How to Host a Fun Holiday Party

This December, we can’t wait to host a fun holiday party…and we’re sharing our favorite tips and stress-relieving ideas with you! Keep reading to discover great activities the whole family will enjoy, fun ways to get everyone in the holiday spirit, and tips for hosting a party without any of that holiday stress. Learning how to host a fun holiday party can take a little trial and error, but these helpful hints can help yours go off without a hitch.

1. Get as much done before the party as possible

The number one rule of learning how to host a fun holiday party: don’t stress during the party! What does that mean for the host? Do your prep before the guests arrive so you can spend the party mingling, playing games, and having a great time…not stressing over complicated dishes! Easy, hands-off recipes are your holiday party secret weapon. Try slow cooker appetizers like barbecue meatballs, or sweet treats like peppermint cookies that you can make a day or two before. Any decorations you want to put up should be done in pieces during the week before; don’t cause any additional stress the morning of the party!

2. Set up a self serve beverage bar

Whether you’ll be serving cocktails or eggnog, don’t spend all your time fixing other people’s drinks! Set out a cocktail/drink bar on a side table with warm drinks, drinks that don’t need to be refrigerated (or drinks like punch that can use ice), and show guests where refrigerated beverages can be found so they can help themselves. If you don’t want people digging in your refrigerator, set up a cooler next to the beverage bar.

3. Or, try a hot cocoa bar!

Who doesn’t love this classic holiday drink? Set out a slow cooker filled with hot cocoa, and surround it with hot cocoa supplies like peppermint sticks, sprinkles, chocolate squares, and marshmallows. Guests can create their own perfect cocoa concoctions, and your home will smell delicious.

4. Invite guests to bring treats for a cookie exchange

What’s better than one kind of scrumptious holiday cookie? Lots of scrumptious holiday cookies…when you only have to do a fraction of the baking! Host a fun holiday party that everyone can sink their teeth into with a cookie exchange. Cookie exchanges are a great way to sample different sweet treats. Everyone gets a chance to show off their baking skills, and then everyone gets a chance to stuff themselves with the best holiday cookies your friends and family can make! Just ask all your guests to bring two dozen cookies, and provide large plastic bags so people can stock up on cookie loot to take home. (Though it will be hard not to eat all those cookies during the party!)

5. Try an easy (and affordable!) craft project

This project is perfect for a girls’ night holiday party. Ask your guests to bring a small frame or two and some scraps of wrapping paper. The wrapping paper could be left over from last year, or even saved from a meaningful gift they once received. Then, break out the eggnog, cut the wrapping paper to size, and put it inside the frame for a sweet and easy table decoration. Another great party craft idea? Ask guests to bring a spare mason jar. Provide some basic acrylic paint and let guests paint their mason jars (we love a diagonal white-and-red repeating stripe, like a candy cane!). These jars make great homes for tea candles for a festive and affordable look.

6. Lead fun games everyone will love

The laughs won’t stop coming when you pull out some of these games.

• Gift Wrapping Relay: Split up into two teams. Provide each team with boxes, scissors, wrapping paper, ribbons, and tape. Make an assembly line of workers, and see which team can finish their gifts the fastest.
• Christmas Carol Charades: Split up into two teams. Take turns having players on each team act out a famous Christmas carol…silently! Want to heighten the stakes? Only give the teams one minute to come up with the right answer!
• Christmas Gift Hot Potato: Have everyone bring an unwrapped white elephant gift. Pass around one gift at a time while music plays; when the music stops, whoever is holding the gift keeps the gift and is out of the game. Play until everyone has a gift!