This weekend marked our fourth Christmas party thrown at our house. It’s always a fun time to eat, drink and be merry with all of our friends. Here are some pictures from the night as well as some tips for hosting a Christmas party. Do you have anything else to add? Share your party wisdom in the comments.
- Encourage people to dress their best. It’s not very often that people get dressed up these days, which makes it more fun when you do. It also helps sets the tone of what kind of party you’re wanting. Perhaps your friends can get a little rambunctious sometimes. I find that being nicely dressed tends to keep people on their best behavior, or close to it.
- Be festive. Decorations are great, especially when you can find them all around the house. Some affordable options are non-breakable ornaments in a vase or on a charger plate. Tinsel is cute, too, and you can find plenty at the dollar store.
- Prepare ahead of time. Cleaning, moving furniture, food prep — all things I wish I had done the night before or two nights before.
- Make a cooking schedule. Figure out in advance the times and temperatures for what you’re making. Write it down and calculate backwards from just before the party starts.
Cupcakes by Jillian
- Go for a semi-homemade menu. As much as I like to cook and bake, slaving away in the kitchen all day and night isn’t very fun. You’re worn out before the party has even started or you miss the party trying to finish cooking. I loved the Santa brownies I posted about and ended up doing those with the little brownie bites from Costco. I made some buttercream and cut some strawberries and boom — done.
- Don’t stress. This is the first year I’ve taken more of a laid-back approach to party planning. It all got done and while we missed a couple of things, everyone had a great time. Stressing out only makes it worse for everyone.
- Use disposable plates and cups. One year we used our regular glasses. Not only did we keep running out and having to wash them all night, we had to wash a ton of stuff the day after.
- Be thankful. We often get too caught up in worrying about everything going on at the party. It’s a time to be fun and carefree with your favorite people all at the same place, which probably only happens once a year.
