nikola
Now that summer is officially over and fall is here, that means that the holidays are quickly approaching. Sure, you’ve been to Thanksgiving dinners and to a few Christmas parties, but now, this year, you’re considering hosting your own Christmas party… and the thought couldn’t be more exciting and stressful at the same time!
But don’t worry! Hosting your very own Christmas party isn’t as scary as you might actually think. But if you plan on having a pretty big crowd, you want to start pre-planning right now. True enough, Christmas time isn’t for a few months, but the sooner you can start planning and buying things now, the fewer things you’ll have to do, and the less stressed you’ll be, making you the ultimate party host!
Helpful Tips to Throw the Best Christmas Party Stress-Free
Get Your Plans and Ideas Together Now
We briefly spoke about this earlier but now it’s time to get a little more thorough, and the sooner you can start this, the better. You’ll want to start your Christmas party list, and it’s more effective if you can separate it into four separate lists:
- Theme: Give yourself 3-4 different theme ideas to choose from. You want to do this to see which theme is the most budget-friendly for you as well as which theme will better fit the aesthetics of your home.
- Guests: Knowing how many guests you can accommodate in your home is just simply going to make for better planning in general. You’ll know how much food to prepare and how many invites to send out. Just be sure to keep an accurate count of who will be attending.
- Menu: Based on the theme you choose, determine the type of food you want to serve. The food honestly doesn’t necessarily have to match but you at least want it to be festive.
- Shopping: The shopping portion is ideally based on the theme you choose because this shopping list is for your decorations. Do you want a rustic theme Christmas party? If so, you’ll want to go ahead and start buying your rustic decor. You’ll be decorating with Christmas baskets, candles, mason jars, plaid, etc. Start checking the prices now.
Some of these lists will need to be broken down even further once you have everything jotted down. For example, once you have your menu down, you’ll then need to break each menu item down to ingredients you’ll need to buy.
Don’t Go Overboard on Cleaning
When hosting your Christmas party, you’re going to feel the need to clean your home from top to bottom, and that’s just not necessary, and it’s extremely time-consuming. The only areas you need to clean are the areas where your guests will be, and simply close the doors to the areas where they won’t be.
The one area you do want to give a good deep cleaning to is the bathrooms. This is the one room of your home where your guests will judge you the most and base the cleanliness of your bathroom on the overall cleanliness of your entire home… Make sure your bathrooms are spotless!
*Tip: The key to success in cleaning your home is to get rid of any unnecessary clutter you have. Mail laying around, magazines, and even knick-knacks that aren’t Christmas themed, stash them away somewhere. Keep as many surfaces as you can, free from clutter and clean.*
Keep Your Decor Simple and to the Theme
Some people can take their Christmas party decor to the extreme and end up making it look tacky. For your Christmas party, whatever the theme may be, stick to that theme… You don’t want your home to look like Christmas came and had a fit in there!
Let’s say you have a candy cane themed party… Your colors will obviously be red and white and red and red and white stripes. Everything from napkins and plates to candy bags and centerpieces, you want to stick with the overall theme. You’ll of course want to contrast in certain areas of your decor too.
If you have red and white striped plates, then add a little contrast to it with solid red napkins. You’ll have to do your research and get inspiration on how you want your home to actually look but, keep it classy.
Ask For Help
When planning your party, there’s nothing wrong with you divvying up your responsibilities, but oftentimes, people have a hard time asking for help, even with something as simple as party duties, because they feel as though they’re surrendering control to someone else. This might sound a little extreme when asking for help with party responsibilities but that’s the psychological reason it boils down to ultimately.
Just know that it’s perfectly fine to ask for help… It will only make hosting easier for you. Whether it’s help cleaning up or help in purchasing some of the decor, always accept help when it’s being offered, and don’t feel bad asking for help either.
It’s the holiday season, and you deserve to have as much fun at your Christmas party as your guests will.
Happy Holidays!
