If it’s your turn to host this year’s Christmas celebration, you might find the whole thing stressful. Planning a party is never easy as there are so many different things to remember to do. By starting to plan your party now, you will ensure that you have loads of time to get everything just right. Here are a few hints and tips to help you along the way.
Photo by Patrick Denker
Ask about dietary needs
Before you start making any plans, find out about everybody’s dietary needs. You may think that you know what people like to eat, but you won’t have seen some people for an entire year. During that time, people may have started new diets or found out they have a certain food intolerance. There is nothing worse than cooking a delicious meal and having only half your party enjoy it. By asking in advance, you can make sure that you tailor the meal to your guests.
Have a practice dinner
Cooking dinner for a large group is hard. One of the things that people find most-difficult when cooking is coordinating cooking times. If your meat is ready twenty minutes before your vegetables, something has gone wrong. Have a practice dinner with your immediate family so that you can make sure everything is perfect. Get your kids involved and make sure that they help out in the kitchen. Practicing the meal means you get to eat it twice, and that everything goes well on the big day. Remember, if anything goes wrong, your family love you and they won’t mind one bit.
Get your family to help decorate
When you are putting up party decorations alone, it is no fun at all. Putting decorations up as a family can be a whole load of fun. Put on some festive tunes and have a sing-a-long while you decorate the entire house. Doing so means that you and your family will get to spend some quality time together. It also means that you don’t have to do all the hard work by yourself. If you want to be creative, you can even make some cool, new decorations together. That way, your home will look festive and fun.
Make cute place settings for people
If you have a large family, it might be worth making place settings for people. When people come to a big family party, they tend to stay in their individual family units. That means that people don’t talk to anybody but their family. That is not the point of the party. To make sure that people integrate into the party and talk to one another, you should give them a seating plan. Make some cute place settings and put them around the table. That way, everybody will know where they have to sit.
Have tasty snacks on hand
If the dinner is running a little late, you need to make sure that you have things under control. Get some festive snacks, such as mince pies, for the party. Put these snacks out on trays, and let everybody help themselves to them while they’re waiting for the main meal. That way, you won’t have anybody moaning that they are hungry while they wait. Having a few snacks for people takes the pressure off you as a host, and so you can focus on dinner.
Get your gifts early
If you are planning a Christmas party, you should make sure that you get your Christmas presents early. If you leave Christmas shopping until the last moment, you will have too many things to do. You will need to focus on the Christmas party later, and so you should get all your gifts now. If you buy all your Christmas presents at once, you can make sure that you don’t forget anybody.
Impose a dress code
A fun way to make a Christmas party special is to give it a theme. Impose a dress code for the party so that everybody gets into the Christmas spirit. You might want to get people to wear funny fancy dress costumes or dress like Santa. Whatever you choose for your party, make sure people go along with it. Sometimes Christmas parties can be serious occasions, but they shouldn’t be. Try and make the party as fun as possible with an entertaining dress code.
Think about ways to entertain the kids
When you are planning a party, you must not forget the children. If there are a lot of young children in your family, you will need to make sure that you entertain them. For many of the adults, the party will be the only time that they get to see each other during the year. That means that they will want to chat and spend some time together. Make sure you have some Christmas movies or games for the kids to play, while the adults socialize.
Plan a few fun party games
Games aren’t just for children; adults can play games too. In fact, playing some good old-fashioned party games is a Christmas tradition. Make sure that you plan some fun games that everybody can play. You may want to play charades as this is a classic Christmas game. If that’s not for you, why not get the board games out of the cupboard? Or how about playing some Christmas Murder Mystery Games? By making sure that everybody has something to do at your party, you can ensure that everyone has fun.
Make special festive cocktails
One of the best ways to make sure that your party is a hit is to make some festive cocktails for your adult guests. Many people choose to serve mulled wine at Christmas parties, but that drink can be heavy for some people. Instead, learn a few simple cocktail recipes for your party. There are loads of fun recipes online that you might want to try. You can even make non-alcoholic cocktails for the children and drivers at the party. Get people involved in making the cocktails as this is a fun activity for everybody. Remember to drink responsibly and be careful.