If you’ve ever taken part in, or simply watched, a children’s nativity play, you’ll remember the familiar moment when Mary and Joseph arrive in Bethlehem. The donkey is tired, Joseph is weary, and Mary, very pregnant, is about to have a baby. But door after door is closed to them. “No room at the inn,” says one innkeeper after another. Tension builds. Where will this baby be born?
This part of the story is more than dramatic flair for the school stage, it tells a deeper truth. The birth of Jesus came into a world that wasn’t ready to make space for him. And sadly, that’s still true today. Too often, people find doors closed, whether they’re looking for shelter, safety, friendship, or simply a seat at the table.
This Advent, we’re inviting children, families, and whole communities to do something different.
We’re creating space.
- Space to reflect.
- Space to be kind.
- Space to welcome.
- Space for a CreativiTEA
More about CreativiTEA
CreativiTEA is an award-winning initiative that is international in scope with the local community at its heart. It celebrates the notion that, as we are born of creation, creativity must be in all of us. If we can just discover it, we will find all manner of joys. It enables people to discover this by delivering inter-generational community projects such as the CreativiTEA Carriage with GWR.
CreativiTEA also hosts festival and celebratory public events such as the CreativiTEA Salon at the Matisse Museum in France:
CreativiTEA’s community workshops give those taking part the encouragement –or enCOURAGEment-to find their own voice and for this to be heard in ways that can delight and inspire others. It inspires participants of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to share their stories over a cup of CreativiTEA whilst engaging in simple, yet innovative activities that have proven to help wellbeing
Such activities include making edible poetry, creating PinARTa’s filled with art and poetry, instant songwriting, crafts and dancing words. In the doing, participants learn the skills needed to host their own CreativiTEA Parties which bring people together from the wider community in a celebration of creation.
Our Christmas CreativiTEA
Our final gathering is a festive Christmas tea party, a chance to celebrate the hospitality we’ve been exploring.
We gather around tables, enjoy what we’ve made together, and share food, laughter, and the story of Jesus, God’s love made visible
in a tiny baby born in a borrowed stable.
Whether you’re a young explorer or a seasoned pilgrim, there’s space here for you.
Come join us as we make space this Advent, for Christ, for each other, and for the world.
Who is it for?
Making Space at the Table is a flexible, creative Advent project designed for all ages. It is part of “creating space “ Advent reflections designed for adults.
Making Space At The Table is suitable for:
- Inter-generational groups within a church or community setting
- Children’s Sunday groups or Messy Church gatherings
- Primary school classes, especially in the run-up to the end of term
- Children’s clubs or after-school groups
- One-off Advent or Christmas “holiday club” style days
It works well across four separate weekly sessions – one for each week of Advent – but could also be adapted into a single festive event, ideal for schools or family days. Whether you’re using it over time or in one go, the focus remains the same: learning how to make space in our lives and communities, just as we hope others would for us.
As we move through Advent, Making Space at the Table invites your group – children, adults, families, elders – to journey together through simple, creative weekly sessions. Each week introduces a different aspect of “making space,” linking the Christmas story with our world today. Through shared wondering, storytelling, craft, and preparation, we slowly build toward our final event (session 5): the CreativiTEA Christmas Celebration.
What happens each week?
Every session includes an imaginative connection to a part of the nativity, a “wondering question” to open up conversation, and hands-on activities to create decorations, place-mats, and elements of a shared Christmas crib scene. Each piece we make, each thought we share, helps prepare us for a joyful, inter-generational tea party where there’s always room for one more.
Each week focuses on a simple, powerful theme has a clear structure:
- a short story,
- wondering questions,
- a practical activity,
- a creative act of hospitality.
There’s something for everyone, kids, teens, adults, and elders, to do together. Making crafts, decorating place-mats, writing cards, or building the paper crib.
These acts build week by week, all leading to the joyful, outcome, a shared final gathering, a Christmas CreativiTEA!
Making Space at the Table:
Building Up to the Advent CreativiTEA
Facilitation Tips:
- Read through each week in advance and make sure you have all the resources to hand.
- Keep it relaxed and inclusive—there’s no ‘right way’ to join in.
- Make time for shared stories and memories.
- Let children lead sometimes—adults can learn from them too.
- Use the crib scene each week as a centre- piece and a way to mark progress on the journey
