:00-6:00 Dinner (I planned on 45 minutes but people were still eating so we stretched it to almost an hour) in the “Mansion House” (i.e. the gym)
6:00-6:30 Explore the shoppes of Nauvoo (i.e. the classrooms that were set up)
6:30-7:00 Meet back in the Mansion House for spiritual program/caroling.

We had three “shoppes” for people to explore from 6:00-6:30. While I didn’t have a scheduled rotation, I did start by sending 1/3 of the gym to each room so they wouldn’t all start in the same place. (For example I said these 6 tables go to the relief society room, the middle 6 tables go to the primary room and the last 6 tables go to the RS room). Then I left them to their own devices with the explanation that they might want to spend about 10 minutes in each room.

Tin Shop

The “Tin Shop” was set up in the Relief Society room and the Young Men and Bishopric were in charge of this. I showed them a picture of the old fashioned looking ornaments that are made by using a nail to pound designs into mason jar lids. They did an awesome job taking it from there coming up with the best way to set everything up and even having the young men test it all out for one of their mutual activities so they could work out the kinks. The YM then helped run this shoppe (in shifts) showing ward members how to do it when they came in. It was definitely a popular stop! My kids didn’t want to leave even when I told them about the cookie decorating!

Make old fashioned christmas ornaments out of mason jar lids in this fun pioneer christmas activity. — In our tin shop people could make their own ornaments out of mason jar lids.

They covered the tables with moving blankets and then set up long planks of wood for people to hammer on top of. They had patterns printed out that you could use, or you could design your own. They had painters tape that you could use to tape down your mason lid so it wouldn’t move. And then of course hammers and nails.

This fun activity kept kids (and adults) busy and engaged!

Nauvoo Commons

“Nauvoo Commons” was set up in the primary room and the primary was in charge of preparing and running some pioneer games. They also did a fantastic job prepping some fun and easy games for people to play as they filtered in and out. I was especially impressed with their carnival style fishing game that they DIY’ed (even the poles!). They used a chalkboard and covered it in a blue tarp and then covered it with paper cut out fish. Kids could then cast their fishing rod over the chalkboard to “go fishing” and they could reel in a mini candy cane.

In our twist on the old fashioned carnival fishing game the kids fished for mini candy canes as part of our pioneer games station. — Try this fun old fashioned carnival fishing game- have the kids “fish” for candy canes

They also had the classic Joseph Smith stick pull game, corn hole, and I think one more that I am totally blanking on… For the stick pull game you sit facing each other with your feet together like pictured below. You each hold onto a stick and see who can pull the other person up first.

Try this classic stick pull game as part of your pioneer games station. — Having some active games helps keep kids from running aimlessly around the church

Bakery

Our Young Women were in charge of the bakery and they did a fantastic job transforming the YW’s room into an old fashioned bakery. They made all kinds of cookies (including some cute gingerbread men) for people to decorate at their station and the girls did a great job running it.

Gingerbread cookie decorating is a great activity for a pioneer christmas celebration. — People could go to the counter to get a cookie and a plate with their name on it, and then take it to the tables they set up for decorating. Look at all their cute bakery props!

Now one of my favorite touches is we had carolers in the hallway during this portion of the evening! We had a few members of the ward and our missionaries walking around and singing Christmas carols as if on the city streets. It really added to the atmosphere! But if you can’t do that you could just set up a speaker in the hall with some old fashioned Christmas music (that is the one we had playing in the cultural hall) or old fashioned street noises.

Add some carolers to the hallway for some awesome atmosphere!

Christmas in Nauvoo Program

When it was time to return to the “Mansion House”, I went through the halls ringing a little bell announcing that it was time. Once people had gathered back in the gym we began our spiritual program. For this I used this program from the Idea Door as a starting point. I shortened and simplified it greatly and you can access the version we used with the form below. Essentially we had a few members of the ward represent different people from this time period and they would speak a bit about their story and tie it into Christmas and then invite the congregation to join them in a Christmas carol in between each speaker. We ended with a few words from our bishop and that was it! We ended up going over a little and ended around 7:15. But in my opinion it’s better to have a party that goes over because people are busy and occupied than one where you end early because there’s really nothing to do. Also, after all that work to set up and plan people can deal with it if it goes 15 minutes long ;).

Free Christmas in Nauvoo spiritual program about Church History. — If you’d like to see our program you can access that with the form below.

Again if you’d like to see the rest of the details from this activity and all about our decorations head over to this post. And if you need more ideas for a ward Christmas party you can check out these posts: Polar Express party, Whoville Party, Nativity theme, Back to Bethlehem Program & Activities