The holidays can bring great joy and a schedule full of parties. Which in turn can create stress and busyness. Especially if you are hosting.
I have personally done almost every event under the sun. I have hosted 32 family members for Thanksgiving and done an event that only had three people. I’ve had to run out last minute because the turkey was frozen for Thanksgiving , I have burned the biscuits (literally), set of fire alarms, and one time found out that my sink had been running for over 3 hours due kids. Ive had entire bottle of wine spill on white carpet and had paint spill in my basement. To say I am a pro
is not the title any of mine would use. But I am great (Finally) at pulling of simple, easy and really fun events that everyone including the host can enjoy. So just in time for the end of year festivities here are my favorite themes and events to plan around.
Note* Thanksgiving is my all time favorite event to host but it is not easy, and so it does not make this list.
Tea Party
Simple elegant and very girly. Everyone gets there before dinner but after lunch so food can be a low budget item and the TEA you can go over board with. Everything pastel in color schemes for this event seems to be something that goes over very well.
Pool party
Rent space at local pool or blow up kid pool, order wings + cake. Make lemonade. Everyone gets a float for party favors. Done.
Downtown Restaurant Tour
Pick a set of people that love food as much as you. Take an Uber or Taxi and set up a progressive dinner starting with Drinks. Move to another location for each course. Appetizers – Dinner – Dessert, and lastly a spot for after party drinks. It is simple, everyone usually covers there own bills or splits checks and there is zero clean up.
Christmas Pajama Brunch
for this event it take a little ahead planning but it well worth the effort. make sure you pre order or cook up fried chicken, deviled eggs, and have a crockpot for sausage links day off. Make up buttermilk and gingerbread batter for some waffles. Put a Christmas movie streaming on every TV in the whole house. pre-make cranberry ice cubes for Champagne flutes and make sure you have plenty of cinnamon sticks, candy canes, and hot chocolate. Bingo, you have a chicken and waffles brunch station for everyone. If you have littles have someone dress up as Santa or the Grinch for fun photos and don’t forget a craft station to keep those little hands busy. Otherwise make up your waffle gingerbread houses and bon appetite!
New Years Eve Pizza Party
This is our Every Year Deal. sometimes it is a giant list of invites and sometimes its just a few neighbors but it always happens. Buy a bunch of Costco pizzas, champagne, and pull out all the old games. Invite as many people as you want, create a great playlist is key because you need everyone to stay alert and awake for a while. Don’t start the party too early, we usually do an 8pm start time. Ring in the year with laughs, and anticipation. Dress up or dress down but always stay up till midnight!
Derby Party
My all time favorite party. We go all out for this but it doesn’t have to be stressful. It is a few hours at least for this event with all the traditional food of derby day. Mint Juleps and Derby pecan pie are a must. hats optional, Betting required. We do our own version of betting for the races with on dollar and five dollar bets where I lay out jars with each horses name on the jar. everyone buys certain amounts of tickets and you add your tickets to who you think wins. The pot of money is then divided to winner and 2nd and third place respectively.
Garden Birthday Party
A back deck party is simple and can go be put together very quickly. Utilize the seasons colors to create your color theme. Throw a few balloons around, light some citronella candles to keep bugs away. Put picnic style silverware out and make it an al fresco or appetizer type night so food is easy. Do a BYOB to keep price point down on alcohol. A grill in the corner is always fun for guys to use if you have meat lovers in your group. A few yard games like corn hole or horse shoes will have everyone staying entertained for hours.
Creating Exceptional 