Christmas Party Ideas and Tips
Jean Rennick

Defined Tag: Christmas Parties.
'Tis the season of many formal and informal gatherings. If you happen to be one of those people who is responsible for the planning and preparation of a Christmas party at home or at work here are some party ideas and planning tips to help make your life a little bit easier.  

Themed Christmas parties are a wonderful way to put a fun and unique spin on a common tradition. Here are some examples of a few of the more popular Christmas party theme ideas.

Have a cookie swap party. A cookie swap party is simply a party in which each guest bakes a dozen or so homemade cookies and then swaps them with each of the other partygoers. The rules are simple and straightforward. No one is to bring any store-bought cookies, everyone must have baked their own cookies themselves and lastly if anyone asks, you have to provide them with a copy of the recipe for the batch of cookies you brought to the party.

Christmas gift-wrapping parties are another fun and offbeat tradition. These types of parties are a gathering of bunch of friends who wrap all the gifts they have for their family at the same time while sharing in some holiday cheer, eating finger foods and drinking eggnog. Each person usually brings some gift-wrap along with ribbons and any other items such as scissors or scotch tape as well as any other decorations they may need.

A good choice for a themed Christmas party that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and that works well with inviting both friends and family is a themed party based off of a well-known Christmas movie such as "its a wonderful life" or a "Christmas story". You can get creative here and incorporate different elements from whatever particular movie you are basing your theme off and everyone gets to watch a great movie in the process.

For those parties that are more formal or held at the office here is a simple theme that should go over very well. Have a cheese and wine party. Pick up a nice selection of hard and soft cheeses such as Brie and Gruyere along with a few bottles of some dry red and white wines. Don't forget to bring a selection of quality fresh-baked breads.  

To help add some Christmas spirit to your office party you should plan a secret Santa gift exchange with all of your coworkers. A secret Santa gift exchange is the simple process where everyone puts their name on a piece of paper and then all names are put into a cup where everyone will draw one name and will only buy a gift for that particular person instead of worrying about getting something for everyone at the office. It is also common to set a maximum spending limit at the same time so that no one feels any pressures when shopping for gifts.

Jean Rennick is editor of www.GetCelebrating.com, where you'll find articles and information on seasonal holidays, and everyday occasions.