It’s PARTY time. Whether you are hosting a big gathering or a few close friends this season, make the party festive and sassy with these 10 Christmas Party Ideas.
The holidays are a fun time to get together with friends and family. Everyone is in a festive mood and these get-togethers don’t happen too often during the rest of the year.
It’s not too late to pull a holiday party together for Christmas or New Year’s and you don’t have to blow your budget.
Holiday Entertaining Tips:
- Your home will most likely be decorated for the holidays, so cross that off your list.
- Ask everyone to bring their favorite Christmas cookie or treat to share and as the host, offer the drinks, supplies, and other additional treats.
- To make clean up fairly easy so that you can enjoy your guests, I have found really cute and inexpensive party supplies, paper plates, cups, and napkins at the dollar store. I use our own silverware, mostly because I hate eating with plastic ware.
10 Christmas Party Ideas:
1. Ugly Christmas Sweater Party
Ugly Christmas sweaters are quite trendy this year. We’re having an Ugly Sweater party at our office this year. In fact, I need to find or make my sweater.
To host a party, invite your friends to wear their ugliest Christmas sweaters. And you don’t have to buy a new ugly sweater, you could either visit your favorite thrift store or decorate a sweater you already own. Also, have a contest for most creative, tackiest, craziest, and of course, the ugliest. Have everyone bring their favorite Christmas cookie or treat to share.
2. Host a Swap Meet
This is still one of my favorite get-together ideas. Swaps are a great theme for your moms’ group, the neighborhood, and family.
3. Host a Wacky Gift Exchange
Choose a wacky theme and have everyone bring a wrapped gift accordingly. The gifts don’t have to be expensive to be fun and often times hilarious. As guests arrive, have them place their gift under the tree. To start the exchange, ask everyone who brought a gift to write their name on a piece of paper and place it in a hat or bowl. Choose one person to start the game by pulling the first name from the hat. That person picks from the gifts, opens it, and then pulls the next person’s name. That next person can either take a gift that has been opened from someone prior OR choose a gift from under the tree. If they take a gift from someone else, that person gets to pick a new gift under the tree. And at the very end, after everyone’s name has been drawn, the very first person can either keep their gift or take from someone else. You can also make up your own crazy rules too.
Some gift theme ideas:
- Set a challenging, but low dollar limit where party-goers will need to get creative.
- Gifts must be handmade.
- Gifts must be from a thrift store.
- Gifts of food/baked goods.
- Unused items from your home, otherwise known as a White Elephant gift.
4. Host a Baking and Cookie Decorating Party
Everyone brings their favorite cut out cookie dough already mixed up, but not baked. You’ll roll out, cut out, bake, and decorate the cookies at the party. As the hostess, you can supply the decorating supplies or ask friends to bring them along. This is a great idea for an afternoon party.
5. Host an Elf Movie Night
Everyone seems to love Buddy from the Will Farrell movie, Elf. Have a movie night and invite your friends and family over to watch this hilarious and beloved movie. Have everyone bring their favorite Christmas cookie or treat to share.
6. Host a S’Mores Party
The weather has been so mild in central PA and just last weekend, my husband started a fire in the backyard fire pit. Invite the neighbors, family, friends, for s’mores and hot chocolate by the fire.
7. Host a Potluck
As the host, supply the the drinks, supplies, and main dish, but have everyone else bring a different course, such as appetizers, soups, salads, side dishes, breads, and most importantly, desserts.
8. Host a Brunch
As the host, supply the drinks, supplies, and a few breakfast casseroles. Have your guests bring fruit, breads, pastries, and other assorted breakfast dishes. Read this post for ideas:
9. Host a Sledding Party
Got snow? Got hills? Then you’re house is a party destination. Have your guests bring their sleds and favorite cookies or treats to share. As the host, you can offer warm drinks and other tasty treats.
10. Go Caroling
Gather our friends for an evening of caroling through your neighborhood. After caroling, head back inside for Christmas cookies and hot cocoa. I found the lyrics to popular Christmas carols HERE.
Enjoy the season with your friends and family! How will you celebrate the holidays? Let us know your party ideas in the comments.
TThese are awesome dieass!Th
Toni @ Debt Free Divas recently posted…Freelance Follow Up – November Results
Okay. I’m typing blind for some reason. That came out wrong. Awesome ideas.
Toni @ Debt Free Divas recently posted…Freelance Follow Up – November Results
I have those moments too, Toni! Thanks for commenting.
Everything looked so lovely. Planning ahead will make all the difference in making sure party is enjoyable and not filled with stress.