• Use the Nativity scene as inspriration for your Christian Christmas party.Nativity Scene image by tarheel1776 from Fotolia.com
  
  The Christmas holiday brings plenty of traditional images to mind: twinkling lights on decorated trees, mugs of hot chocolate and eggnog, stockings hung from the fireplace and a jolly old man with a sack full of gifts. But for Christians, this holiday means much more than these simple images reveal. Every year, Christians celebrate Christmas as the joyous birth of Jesus Christ. Rather than hosting a traditional Christmas party, consider a more creative Christian Christmas party theme.
  
  

Birthday Party for Jesus

• Since Christmas marks the birth of Jesus, use your holiday party to celebrate this joyous occasion. Rather than throwing a traditional Christmas party, host a birthday party for Jesus instead. Send out birthday party invitations to family and friends and decorate the home with traditional birthday decorations (balloons, streamers, etc.). Play traditional party games with a Christian twist. For example, print BINGO cards with religious symbols or a trivia game with popular bible verses. Rather than serving a traditional Christmas dinner, serve hot dogs, hamburgers and other party foods. Ask each guest to bring a "birthday gift" for Jesus, which will be donated to a local shelter or church. Gift ideas include clothing, shoes, blankets and basic necessities. As the end of the birthday party draws near, sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus around a birthday cake. Allow the kids to participate in the occasion by blowing out the candles.
  
  

Nativity Scene

• Host a nativity party for your Christian Christmas celebration and reenact the first Christmas nativity. Ask guests to come dressed as shepherds with long robes and sandals. If you have a barn, use it as the setting for your party. If not, convert your family room into a nativity scene with straw-colored rugs, a manger, a makeshift barn and bright stars hung on the walls and ceiling. Ask the children to participate in your nativity scene by playing the roles of Mary, Joseph, the three wise men and the little drummer boy. Do not worry about giving each child specific lines. Instead, simply read the Nativity story to them first and then ask them to bring the story to life in their own words. After the Nativity reenactment, provide warm snacks and beverages and ask party guests to share their favorite Christmas memories.
  
  

Gingerbread Mangers

• Building gingerbread houses is a fun tradition for the Christmas holiday. To add a Christian twist to the activity, use the gingerbread to build a manger scene instead. At your Christian Christmas party, set up a long table for manger-making. Provide party guests with all the ingredients they need. The manger itself can be made from graham crackers, with icing used as "glue" to hold the pieces together. Roofing and flooring materials might include shredded wheat cereal, puffed rice cereal, pretzel rods, sliced almonds, shredded coconut or various candies. Animal cookies in various shapes can serve as the barn's inhabitants, while a miniature marshmallow with a jellybean can be used as baby Jesus. Use actual gingerbread men cookies for Mary and Joseph; simply use icing to decorate them accordingly. Once the gingerbread mangers have been created, allow the icing to harden before moving the structures. Take pictures to commemorate your guests' hard work and send them home with their creations.