It’s the most wonderful time of year and it’s here! The city’s streets are dazzled with lights and stores have festive Christmas trees and decorations It was once said by Buddy the Elf that “the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear”. While that may be true, another way to spread the joyous feelings this holiday season is to throw fun parties! What better way to deck the halls than in an embarrassing Christmas sweater or one-sie with your best pals? With only a few weeks left, it’s time to start planning your holiday parties. Here is your guide to great ideas for parties; including themes, food, and drinks!
Ugly Sweater Party
Yes, I know, they are getting really overrated and annoying. Once December hits, ugly Christmas sweaters become all the rage and everyone throws a party to celebrate the hideousness of our grandmother’s sweaters. However, you can’t go wrong with an ugly Christmas sweater party! You can definitely find one at your local thrift store for super cheap! If you want to make your ugly sweater party unique try taking a twist by making all your guests make their sweaters. Slap on a less than desirable picture of your best friend on a pullover or make a vest out of those 10 year old reindeer pajama pants and voila! Ugly sweater! You can even award the person with the best ugly sweater a prize. Getting creative with your party theme makes it that much more fun for your guests to attend.
Pajama Party
Nothing is more comfy than pj’s! Everyone can bring their set of pajamas, sleeping robes, fluffy slippers, or maybe even a onesie! The kids will especially enjoy not having to wear dress clothes.
Onesie Party
This idea is absolutely ridiculous, but would make for hilarious pictures and memories. Everyone who comes to this party must wear a onesie…yes, a onesie. That babies wear. With the long zipper in front, the flap in the back, and the footies, the whole shebang. I’ve never been to one of these parties before but I’m quite curious to see how one of these would turn out. Try out the idea with your friends! Sip on a mixture of peppermint schnapps and Bailey’s to get in the holiday spirit.
Christmas Hawaiian Luau
We all know how chilly it can get in Chicago. Why not pretend to be in a warm, breezy, relaxing place like Hawaii! Guys can wear Hawaiian shirts and the ladies can wear floral dresses or Hawaiian grass skirts and flowers in their hair. Everyone can wear colorful leis and you can decorate your house or event room like a Hawaiian vacation!
Wrapping Paper Party
The name pretty much says it all, grab the gaudiest holiday wrapping paper you can find and make some avant-garde attire with it. Go crazy with this one. Add as many bows, glitter, and whatever else you can find. Wrap yourself in Christmas lights. Go crazy. The year is coming to an end, so what do you have to lose? Take a stab at homemade eggnog for all your guests to enjoy.
Costume Party
Have some of your family members dress up as Santa & Mrs. Claus. Your cute siblings or baby cousins can come as elves, reindeer, or cute gift boxes. You can even go all out and dress up your puppy!
Color-coordinate Party
Guys wear green, ladies wear red. The ladies in your family can all wear fancy, sleek red dresses or blouses and the fellas can all wear green dress shirts or ties.
Cookie-Making Party
No, this doesn’t scream “rager”, but gathering all your girlfriends or family together to make cookies and listen to Dean Martin sing about Christmas sounds close to perfect to me. Hey, you could even go wild and wear an ugly sweater while you are baking cookies! Too far? Anyway, here are some recipes that sound delish!
- Chewy Chocolate Peppermint cookies: http://dashingdish.com/recipe/chewy-chocolate-peppermint-cookies/
- Minty Chocolate cookies: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/minty-chocolate-christmas-cookies-recipe.html
- Gingerbread cookies: http://skinnyms.com/gingerbread-cookies/
Once you know what party you’ll have you can try these drinks out to compliment your party:
Try this non-traditional drink called the Snowball, which is a mixture of tequila and cinnamon. Find the recipe here: http://mixthatdrink.com/snowball/
The year is coming to an end, so what do you have to lose? Take a stab at homemade eggnog for all your guests to enjoy. I like this recipe: http://www.epicureanmom.com/20…
Some holiday party activities:
1. Secret Santa: This Christmas gift exchange is always a favorite. The whole family can be involved and it’s always fun discovering and trying to figure out what person got each other.
2. Cast-Off Gift Exchange: On a tight budget this Christmas? Try having a cast-off gift exchange. You basically re-gift one of your previous unwanted, unused gifts that another person might find useful. You save money and your gift from last Christmas will be used by someone else without going to waste.
3. Karaoke Session: Who doesn’t love to sing? Whether it’s good or bad singing, karaoke is always a good time! You are almost guaranteed to be laughing at one of your relatives attempting to hit those high notes or sing “Santa Baby” or “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” You can even turn it into a competition and have a sing-off and award prizes.
4. Photo booth Area: If you’re having your party at a venue or renting a party room you should definitely think about having a photo booth! Everyone loves taking crazy, silly, cute, and McKayla Maroney not impressed faces. Why wait to develop pictures after Christmas when you can have instant ones? It will be equally fun for family members of all ages.
5. Family Scavenger Hunt: Need games that both adults and kids will enjoy? You can’t go wrong with having a scavenger hunt. Place the items for the Christmas scavenger hunt before the guests arrive, that way it will be a surprise to everyone.
These holiday themes and activities are sure to make your Christmas more enjoyable and memorable. There’s just something about this time of year that makes everyone warm and cheery inside. Remember to always appreciate your loved ones and that it is always better to give than receive. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!