Holiday Party Ideas

Looking to host your own holiday party? I love getting together with friends over the holidays so I decided to share some fun holiday-themed parties to get you in the mood to invite friends over!

1. Cookie making party. Invite a group of girlfriends to your house with their prepared cookie dough to bake up some treats! Offer to make the sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies for your friends so you can have a decorating station. (Just make your cookies ahead of time so they are cool enough to decorate while the others are in the oven.) Have each girl bring copies of her cookie's recipe. One for each person so everyone can take the recipes home with them :)

2. White Elephant Gift Swap. For those of you who are not familiar with white elephant, it is a gift exchange where each person brings something they have around their house that they no longer use. It could be something funny, something retro (I've seen thigh masters) or something practical like that red wine you got that you don't drink. You could even make a theme - like a white elephant jewelry exchange, or clothing exchange!

3. Holiday Drink Party. This is a party to might want to invite your friends to bring their favorite Christmas movie and their pajamas! Have each girl bring her own specialty holiday drink. It could be spiked hot apple cider, spiked egg nog, winter sangria or a pumpkin martini! Have each girl bring copies of her drink's recipe so everyone can recreate them at home - or their next holiday party!

4. Ugly Sweater Party. This is the most classic holiday party. Have everyone come dressed in their ugliest holiday sweater. The uglier the better! The guest with the ugliest sweater wins a prize! (Could be a nice new sweater or a bottle of wine!)

5. Gift Wrapping Party. Who wants to buy roll after roll of wrapping paper? This year invite a few friends over to wrap gifts! Each person should bring two rolls of holiday themed gift wrap and their gifts. Supply them with tape, ribbon and scissors and swap gift wrap. This is a great way to wrap your family's presents without them around and to have an assortment of gorgeous gifts under the tree!

6. Ornament Making Party. Ornaments make the best gifts and no tree can be over dressed around the holiday season. Have each person bring glass ornaments (I suggest a box of 6) they wish to decorate. Provide materials they can use to decorate with. Paint, lace, spray paint, etc. are great. You can have your guests bring sentimental items to fill their ornaments with too. Photos, sand from vacation, wedding invitations, etc are a few examples. At the end of the party your guests could do an ornament swap to hang on their own tree as a memory!

7. Paint your own Pottery Party. I've mentioned this before, but I absolutely loved when my mom would let me invite 2 friends to come to the Paint Your Own Pottery local store as a holiday party. The items you make will be keep sakes for years to come. I set out our holiday plates for cookies and it's a great conversation piece. Maybe this could even be an annual outing you and your special someone share. Now a days, Paint Your Own stores have designated nights where you can bring in your own beer/wine while painting - so it is completely grown up to invite your friends along :)

I'd love to hear what types of holiday parties you are going to or hosting this season!