children´s christmas party, Finnish style

[oompah18]

Help, I offered to do a Christmas party for my 3, & 3 others, all boys, 5 or under, mums coming too. Now I could easily do one English style, with the right sort of food & games etc, but I have no idea what a Finnish childrens party would be like, regarding food & entertainment, any ideas? I don´t know any Finnish children´s games, but play & sing lots of Finn christmas songs, so at least music won´t be a problem. Anyone give me an idea about menu & tots´games?
Am looking forward to the event, everyone is bilingual Finnish English, but I am determined to speak Finnish as much as poss!
Kiitos!
Allie

[Mölkky-Fan]

We often do the English xmas party... I am not sure where the other families visiting you are from, but they would probably like musical chairs, pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey etc.
The Finnish families which visit us love these simple games (and seem to have some variations on this themselves)... try and get some Xmas crackers (early, as they sell out) which they think is very funny... make everyone wear the hats all the time, including the parents (I do this to get them back for making me roll around in the snow saying it was normal behaviour).
You can still speak Finnish!
Every childrens' party we go to have meatballs, crisps, sausages, sweets etc... not very inspiring, but easy.

[oompah18]

Thanks, you have a good point, do an English style party, as I am English, something different for the Finns I always get family to send out xmas crackers from UK, the only must-have at xmas here for me. I can even do without turkey, but gotta have those awful jokes inside

[Rosamunda]

Well you can buy crackers at the Anglican Bazaar in Helsinki (and also mincemeat, Paxo etc) if you are in the city on 24th November.

Or, you can make your own... there are downloadable jokes available on the internet (but probably an idea to censor them first if it's a kids' party). Hats are easy, so are the sweets and the cr@ppy surprises. But I have no idea how to make the crackers and in theory you are not allowed to bring them (at least not on a plane).

[Juha H.]

But the main thing still must be the visit of Santa Claus! Usually he gives the children one little present each and chats.

In my childhood, the Tiernapojat was also an important thing, but perhaps not any more.

http://www.kaiku.com/tiernapojat.html

[oompah18]

wow, Juha, really interesting! Never heard about that round here, but I did enjoy reading the website you gave though. Kiitos

[EP]

n my childhood, the Tiernapojat was also an important thing, but perhaps not any more.

Yes, they are. I have seen more than one Tiernapoika-performance every Christmas time. I just love it.

One Christmas my poor husband was forced to be the "murjaanien kuningas" at his company´s Xmas party. He had a hard time getting the black stuff out of his beard. Some was still left after a couple of weeks.

[CH]

Now I could easily do one English style, with the right sort of food & games etc

Why not make it totally English style? I think that would be way more exciting!!! They are going to have lots of opportunities to participate in Finnish style Christmas parties, so at least I as a mum would really appreciate to participate in something a bit different. And it is also a great teachable moment for the kids about how Christmas is celebrated in other cultures!

[Hank W.]

I remember once we had the pageant at school but "slightly modernized"... so Iosif and Maria had José in a hotel parking garage, there were winos in the fields who saw an apparition in the sky, and the "three scientists from the East" came in a Lada following a Sputnik bringing vodka, mahorka and uranium...

[oompah18]

Now I am on a roll, as they say! Have great ideas for English style party, games, music, food, decor etc, gonna really enjoy myself! (Don´t worry, will make sure kids & other mums have gd time too ) Thanks all for giving me simple idea, it just took a while for me to wake up
Allie
ps but all we really need is SNOW, where is it??????????

[Juha H.]

Where is all the snow? Well, we may have to ask all the influential sources, the frogman, the brickman etc. They all know , at least every ten years or so.

[sammy]

I remember once we had the pageant at school but "slightly modernized"... so Iosif and Maria had José in a hotel parking garage, there were winos in the fields who saw an apparition in the sky, and the "three scientists from the East" came in a Lada following a Sputnik bringing vodka, mahorka and uranium...

Ah... must have been a memorable performance! Suitsukkeita, nirhamia ja ihraa...

[oompah18]

Had the party today, despite having no heating in our house since Wednesday, & still waiting the oil lorry delivery (actually waiting the lotto win to make fireplace for wood stove heating instead )
They all loved the English food (well, food I remembered having in England as a kid, at Christmas anyway) cold-smoked salmon, cucumbers & white sliced bread with slices off (what a middle class upbringing I had eh?!), raw veg with loads of dips. Couldn´t do a roast turkey, so had turkey nakki with pineapple on cocktail sticks, turkey slices, salad. Later had jelly with icecream on top (yessssssss), mince pies & cream & ginger cake!
We played pass the parcel, musical bumps, musical statues, then had lots of "muskarit" type entertainment in Finnish & english dancing/singing/playing along to Finnish & English Christmas songs. Kids had a whale of a time. Then sat them in fron of dvd The Snowman, for 20 mins, while us mums ate & drank more
We had made loads of home made decorations (paperchains, snowflakes, etc etc & I had raided Tiimari´s 70% sale shelf for little bargains for their goody bag etc. Altogether had a good time, & everyone ate everything, amazing. So this post is not meant to be a show off, but just in case any one else needed some ideas for a Finglish joulu party for under 5´s
Tired Allie

[karen]

It sounds like a great party. I always have a pikkujoulu for ds and his
friends. I'm tired and busy this year, but really looking forward to it.