Entertaining
Pressed for time? Here are some entertaining ideas that require minimal planning and little to no cooking time! Just add friends, and go!
1. Decorating Party: Gather your decorations, your family and some friends and deck those halls! Turn on your favorite Christmas music mix, serve some easy finger foods and some self-serve hot and cold beverages, and have some fun!
2. Thanksgiving potluck: This one is great for social groups that get together regularly. Pass a signup sheet around the group with everyone choosing to bring a main dish, side dish, dessert or beverages. Gather at your usual spot a week before Thanksgiving to celebrate together, sharing homemade goodness, thankfulness and fellowship.
3. Leaf-Raking Party: This is a good one from my childhood! Send an e-vite to your nearby family, friends and neighbors to come rake the leaves. Put on a big pot of chili, some cornbread or cinnamon rolls, and lots of hot coffee, cider and cocoa. Spend time outdoors jumping in the leaves with the kids and playing lawn games while bagging up the leaves, then head inside to warm up and eat together!
4. Cookie Decorating Party: Great for kiddos! And you don’t even have to bake the cookies if you don’t want to; just pick up a few boxes of undecorated sugar or butter cookies at the bakery or grocery store, along with lots of festive and colorful decorating toppings. Invite your kids friends over to decorate cookies, then send those cookies home with the little chefs.
5. Operation Christmas Child box-filling party:
Get together with some friends to shop for and fill shoe boxes that are sent across the globe to children in poverty with the message of Jesus love, hope, and gift of salvation. A great way to remember the needs of others during the bustle of the season.
6. Cocktail Party: Yes – a cocktail party! And you should all dress like it. (really, what girl doesn’t love wearing her favorite little black dress?) Drop the kids at Grandma’s for the night and invite a few couples over for drinks and hors d’ oeuvres. Cocktail party playlist on in the background,
good friends, good cocktails (or mocktails!), and great conversation. It’s good to be a grown-up!
7. Christmas Caroling: gather some folks who like to sing and print off the lyric sheets for some of the most popular Christmas songs. Head to the streets of your neighborhood, or schedule a visit to a local nursing home. You can even just gather around the piano if you’ve got one at home or at church and someone to play it! Sing your hearts out then head someplace warm for coffee and cocoa to relive the best moments of your outing!
8. Progressive Dinner: I love this one any time of the year. Schedule the whole evening as “planned” and make reservations for your party at a handful of local hot spots, a different restaurant for each course. If you plan on drinking alcohol with your courses, be sure you’ve got a designated driver. It’s also helpful if your locations are nearby – walking distance is ideal as long as the weather’s not too rough, but a short drive is just as well to give you time to be ready for the next course.
9. Holiday movie party: If you live in the South or the weather is mild, projecting movies on the side of the house and setting up lawn chairs is a lot of fun. Again, this one is great any time of the year, but it’s especially fun to show some great Holiday classics. Let the kids lay on blankets on the lawn with popcorn and snacks, while the grownups get the lawn chairs.
10. Sledding Party: Of course this one is entirely dependent on location and weather, but I’m pretty sure most people can find their way to snow in the winter if they really want to. Dress in layers, build snowmen and snow forts, encourage snowball fights, and see just how many times you can handle climbing back to the top of the hill (probably pulling your kids on the sled) after a ride down! Don’t forget hand and foot warmers tucked into mittens and boots. Frequent trips inside to thaw out are also recommended, especially with little ones.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and yours! RH
Simple Entertaining Ideas
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