Christmas Party Ideas!

Christmas/Holiday Party Ideas

Plan your Christmas Celebration with an Open House, a Christmas Party, a Christmas Office Party and with these other great Christmas Party Ideas!

Christmas Party Ideas to help you plan your Christmas Party!

When planning a classroom holiday party for younger children (under 10), divide your activities into "stations".

Recruit enough parents/helpers to work at each station, and divide the children into small groups—four to five in each group works best. Have the kids spend no more than 10-15 minutes at a station, then ring some jingle bells and have everyone rotate. Choose a couple of games, a craft, and then read an age appropriate Christmas book to the group while the snack is being prepared. Always plan two or three extra games or an extra craft just in case you finish faster than anticipated.

Check our "Christmas Party Games for Kids" and "Christmas Crafts/Homemade Gifts" Party Tips for some terrific ideas. A visit from St. Nick, (recruit a dad or a grandpa) bearing little gifts or treat bags is always a hit…and a wonderful photo opportunity!

Invite a group of friends to caravan together to see the best and brightest holiday light displays. Plan your route in advance so that you will be sure to see the best your town has to offer. Lots of horn honking is sure to be part of the festivities. To make the caravan even more fun, rent a couple of stretch limousines or a trolley, so all your guests can travel as a group. End the party with some holiday cheer at your home…wassail, hot and steamy cocoa, and lots of home-baked goodies.

Host a "Cookie Exchange" Party…a wonderful way to make light work of holiday baking, and to enjoy the company of close friends. Send out an invitation requesting that each guest bring a specified number of a favorite holiday cookie recipe. Generally, you will have each guest bring enough cookies to share three with each other guest. For example, if you are expecting 12 guests, ask each to bring 36 cookies. The cookies will then be divided amongst all the guests, and each guest will go home with 12 different varieties of cookies. A lovely platter to set out for holiday entertaining! You may also want to have guests bring their recipe to share with the group. To put guests in cookie baking mode, send a creative invite. Attach a computer or hand generated tag to a metal or plastic holiday shaped cookie cutter with a piece of satin or curling ribbon. "Please "cutout" December 14th on your calendar…You're invited to a Cookie Exchange!" In addition to exchanging cookies, you could serve a light meal or dessert, and you could also add a book or ornament exchange to the party.

Organize a "Gift Exchange"…this will work in a classroom with young children, for a church group, a corporate party, an intimate group of friends…you name it! Select a specific "theme" for your exchange (Ornaments, books, white elephant, music, etc.), and specify a dollar limit for the gift ($5.00-$10.00 is perfectly appropriate). Ask each guest to bring a wrapped gift, appropriate to your theme, without a tag. Stack all the gifts together. When you are ready to begin the gift exchange, have each guest draw a number out of a hat (a Santa Hats would be adorable). The guest who draws number "1" selects a gift from the pile, and opens it. The guest who draws number "2" has the option of stealing the gift from number "1", or choosing another unwrapped gift from the pile. Continue until the last guest has chosen or stolen a gift. Great fun!

Have a "Giving Back" Christmas this year - get a group of family and friends together and do something for others. Take donations to a local free store, collect toys for the needy, make treat bags for the people stuck in hospitals, make blankets or give coats to the homeless, etc. Even contacting a local nursing home and asking if you can bring over donated decorations and create a tree in their lobby. Great way to teach your children the true meaning of the season!

For those who will be dreaming of a white Christmas, but haven't a snowball's chance of getting one…create your own " Winter Wonderland Decorations" party. Create the illusion of snow and ice---a chilly feeling with a warm message!

Organize a Progressive Dinner…spread the joy of having a party around. Several couples or families can host this event. A progressive meal is one in which guests travel from home to home, eating one course at each stop. The joint hosts/hostesses get together to plan the affair and that can be half the fun! Design the invitation to look like a tri-fold restaurant menu or a treasure map, and even include pictures of each host family (easy with access to a color copier). Let guests know which course they will enjoy at each stop, and include a map if necessary. A great idea for the holidays would be to rent either a few stretch limousines, or a trolley. Check the options in your city, so that everyone can travel together. At the time of year when budgets are stretched tightest, this is an ideal way to entertain at a fraction of the cost of a full-fledged party. Each host will also be able to take advantage of Christmas decorations already on display inside and outside their home. Don't hesitate to use disposable dishes and glasses and plastic cutlery! The progressive dinner is easiest if five host couples share the responsibility, but can be combined to reduce the number of stops. Ideally, the dinner would work in the following manner:

1st home – appetizers and cocktails
2nd home – soup and salad
3rd home – the main course
4th home – dessert and coffee
5th home – fruit, cheese and liqueurs (easiest preparation)
The last home would also be the ideal stop to sing Christmas Carols, enjoy a simple gift exchange, and play a game or two. Check out our "Christmas Games" party tip for some holly jolly ideas.

From our Friends at BirthdayinaBox comes even more great Christmas ideas!

Attend a church service with family and friends. Many churches prepare wonderful musical programs and special messages geared to families…a peaceful, soul-nourishing moment amid all the holiday bustle!

Host a "FIRE AND ICE" party. This theme will work only if you are fortunate enough to live in snowy climes! Organize a snowman building contest (complete with prizes for "most creative", "most life-like", "most resembles its creator", etc.), have a snowball fight, go sledding, or skate or play hockey on a well-frozen pond. After everyone's cheeks are rosy and their mittens are soggy…head inside and enjoy a roaring fire along with some steamy hot chocolate complete with a peppermint stir stick and lots of whipped cream. If you want to serve a meal, serve only "comfort" food… hearty beef stew, cornbread biscuits, and pecan or pumpkin pie.

Place huge bouquets of white helium filled balloons around the area you wish to transform. This is one of the most economical ways to decorate, and to make an area feel more intimate. You can either tie white or iridescent curling ribbon to the balloons. The iridescent ribbon will provide an icy look.

In order to save money, inflate lots of white and silver balloons without using helium. Tie long pieces of curling ribbon to the end of each one. Using scotch tape, masking tape, or straight pins, hang balloons down from the ceiling so they hang at different lengths. (Big puffy snow clouds.) Curl the loose end of the ribbon with scissors.

For a special Holiday touch, before blowing up the balloons, add snowflake confetti with a small funnel. When your party is drawing to a close, pass large safety pins out to all the guests, and encourage them to pop all the balloons.

Blow up additional balloons, and scatter them around the perimeter of the floor. Drape, swag and twirl lots of white gossamer over doorways and windows. "Puddle" some on the floor to look like billowing snow. Add lots of snowflake confetti. Hang several on clear fishing line at varying heights.

Stick with silver and white in your decorating scheme. Add some sparkly silver confetti, some metallic silver shred, and a few Hershey's kisses to your tables...everyone will be delighted by your effort.

Rediscover the simple joy of Christmas Caroling! Invite a group of friends to go caroling with your family. Prepare a sheet of paper with the lyrics to some favorites, and have copies for everyone, so that your caroling effort is organized. Pick several neighbors' homes in advance (or a nursing home or hospital ward), and bring goodies to leave behind along with the harmony of your voices. Bake mini loaves of banana nut, pumpkin or cranberry bread, and tie them with raffia and a holly leaf or two. Home-baked cookies, candies, brownies, or ice-cream toppings are also terrific "gifts to bear." Remember that it just isn't possible to sing "Silent Night" off key! A sure way to put everyone in the holiday spirit!

Hosting a HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE is a terrific idea. It is truly one of the least stressful ways to celebrate. Your guests will only be expecting to mingle and eat--and the scheduled time of the party will determine their food expectations.

With an open house format, guests WILL come at different times, and there are a couple of things you can do to avoid having them stay for the entire party (if you are expecting a large crowd-and have limited space).

You can save money, and shorten the time that guests will stay if you limit food to serving only light hors d'oeuvres or desserts. If you are serving a full meal (even heavy hors d'oeuvres), they will stay and linger! In addition, keep your beverage/bar choices very simple. Serving hard liquor or beer will again encourage guests to stay and linger. Instead, consider serving only soft drinks, a simple wine, and possibly a punch or wassail.

Scatter food throughout the house. Set up food stations in different locations so that you don't have guests jamming the dining room or the kitchen. Desserts on the deck, hors d'oeuvres in the great room, beverages in the kitchen, etc.

Be prepared to give tours of your home. Be sure that if you are the one giving the tours that you have someone else on duty to greet guests. Your home will be festive for your party if you have all your Christmas decorations out, and your tree trimmed.

Add a few other touches, and you'll be set! Light lots of candles (use both votives, and varying sizes of tapers) to give a romantic glow to all your rooms.

Light scented candles in the bathrooms. Simmer potpourri, so the whole house smells as inviting as it looks.

If you are decorating a large or high ceiling area, or want to make any area look more intimate and festive, drape and swag our gossamer across ceilings, walls, and the edges of table skirting. Twist two colors together for a stunning look.

The gossamer drapes so beautifully, that if your room is softly lit, it will have an ethereal glow…just the right look for a night of dreams and hopes for a happy future! If you have the funds available, give each guest a small favor as they depart. Check our Christmas store for some favor ideas--frames or candles can be an inexpensive, and much appreciated favor.

A CHRISTMAS TEA is a lovely event for mothers and daughters. Serve finger sandwiches, petit fours, peppermint meringues, and flavored teas in dainty teacups. Extend an invitation to your own friends and to your daughter's friends. The afternoon will be successful whether your daughter is 6 or 36. This party is especially enjoyable for young girls if the attire is fancy dress.

If you are a looking for a way to spread holiday cheer at the office or in a classroom---try involving everyone in a SECRET SANTA activity. This can be a weeklong or a one-day activity. Each person's name is put into a hat, and then each individual randomly draws a different name from the hat. Determine a price range for the "secret" gifts (can be anywhere from $2.00-$20.00, depending on the age and spending power of your group). Gifts should be wrapped and delivered anonymously to the recipient. If the activity is taking place over a weeklong period, you may choose to have the "Secret Santa" reveal him or herself as the "giver" on the final day.

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