Engage your high school business and marketing students with Christmas-themed activities. Holiday activities are not just for elementary school! I’m a firm believer in tying in course concepts with every assignment, but it’s totally possible to do that while bringing some holiday fun into the mix.
Holiday activities can be a great way to incorporate real-world application into your course. I’ve crafted a list of 10 Christmas-themed activities for your high school business education classroom.
Comparison Shopping
Retailers are constantly pushing toys during this season, so why not hop in on the fun with some comparison shopping for toys. Let students select 3 toys from the same genre. Next have them examine factors such as price, features, reviews, etc., and recommend a purchase to a potential buyer.
Job Description for Santa
When you’re on the topic of employment, have students craft a job description for the guy in the red suit. Students will have fun identifying his roles, responsibilities, experience, salaries, benefits, and more.
Interview for an Elf
When I cover job interviews, I like to do some role-playing. Here’s my usual activity– Interview Role Play Scenarios, but if you can make this topic coincide with the holidays, interviewing for an elf is sure to give your class a laugh. You could do this speed dating style or with a couple volunteers in front of the class.
Holiday Jingle
In this activity, your students will write a jingle on a course topic to the tune of a popular Christmas song. Students will record the lyrics on a bell. Print out the heading “Jingle” and assemble the bells with lyrics onto your bulletin board, wall, cabinet, or another surface for a holiday display. Use brightly colored paper for the heading and student work to spruce up your classroom. I love having students share their jingles aloud for extra classroom engagement.
This activity is versatile and can be used within any business curriculum and with numerous course topics. Examples could include: financial statements, Free Application for Federal Student Aid, entrepreneurial characteristics, the business cycle, functions of management, etc. To keep up the rigor, students must include 5 correct facts about the topic within their jingle. You can snag this ready-to-use, Holiday Jingle Activity and Bulletin Board Décor from my shop.
Social Media Gift Guide
Pull some inspiration from a social media platform like Pinterest or an Instagram Story to have students create a visual gift guide on a site like Canva. This activity will tie together design skills and recommending products for a target market. This is an engaging way to work on social media marketing.
Gift Budget
If you’re teaching Personal Finance, Intro to Business, or even Computer Apps (hello spreadsheet practice!) this is the activity for you. Give students some basic parameters, like a set amount of money they can spend and several friends or family members to shop for. Students can explore holiday sales and aim to get the most bang for their buck.
Toy Brand Promotional Mix
As you’re headed for the holidays, the Toy Brand Promotional Mix makes a great final project for your Marketing course. Students explore the components of the promotional mix with this digital, guided project. Your students will get creative with their own toy brand and apply the marketing mix and promotional mix to their creations.
Students will also identify core offerings, key competitors, and the target market, create product designs, discuss product design features, specify age recommendations, create a brand logo, discuss placement, define pricing, select advertising medias, create a social media graphic, describe recommended sales promotions, write a live chat script, write 3 mobile messages, plan content for an email, brainstorm the premise of an app, and answer other application-based questions.
This is a relatable concept that reinforces key course concepts covered throughout the semester. You can take this project for a spin by downloading the FREE Toy Industry Research Organizer.
Holiday Cards
Select a local nursing home or assisted living center and have students draft holiday cards for the residents. This simple activity is a great way to practice design skills and have students think about empathy.
Ugly Sweater Contest
Have you ever seen the episode on Shark Tank when the company Tipsy Elves presents? Use this as inspiration and let your students’ imagination run wild as they design and pitch their ugly holiday sweaters.
Research Non-Profits
For your business ownership unit, add in some more detailed research on specific non-profits that help others during the holiday season. Have students record how the non-profits are helping others, their mission/ vision, and a little about their history. Then do a simple share-out for students to hear about each organization.
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