Flights to Lapland: fun ideas?

Wings_of_Ambition

Hello all!

Hope your Christmas plans are coming along nicely. Wanted to ask some advice... I work as cabin crew, and on Tuesday, I'll be operating on a flight to Lapland. I work for a low-cost airline, so we don't have inflight entertainment screens or mounds of freebies to give away. I did one a few weeks ago and played a few games, including

- Which side of the aircraft could yell "Merry Christmas" the loudest
- Balloon races getting 6 balloons from front to back of the plane
- Toilet roll races, same as the balloons

Also read out a 'letter from Santa' which went down well.

What I'm looking for is more ideas for things to do/play onboard (in both directions!) that are free/cheap and would entertain 4-10 yr olds and their parents to make it the 'flight of their lives'.

The only new idea I have is to play a bit of Christmas music down the PA every now and again and try and have the whole cabin dancing.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

Cheers

Wings

chris_n_tj

How about a christmas pass the parcel? Can be made cheap and would be fun on an aircraft. Can i also say how nice that yuo make the effort to make it special, well done you xxx

emg

could you do a child-friendly version of one of those scavenger hunt things that they always seem to do at campsite entertainments, e.g. first person to bring you (or hold up) something red/beginning with p/that mummy doesnt know you have brought with you/etc. Can involve the adults too, e.g. can the children find an adult who knows the names of all of Santa's reindeer, etc. Could just have a chocolate coin or sweet for each kid that finds that thing.


The kids would probably quite like a bit of a christmas carol sing-along too or get them to come up and tell jokes on the PA (maybe vet the jokes first!)

kingfisherblue

Pin the nose on Rudolph

Paper chain relay - pass the chain along each side and each person adds a link. See which side finishes first. If you do this ont he way out, you can display it on the way back. You could also separate into smaller sections of the plane, so that people don't get bored waiting for their turn.

Print out some colouring sheets for the kids (and adults! more complicated for older children and adults). Maybe blue tack them to the plane walls on the way home

Have a 'snowball' fight with newspaper balls - probably a bit boisterous though!

How many words can you make from the word 'Christmas' - three or more letters, no plurals or proper nouns allowed.

Silly Santa quiz - a great favourite with our Brownies! Questions along the lines of 'What colour socks does Santa wear on Christmas day? Orange or yellow?', 'What is Mrs Christmas's favourite chocolate? Aero or maltesers?' - you could have two pieces of paper for people to hold up, labelled A and B (or use two different colours), so that you can see which answer is the most popular. We still have answers decided beforehand though. My daughter will be writing our quiz in the next couple of days.

Instead of unwrapping at Pass the Parcel, can you wrap something up? Maybe something for the pilot, Father Christmas, or to donate to a children's hospital when you get home?

Draw the names of carols and songs from a hat and get a couple of children or adults to sing.

Tell a participation story, where certain words have an action. This is another favourite with Brownies, and at our Christmas concert this year, I will be telling two stories, but all of the audience will be joining in as well. Try these:

http://www.scoutingbear.com/audience/xmas3.htm
http://www.scoutingbear.com/audience/santa.htm
http://www.scoutingbear.com/audience/mouse.htm
http://www.scoutingbear.com/audience/santahou.htm
http://www.scoutingbear.com/audience/beard.htm

We are doing the second and the fourth, but I alter them to suit my needs. In Santa's House, we will be saying that the soldier scares the lion (instead of shooting it) and we will be altering the bit at the end where it mentions Cub Scouts. In Santa, we're using actions instead of phrases. It's much easier to read the story with actions!


Get someone to draw the head, fold the paper and pass along for the next person to draw the body. Fold again and draw the legs. All drawings should be of a wintery nature. Open up and find what has been drawn - maybe a snowman's head with Santa's body and Rudolph's legs?

Using a knife and fork, share a bar of chocolate - but the person who shares it out hhas to wear a coat, hat, scarf and gloves! Good as a competition between two people.

Buy some advent calendars (someone posted on the Grabbit board that Sainsbury's were selling at 10p each). Split the passengers into groups. Hold a quiz - person who opens door number 1 (and eats the chocolate) answers Q1, pass to next person for Q2 and so on. Add up the team scores at the end.

Enjoy your flights!

Wings_of_Ambition

Hopefully doing another of these this year. Really like the participation story idea.... gets the whole cabin involved and there is no 'losing team' as it's not a competition as such