Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Puzzlify is our product, so weigh what follows with that in mind. We've tried to make this useful even if you never use it. We're not affiliated with any parish council, parochial church council, diocese, church, chapel, children's charity, Sunday school, school, greengrocer or community organisation.
It's a Thursday evening in early December, and three people are sitting round the vestry table with a radio on low. Their job tonight is the kits. Every child at Sunday's all-age service will make their own christingle in the pews, so each paper plate needs an orange, a strip of red ribbon, four cocktail sticks, a little pot of raisins and jelly sweets, a square of foil and a small candle. Brian counts oranges out of the greengrocer's boxes; Sue snips ribbon to length against a mark on the table; Anwen tapes the candles into a cardboard tray so they don't roll away.
On Sunday the plates go out along the pews, the noise rises, and two hundred small hands push cocktail sticks into oranges at once. A few sweets get eaten early. Then the finished christingles are gathered on the font, the lights go down, the candles are lit one by one by the grown-ups, and the church goes quiet. Afterwards there is foil on the floor and juice on the hymn books, and the same three people are on their knees with a dustpan. If you'd like to thank the people who make christingles happen at your church, this is a guide to doing it simply and well, with an honest look at whether a photo puzzle is a good idea.
Who we mean
Christingle teams come in all shapes. The people we mean might:
- order the oranges and collect them from the greengrocer or supermarket
- cut the red ribbon or tape and portion out the sweets and dried fruit
- put together a kit for every child, plus a few spares
- think about allergies and keep a nut-free, gelatine-free tray to one side
- help small children with the cocktail sticks during the service
- stand by with a bucket of water and a fire blanket while the candles are lit
- collect for the children's charity the service supports
- clear up the foil, the peel and the stray raisins afterwards
Why a thank-you matters here
Christingle kits are fiddly, and the work is done in the evenings of the busiest month of the year. The makers rarely see the faces in the candlelight, because they are watching the candles. A few warm words afterwards are a nice way to tell them the quiet moment worked.
A little honest background
You don't need to know how the kits were organised to say thank you. "My son carried his christingle home and wouldn't let anyone eat the sweets" is plenty. If you'd like to help next year, ask what would actually be useful, such as an hour of ribbon cutting, a lift with the orange boxes or a spare adult in the pews, rather than suggesting changes.
A thank-you gift is personal and separate from the church's finances. Keep it small; it should never feel like payment. If you'd like to give in their honour, a gift to the children's charity the service collects for is often the best choice.
What makes a good photo
- the kit trays laid out on the vestry table, plate after plate
- a box of oranges with the ribbon reels beside it
- a row of finished christingles waiting on the font
- a close-up of one christingle: the red band, the four sticks, the candle
- the cardboard tray of candles taped in neat lines
- a single christingle lit in the dark church, with no faces in the shot
A few practical points:
- Keep children's faces out of it unless their parents have happily agreed, and follow the church's own rules on photographs at children's services. Oranges, ribbon and candlelight make lovely puzzle photos anyway.
- Leave names and anything private out of the shot.
- Close-ups make better puzzles than wide shots. The orange peel, the red band and the bright sweets give every piece something to hold on to.
- Candlelight is dim; turn the flash off and hold the phone steady, or photograph the kits in daylight before the service.
- Choose a photo the makers will recognise straight away as theirs.
Picking a piece count
| Pieces | Good for |
|---|---|
| 24 | a quick, cheerful puzzle on a phone, or for someone who doesn't usually do puzzles |
| 48 | a relaxed ten minutes with a coffee once the kits are done |
| 80 | a good evening's puzzle for someone who likes a challenge |
| 130 | a detailed photo, like a table full of kits or a row on the font |
| 252 | a real project, best on a tablet or computer, for a long winter evening |
If you're not sure, 48 is a safe choice for most people.
When and how to send it
Good moments include the week after the christingle service, Candlemas, a maker's birthday, the day the orange order goes in for next year, or when a long-standing organiser hands the job on. Make the puzzle, write the note, publish the link, and send it by email or message, or print the link as a QR code inside a card. The recipient doesn't need an account or an app, and the note appears when the last piece clicks into place. If they don't use a smartphone, a handwritten card is perfect on its own.
Note examples
- "Brian, two hundred oranges and not one missing. Thank you."
- "Sue, the ribbon was perfect again. Thank you for every snip."
- "To the Thursday kit team: thank you for the quietest five minutes of our Christmas."
- "From the Sunday school parents: thank you for the allergy-safe tray. It meant she could join in."
- "Thank you for standing by the candles so the rest of us could just watch."
- "Thank you for the christingles. They were beautiful."
What it costs, plainly
The preview is free, so you can see how it looks before deciding anything. Publishing the link costs one credit (€3.99), or less per puzzle with a bundle. It's a digital puzzle, not a printed or cardboard one, so nothing arrives in the post. If a card and a few sentences feel like enough, they are.
Ideas that are not a puzzle
- a card left in the vestry for the christingle team
- an hour of ribbon cutting or kit packing next December
- a bag of oranges dropped at the church the week before
- a box of biscuits for the clear-up crew
- a few lines in the parish newsletter thanking the christingle makers
- a gift to the children's charity the service supports
Where Puzzlify fits
Puzzlify turns a personal photo into a private digital jigsaw that you send as a link. It isn't a printed puzzle, and it isn't a public puzzle board: only the people you send it to can open it. It's one option among many, and it works best when the photo means something to the person receiving it. Please don't confuse it with puzzlify.io, Puzzlit, Puzzly or Puzzify, which are different things.
If a photo puzzle feels right as well, choose the kit trays, the row on the font or the close-up of one christingle, pick a piece count that suits them, and write the note in your own words. You can preview it free here.
Whatever you send, the most important part is the sentence that sounds like you, written to the people who spend December evenings counting oranges so a church full of children can hold a little light.
Written by the small team behind Puzzlify (info@puzzlify.app). Not legal, religious, fire safety, food allergy, safeguarding, data protection, photography permission or gift policy advice.