Host a Christmas Planning Party

Does you family love to get together for Christmas, but seem to be unorganized when it comes time to have the get together? Do you end up with too many food items that are the same or not enough mashed potatoes? Does one person always have to prepare everything and then clean up as well? Hosting a Christmas planning party will help everyone get organized and keep one person from doing all of the work on her own. Here is how to host your planning party.

SEND INVITES: First you will need to send official invitations to everyone who needs to attend your meeting. Make it sound very mandatory. Give an ultimatum in your invitations. For example, state in the invitations that if you do now show up a task will be chosen and assigned to you for the Christmas family gathering. You may not like the task assigned, so it is advised that you come to the Christmas planning party. This will cause the women to make it priority to show up to your Christmas planning party.

PREPARE FOR THE PARTY: As the host of the Christmas planning party, prepare some beverages and snacks for your guests to snack on. Also, have some magazines on hand that have recipes and holiday table ideas. You could even get online and find some holiday articles with some gathering ideas. Watch the food stations on television to get some recipes to serve at the family gathering as well and then get online and print out the recipes and pictures.

THROW THE PARTY: On the day of your party invite your guests in and have them start having some snacks and sorting through recipes. Have everyone sort through your holiday table ideas also. Everyone can take a vote on what the holiday table should look like. Let everyone know that they will all be bringing one side dish to the family Christmas gathering and one decorative item for the holiday table. If there are too many people to bring an item each for the holiday table, make up some tasks, like who will set and prepare the holiday table once they arrive to the gathering. Let everyone pick the side dish that they want to prepare, making sure that no sides are duplicated and there will be enough potatoes, vegetables, and bread side dishes prepared. Also, assign someone to bring or prepare drinks for the family Christmas gathering. Let everyone know also, that you or who ever has the Christmas gathering at their home, will prepare the main dish, whether it be lasagna, a baked ham, or whatever your family likes to have.

Having everyone get prepared this way will make your holiday gathering run much smoother and be well presented and put together.