- Cute invitations.
Instead of a simple text message with the party details, make an invitation on Canva to text out. There are tons of templates you can use! Don’t forget to include the date, time and location, as well as details about what everyone should wear or bring.
- Wow with food.
- Dinner. The trick is to make dishes most people wouldn’t make at home. Instead of mashed potatoes, make accordion potatoes. Instead of a Caesar salad, make a broccoli salad. Instead of rolls with butter, make a butter board. Catching my drift?
- Potluck. Many people love it when you take the decision-making out of it for them. Have a list of dish ideas that guests can sign up to bring.
two white dices on white background
- Bust out the party games.
- Oven Mitts Unwrap. Give the first player a pair of oven mitts, a Santa hat and a wrapped present. Give the person on their left a pair of dice. On “go” the first player puts on the hat and mitts, then tries to unwrap the present, which has been wrapped at least three times in three different boxes. At the same time, the player with the dice rolls them until they get doubles. Once they do, they take the hat and mitts, then try to unwrap the present as the next player rolls the dice. Play continues until the gift is fully unwrapped and the unwrapper gets to keep it!
- Plastic Wrap Ball. Wrap small items (candy, gift cards, dollar store items, small toys, etc.) in many layers of plastic wrap to form a giant ball. During play, while one person works to unwrap the ball to get the gifts out, the next player rolls dice until they get doubles to steal the ball. Play continues until the gifts are unwrapped.
- Gift exchange.
- Secret Santa. This works well with coworkers. Have everyone write down their name and three wish-list items. Stick those papers into a hat, then everyone draws a name out of the hat.
- Dirty Santa. Have everyone bring a wrapped gift to the party, then number each gift. The first person draws a number out of a hat that corresponds to a gift and opens it. The next person can choose to either steal an opened gift or draw a new number. Play continues until everyone has a gift.
- Best dressed contest.
To get your guests to dress up for the party, offer a prize for the best dressed. It doesn’t have to be anything huge; this is just for fun! You can even set a theme like ugly sweater, Santa’s elves or holiday songs. ::
