Christmas Parties

Hosting a party at any time of the year is hard work. During the Christmas season, it becomes more hectic and stressful. There are so many things to do during this season that make careful planning and preparation important.

It is fun to have people over to celebrate the season but careful attention must be given to the time you have to prepare for the party, the guests who will be invited, the food to be prepared, the activities to be planned, the decorations, and the general ambience of the party.

You should create to-do lists at least a month in advance of the party. You should include everything that needs to be done and then break the list down into categories of one week before the party, the day before the party, and the day of the party. Organizing your time in this manner will make the preparations less stressful for you and if you have timed everything as closely as possible, you will be able to enjoy your party.

The first decision you should make is your menu. Are you going to have a sit-down dinner or are you going to have a buffet? You have to think about every aspect of the food for the party from appetizers and drinks to salads and main courses. Try to have dishes that can be prepared ahead of time and frozen so you do not have to prepare everything on the day of the party.

Sit-down dinners are more work and time-consuming than buffets. With a buffet, you have to make sure that the foods you serve can sit out for hours without spoiling. For example, you can prepare a roast the day before and serve it cold on your buffet. There are some dishes you may want to serve in small portions and refill the bowl or platter when it gets low.

You should have a list of items that you may need to pick up the day of the party such as ice cubes. You also want to make sure you have plenty of paper plates, paper cups, or plastic glasses.

You can create your own games for the party such as pin the beard on Santa. You can purchase a Santa poster and a fake beard. Blindfold your guest and have them pin the beard on Santa (similar to Pin the Tail on the Donkey game). Have small wrapped gifts for the winners. Use your imagination to create other fun activities.

If you have a piano and you or one of your friends play, it is always nice to sing Christmas carols at some point at your party.

To help relieve you of some of your hosting duties, you can ask a couple of friends to greet guests and make introductions.

You want your guests to enjoy your party but it will not be a good evening if you do not have the time to enjoy it, too.