Planning a Christmas party at home is always an event that is filled with anticipation and excitement. It’s the only time of the year where friends and family gather to share the holiday spirit with you and your family. However, the whole planning and execution of a Christmas party at your own home can be an exhausting moment. You really have to spend a lot of time, effort, and money just to keep the whole party going.
Things can go from fun to failure during a Christmas party at home. So to keep everything in order and for your guests to enjoy a fun and problem-free event, here are some tips for you to hold a successful Christmas house party and survive it until the end!
1. Set up a clear date for the party: This is very important and should always be the first thing to do before you start going all out for the preparation and everything else. If you want people to turn up during your Christmas party, then make sure that the date and time for the Christmas party is clearly set. You can even set up a Facebook event for this, so that the people you invited (or are planning to invite) can check on the date and time in case they forgot.
2. Assign tasks for household or party members: If you have multiple members within the household, you should assign each member of the family certain tasks so that things will go smoothly during the party. Or if you have friends who are coming over and are willing to help, you can also assign them tasks, such as helping during the after party clean-up, welcoming the guests, food and decor committee and others.
3. Create a guest list and send out invitations by phone or email only: We’ve mentioned setting up a Facebook Event for your Christmas house party. Use that and send out invitations to the people you want to invite for the party. It’s also important to create a guest list and to tell the people you’ve invited to RSVP once they got the invitation. This will give you a clear number on how many guests you’ll be having and to avoid unwanted people from showing up.
4. Plan your menu a week before the party: One of the most difficult things to handle during the whole planning period of a Christmas house party is the menu. If you’re not the only one who’ll host the party, then it’s important that the whole crew should agree on the menu first and foremost. This will avoid overspending on food and ingredients, as well as wasting time on preparing food that guests may not like. You have to anticipate that some of the guests may have certain food allergies or are not fond of certain types of food.
5. Plan the decorations and the party area: A rule of thumb for decorating your house for a Christmas Party should be “simple and neat”. A party venue with too many decorations is asking for trouble, especially if there are kids involved. Make sure to keep the party area clean and spacious; you’re going to need a lot of space especially if you have parlor games right after the Christmas dinner.
6. Welcome your guests: As the host of the Christmas party, it’s your obligation to make your guests feel welcome and right at home. Greet them by the front door and introduce your guests to each other so that they don’t feel awkward during the whole event.
7. Activities for the Kids: If your guests are bringing along their kids, encourage your own kids to introduce themselves to them and do fun activities together with them too. In fact, you can also tell your children to invite their friends over too.
8. The Clean-up Brigade: After the last of the guests have gone home, it’s time to start cleaning up. Start with the decorations first, then the floor, and the last should be the dishes. Things will go smoother if you have people who are helping you with the whole affair.