Activities | Plaid Line + PRIZM + Scottie News

By: Isabel Strack

Image created with Pixabay:https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ai-generated-christmas-8400419/

Putting up Christmas decorations

Whether you decide to get a fake Christmas tree or a real one, making a perfect tree is a classic Christmas activity. Many people think that putting up Christmas decorations in November is too early, but studies show that people who put Christmas decorations up early are happier. A lot of people enjoy putting decorations up with their family, especially when you’re decorating your Christmas trees. Christmas trees are some of the most popular and traditional symbols of the Christmas season.

Building gingerbread houses

Many people enjoy building gingerbread houses during the Christmas season, but outside the holiday season it doesn’t get much recognition. You can make your own gingerbread house by scratch, or like many others you can buy a gingerbread kit from a store if you want things to be easier.

Exchange gifts/Secret Santa

During the holiday season it’s very popular for friend groups or family to do gift exchanges. If you aren’t aware of what a gift exchange or Secret Santa is; it’s basically where you and your group of family friends draw a name out of a hat and whatever name you get is the person you buy the gift for. There will usually be a budget you have to stay in for the gift.

Bake Christmas cookies

A classic Christmas tradition for families during the holiday season is to bake festive Christmas cookies together. Many people will use Christmas cookie cutters for the cookie dough to make it into holiday shapes like trees, bells, stars, wreaths, etc. Once your cookies are out of the oven you should let them cool down and then you can decorate the cookies with whatever color icing you like and any sprinkles you’d want to use.

Build a snowman

It’s like a tradition every Christmas season for kids to build a snowman right after it snows. Once you throw your jacket on and gloves to build your snowman you can use carrots for the nose, blueberries for the eyes, buttons, and mouth. If you have old hats and scarfs laying around your house you can add those to your snowman. This is a great activity to do in the winter when you’re bored and want to feel festive.

Friendship Club is a club at Highland advised by Parent and Community Liaison Nancy Kolb. Friendship Club’s mission is to establish and maintain a communicative relationship between the Special Ed program at Highland and the rest of the student body. Friendship Club has several different functions. One of the main activities of the club is to hold regular breakfast clubs and 7th hour socials, which are an opportunity for members of Friendship Club to get together with students in the Special Ed program to spend some time getting to know each other. Everyone involved really likes the opportunity to spend some time each month getting together and talking about what’s going on in each others lives. It’s a really neat thing.

Another function of Friendship Club is going to Bridgeview Community Center on W 7th Street to support programming for developmentally delayed adults. You can find members of Friendship Club on Wednesday and Friday evenings at the center playing bingo, creating art, cooking, or sharing popcorn and movies. Weekend events have included bonfires, riverboat cruises, and outings to Valley Fair.

Elowyn Pfeiffer, a student co-leader of the group, shared why being a part of Friendship Club means so much to her: “Friendship Club has been one of the greatest experiences I’ve had in high school. The people are so nice and appreciative of you being there, and very genuinely interested in how you are doing and what you are up to.”

If you’re interested in joining Friendship Club, you can signup/get more information by visiting Ms. Kolb’s office (Room 1311, next to the CCRC) or by talking to student co-leaders Elowyn Pfeiffer or Sofia Cerkvenik.