Each year, thousands of children attend a Christmas Party run by churches, projects and volunteers linked to a Viva network. These are occasions of great excitement for children, where they receive a present, a good meal and the knowledge that they are loved and valued.  

The events bring children of different backgrounds, churches and organisations together for a day to celebrate God’s love and care where they were able to hear the Christmas story and learn valuable lessons. 

About 70 per cent of children who come to a Viva Christmas Party have never had contact with Viva before. Local churches reach out to the most vulnerable children in their communities to ensure that as many as possible are given the opportunity to attend.  

Who is Acting Collectively? 

The parties are an excellent opportunity to act as an introduction to collective action for networks that are in the beginning stages or for new churches and organisations just joining the network. They are often the first collaborative programme that a network or new network member will undertake. The networks continue to run the programme annually to continue to benefit and reach out to more children and to help new network members to get actively engaged and experience working with others at a fairly simple level. As the parties grow, they also increase the visibility of the network and provide a good opportunity to invite officials, authorities and media.   

What do Viva Christmas Parties look like? 

Christmas Parties usually include a hot lunch, fun activities (games, music, performances, songs, dancing, storytelling, puppets) and a gift to take home to make the children feel loved and valued. 

When parents are struggling to provide for their child’s basic needs, entertainment sadly cannot be a priority. So many of the children really enjoy this element of the parties. A boy who attended a party in Ranchi, India for the first time said, “I enjoyed the different type of songs, dances and action songs. I got Christmas cake and good refreshment. I thank the people who organised this party.” 

All the parties include an opportunity for children to learn about the love of God and the Christmas story. For some children and their families this will be the first time they hear the Jesus story.  

As many who attend the parties do not go to school, or are not taught valuable life lessons at their schools, organisers take the opportunity to teach them at the parties in fun and interactive ways including using puppets, drama and songs. Themes have included:  

• child protection and caring for children 
• child leadership 
• the importance of education  
• promoting the Good Treatment Campaign or laying foundations to launch the campaign in the future 

Perhaps the most important aspect of these parties is the follow-up, enabling children with no previous contact with Viva or the network, to connect with local programmes, churches and ongoing support with potentially life-changing impacts. Through connecting to the churches, they will gain a new support network and opportunities to develop their learning and increase in confidence. 

This is not just a party, but a gateway to building and sustaining life-changing support for children. You can read more about individual lives’ changed by clicking here. 

The same can be said for the network participants – this simple one-day joint activity provides a perfect example of how churches and/or organisations can work together to achieve something bigger than they could on their own. It develops trust, confidence and respect for other people and groups and hopefully is fun and fulfilling leading to a positive experience, encouraging them to engage again in collective action. 

Funding
Where it can, Viva raises funds to support the cost of the parties. Some networks have taken the initiative to hold the parties and raise the funds themselves. This is a testament to the value they place on the parties as well as to the networks’ strength and stability. 

Find out more? 

Each year we write a report on the reach and results from the Christmas Parties. You can the 2018 report here: Christmas parties 2018 Crunch Report and in Spanish here: Informe resumido de las fiestas navideñas 2018 

Could you run your own Christmas Party to raise money for a party overseas?  

If you would like to find out more about Christmas Parties, running your own party or would like to read the full report, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us on (+44) 1865 811 660 or info@viva.org