Source cover image: TIME
The end of the year is near. A time when people (should) get together and celebrate the holidays. Despite the fact that it looks quite different this year, we will of course not let everything that is going on ruin the fun. In this article, we give tips on how to celebrate the holidays within your debating society. We discuss special debate motions, Christmas dinners, and, of course, gifts. In short: plenty of fun things to do within the corona measures!
Do you have any nice ideas for motions or activities? Then leave it in the comments at the bottom of this article!
Debate evenings
There is a good chance that your debate evenings will mainly take place online this year. Fun motions ensure that the debate evenings are full of atmosphere and humour. Below is a list of motions that you might consider:
- This House believes that Santa Claus should abolish the naughty or nice system and instead distribute presents to all children equally.
- It is Christmas. In otherwise pristine snow, the trackmarks of Santa Claus’ sleigh are visible. A policeman is walking around the field to savour the Christmas spirit and suddenly discovers a small booklet. It is Santa Claus’ list with no less than a complete list of all transgressions of everyone on the planet. The policeman immediately recognises the potential power of such a list. In the back of the booklet is Santa Claus’ address. Motion: This House would destroy the list.
- This House, as a parent, would not lie to its children about the existence of Santa Claus.
- This House regrets the misrepresentation of Ms. Santa Clause in Christmas movies.
Christmas dinners
The Amsterdam Student Debating Society Bonaparte has planned a Christmas dinner this year. Is that possible? Hell yes! The Bonapartians come together in small groups and prepare dishes for each other. All this with all corona measures taken into account. For example, a maximum of 3 people will be visiting and, of course, always at one and a half metres distance!
If the restrictions are relaxed at any time, a so-called Cycling Dinner could also be interesting. People register in pairs and each pair cooks a course (starter, main course, or dessert). For each course, they cycle to another pair. Also fun to do outside of the holidays!
Presents!
One of the things we did every year at the Tilburg Debating Society Cicero was a game of dice with presents. That is now very difficult but what is possible is to organize a kind of Secret Santa. The Erasmus Debating Society in Rotterdam and Bonaparte are organizing such an event this year. You sign up and then get the name of another person who signed up. You buy a nice gift for that person, after which the board of the association comes to pick up the gift and delivers it to the person in question. Tip: let the members keep these presents and organize a social activity around opening them, for example via Zoom or Discord, where everyone opens the presents together. Maybe you can even incorporate a kind of dice game into it? Be creative!
Mike Weltevrede
Mike is an alumnus of the Tilburg Debating Society Cicero and has served as the secretary of the Nederlandse Debatbond (2019-2021). He was vice-chair of Cicero (2015-2016) and in that function oversaw the newly set-up international branch. He also organized the Dutch Debating Winter School, a debating training week that attracted participants of over 20 nationalities.
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