Winter/Holiday Programming Ideas

Hello and Season’s Greetings from Laura, the Area Coordinator for Hill Kitt & Ytterboe. I hope that this week is finding you relatively stress-free and excited for Session 3, which will prove to be very busy and exciting.

Well, it has happened. I saw my first Christmas commercial of the season last week. I suppose it’s that time of year. And now that we have entered Session 3, you may be interested in hearing some winter programming ideas...

• Start an intramural team – this is an easy and always popular event.
• Decorate cards to send to nursing homes, the children’s hospital, or overseas to the troops.
• Global Holiday Party – have a celebration that incorporates December holidays from around the world.
• Baking – get your corridor together to make some winter comfort foods like soup, homemade pizzas, or holiday treats.
• Adopt-A-Family or Adopt-A-Child – Northfield is in need of people willing to purchase gifts for families and children in need.
• Take a group of your residents to a holiday concert or event that is already taking place on The Hill.
• Have a door decorating or coloring contest to spruce up your corridor – ask your AC or others to come and be judges.
• Students get stressed out as finals approach – encourage them to take a break and attend a stress-relieving program (make stress balls about of balloons and flour; give massages)
• As the semester is winding down, seniors in particular might be working feverishly on graduate school applications or preparing for big exams. Invite someone from the CEL to come and talk about resumes and interviewing.
• Have a favorite professor come and talk about an interesting topic - it’s a good way to utilize our resources and learn about something neat.
• Do a fun winter activity outside (ice skating or skiing, perhaps). Don’t forget that sledding is a prohibited on-campus event (we can't sponsor an event like this...) due to safety concerns we’ve had in the past.
  
• It is never a bad time to do an event focusing on diversity/social justice issues. I happen to have a stack of programs I’ve done in the past. If you are interested in setting up a meeting with me, I would love to share some ideas with you.

Here a few websites that can also provide some good tips on programs, bulletin boards, and a lot more:

Resident Assistant.com, RA Helper.com and Res Life.net

Please remember that you can always talk to any of the ACs for event ideas, as well as sift through the programming reports. There are lots of resources at your fingertips!

Very Sincerely,
Laura