Christmas Party Planning Ideas and Tips

We all remember the great Christmas parties of past years-- and we all remember the boring clock-ticking Christmas party disasters. If you've decided this year to take on the responsibility of hosting your family's Christmas party, you will definitely need to undertake some serious planning before the big day arrives. This article reviews some creative Christmas party ideas as well as some planning tips.

Christmas Party Ideas

1. Christmas "Who Am I" Game

This game can be so much fun with the right crowd. All party guests (except for young children) are given a Christmas-related character from popular culture (movies, books, tv shows, fables, etc.), but all guests are forbidden from knowing which character they have been assigned (the name of the character will be taped or hung from each person's back). Guests will walk around the room and ask each other yes or no questions in order to ascertain their character.

2. Secret Santa
Secret Santa is a common Christmas and Holiday party gift game, and you either love it or you hate it. In order to implement Secret Santa, Christmas party hosts must organize their party guests into pairs ahead of time so that people know who to buy a gift for. Most successful Secret Santa gifts are capped at about $15 or $20, depending on the group. Also making sure to pair people who know each other makes the game go smoother.

3. Favorite Christmas Dish Potluck
If you're not so excited about cooking/baking enough food to feed all of your guests, then a potluck is a great solution. Ask all of your guests to bring one of their favorite Christmas dishes. This is a fun way of learning about people's family histories, trying new foods, and also taking the pressure off of the Christmas party host.

4. Christmas Gift Trading Game
This is another Christmas gift game but is often more fun than Secret Santa. For this game, everyone brings a wrapped Christmas gift (set the price limit however you see fit), but the gift is not for anyone in particular. Everyone at the party is then assigned a number. #1 guest will unwrap a gift from the pile, and then so will #2. Then #2 decides whether to keep her own gift or trade with #1. #3 then chooses a gift, and can trade with 1 or 2, and so on!

5. Favorite Christmas Song
Hosts can request that all Christmas party guests bring a cd with their favorite Christmas song or songs. This takes the pressure of the host to provide all of the music for the party, and also is a fun way of getting to know one another better.

Christmas Party Planning Tips

1. Invitations & RSVPs
Although invitations and RSVPs may seem a little anal, its important for Christmas party hosts to know what guests are planning to come. This allows party hosts a better idea of how much food is needed, what games will be played, how many chairs are required, etc.

2. Food!
What's a party without good food, and enough of it? All fun and memorable Christmas parties are stocked with good food so that no guests ever go hungry. Be sure that all of your guests can eat at least some of the food-- if some guests are vegetarians, vegans, have allergies, etc. you'll want to make sure not to exclude them from the fun.

3.Games or Themes
Christmas party hosts should have a few games or themes in mind before the party, just in case the party needs a little pick-me-up. See above for some game ideas.

4.Decorations
Christmas parties should be decorated to reflect the fact that they're Christmas parties! Get creative when decorating your home or office!

5. Child-Friendly Activities
Christmas parties designed for adults can sometimes be a drag for kids who are dragged along. Have a couple of kid-friendly activities planned (games, movies, art projects, etc.) to keep the kids occupied.