If you love Christmas and getting in the festive spirit, there’s no better way to do it than throwing a party. You can invite your family, friends, and even your children’s friends and their parents – spread the festive cheer as far as possible! If this sounds like something you’d like to do, follow these tips:
Putting Together Your Decor
First of all, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got the right kind of decor. It isn’t a Christmas party without Christmas decorations! However, don’t go OTT. This is a mistake that many people make. You should maybe have 4 larger decorations to create focal points; the tree, a set table, tinsel, a fireplace for example. These can help to set the scene without looking like a Christmas decoration store exploded in your home. Try to keep the colour scheme minimal too, for example, red and white. This will look much better than mish mashing all of the colours.
Setting the Tone
Setting the tone of the party is important, as it’ll get everybody in the party mood. Have a playlist containing a mixture of songs. Have classic Christmas songs and regular songs mixed together. Make sure you choose a selection of regular songs to suit everybody, so that everybody gets in the spirit of things.
Purchasing Enough Drinks
You’ll need to make sure your guests have enough to drink. You can always invite them to bring their own booze if you’re on a budget though. However, this is your party, and you invited them, so you should be the one to get them drunk…or just hydrated with non alcoholic beverages for the children. The average person will drink about 4 glasses of wine, but then you need to take the big drinkers into account. You may also want to serve a cocktail and a mocktail for the designated drivers. Have something nice like carbonated water and elderflower cordial for the kids. Always buy a little more than you think you need, just in case.
Serving Food
You’ll want to serve finger food to help soak up the alcohol. Don’t serve full on meals whatever you do – you could end up with a nice gravy stain on your cream carpet, especially when guests are balancing their drinks too. Serve simple dishes that are tasty but easy to eat. Make sure you have plenty of wholesale candy for the kids too. Try not to restrict them too much – it’s Christmas, after all!
Planning the Goodbyes
Many people worry about kicking people out when they have a Christmas party. With a little careful planning, you won’t have to worry about this at all. Many people overstay their welcome, but there are many ways you can overcome this. One idea is to state the time the party starts and ends on the invite, so they know when they should be heading home. You can also order their taxis for them in advance, as it may be very busy when they come to call them in the evening. This way, you’ll have your house back to yourself in no time!
If you’d like to throw a Christmas party and invite your children’s friends, this guide should be useful to you. Have fun!