I don’t know about you, but when I think of Christmas parties, I think of warm, toasty get-togethers with family and close friends. A cozy fire complete with sentimental stories. Do we ever really let a year go by without mentioning, “You’ll shoot your eye out kid” from “A Christmas Story”?

Or maybe your idea of a Christmas party is a little more like “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”? Well, maybe not quite that eventful- but here are a few ideas to start your holiday season off right!

Christmas parties are thrown for a wide variety of guests, and each should be considered in order to be a success. Christmas parties can be for family, friends, office co-workers, or one big combined party. Here are some ideas for different guests in mind:

Activity Ideas

• Christmas caroling party. Go caroling in the neighborhood and invite the group to your house afterward for hot chocolate and desserts.
• Potluck dinners. Arrange for everyone to bring a dish to share. It not only makes it easier for you, but your guests get to try new dishes and show off their culinary skills.
• Christmas around the world potluck dinner. Have guests bring dishes that reflect their ethnicities and countries of origin.
• Volunteer at a charitable organization. Arrange for your group to gather needed items for a charity, such as a hunger center. Get the real “reason for the season” going and give back to the community. Come back to the hosts home and share your experiences over coffee.
• Holiday lights tour. Caravan through local neighborhoods and enjoy the festive lights and decorations.
• Cookie baking parties. Get a large group together and bake up a storm. Divvy up the desserts to each guest so that each has a variety to have for their own holiday guests.
• Christmas craft creations. Have each guest be responsible for one craft to make, including the purchase of supplies. Each guest will demonstrate how to do the craft, and other guests will try to make their own. If you have 15 guests, each will go home with 15 new Christmas crafts to decorate their homes.
• Kid friendly. Any Christmas party can cater to kids by having a separate area for Christmas videos, crafts, and Shirley Temples.

Games

• Pin the nose on Rudolph

• What’s in the bag? Take a bag and put in Christmas items such as a stockings, candy canes, etc. Each guest reaches her hand in the bag and must guess the item. The best guesser wins a prize.

• Christmas trivia. Test your knowledge about popular movies, TV, pop culture, and other trivia.

• Christmas bingo. Create a bingo card with a Christmas-related theme in the middle, such as a snowman.

• Christmas word scramble. Think of words such as reindeer, stocking, etc, and scramble them on a small cardboard page.

• Name that tune. Play a Christmas CD and the first to guess correctly, wins a prize.

I hope these Christmas party ideas helped spark some fun ideas for your upcoming celebration!

About The Author

Dee Schrock has put together hundreds of theme party tips and fun ideas for easy (and budget conscious!) party planning.

Visit her website http://www.fun-theme-party-ideas.com/christmas-idea-party.html for tons of popular theme party ideas, including decoration, costume, game, and party drink ideas, as well as printable invitations.

Easily the best way to find Party Games and Ideas is to obtain a copy of the free “Gifts For Kids” Guide which describes with illustrations hundreds of specially selected gift ideas including party games.

Find the best party games, themes and decorations. See more at:

Best Party Games and Ideas

If you really want to bring people into the Christmas spirit when they come to your home during the holidays, here are several Christmas door decorating ideas that can be an excellent first step. Your entrance way is the first thing that people see when they come to your home so it might be the most important part of your Christmas decorating.

One of the interesting Christmas door decorating ideas that some people have tried is to make your front door look like it is a giant wrapped present. In order to do this, wrap the door up to the edge and fold the paper back under itself rather than wrapping around the edge. Use pieces of double stick tape to stick the paper onto your front door. You can use the same trick to put on large pieces of ribbon and then leave a big bow in the center. You may want to test the tape on your door to be sure it does not bother the paint.

For a twist on this idea, make a matching smaller door out of cardboard for the elves to use. Cover the cardboard with the same color that you covered your real door. Add a small wreath or ribbon to match your real door. Set it next to your real door and post a little note that says “Elves enter here!”

If you would like to try something different and you have someone artistic in your family, you can cover your door with Bristol board that shows a scene of what it looks like inside. When people walk up to the door, it will look like the door is already open and they will be greeted with a festive scene. You can make it look just like the front hall of your home only you can add Santa, some elves or whatever your imagination can come up with. If you use Bristol board instead of paper it is something that you could use again next Christmas.

There is nothing quite as traditional and charming as a beautiful wreath on your front door. That idea never goes out of style. Go to your craft store or browse a magazine for an idea that you enjoy. Whether you make it yourself or purchase a ready-made wreath, you can have a lot of fun. Invite a friend or neighbor to make a wreath with you. Instructions for making Christmas wreaths can be found online in blogs, forums and videos.

Those evergreen wreaths that you purchase at the craft store need to be “fluffed up” each year. Take a little time to perk up the evergreen sprigs. Add a beautiful bow for a simple but stunning wreath. Or decorate the entire wreath with ornaments or natural materials like berries, pine cones and grasses. Place the largest items on the wreath first and then fill in with the smaller items. You can use a hot glue gun or the wires on the wreath - wrapping each item very snugly.

Some other fun Christmas door decorating ideas include taking things from inside and using them outside. If you have extra stockings that you do not use any more, you can hang them from the door for something different than the traditional wreath. The same goes for old Christmas tree decorations or collections of bows from old Christmas presents.

Whenever it is that you choose for Christmas door decorating ideas this holiday season remember to have lighting on your porch. Extra lighting gives your porch a festive look and also makes it a little safer for guests. Enjoy the holidays without adding extra stress to your schedule. If you enjoy making decorations for your home and have set aside time to do that, then have a ball! Purchasing a beautiful wreath or other ornament for your door is fantastic as well. Enjoy the season!

Mary Morris is a self-proclaimed porch lover and grandma to 7 awesome grand kids. Mary is one of the co-founders of http://www.front-porch-ideas-and-more.com/, a site about everything related to front porches and more.

Check her website often for fantastic seasonal and holiday porch decorating ideas at http://www.front-porch-ideas-and-more.com/porch-decorating.html. Life is short. Enjoy your porch!

Easily the best way to find Party Games and Ideas is to obtain a copy of the free “Gifts For Kids” Guide which describes with illustrations hundreds of specially selected gift ideas including party games.

Find the best party games, themes and decorations. See more at:

Best Party Games and Ideas

With Christmas fast approaching, now is the time to start considering your Christmas Gift List - those lucky people who will receive the fruits of pondered, considered, carefully thought out gift buys. You have been thinking about it, haven’t you?

To give you bit of a hand, I’ve rounded up few lists of what is selling for Christmas 2009. These are for a number of different categories, so have a quick look and see what suits you best.

I’ll start with a few of the cheaper items. Naturally, this doesn’t mean poor quality. It just means that this is the group who appreciate receiving something from you and it doesn’t have to be expensive.

It could also mean that your budget is a bit tight and you’d still like to find something nice.

I’ve also has a look at gift ideas for special groups - in this instance, Boys, Boyfriends, and Dad. Luckily males to to have a lot of common interests, so it is handy to group them.

The Boys referred to here tend to be the pre-teens as I’ll deal separately with the older boys in a later post. However, there is some overlap, as most younger males (and some older ones) are into video and computer games. Usually when they should be studying.

Boyfriends deserve special consideration. A lot depends on the stage of the relationship. Usually a touch of romance is appreciated, although you can never go wrong with the latest technology. You’ll see some examples below.

What can you say about Dads? These can be the hardest to buy for as many reach the stage of having just about every thing they need and you’re left struggling to find something for the man who already has everything.

OK, no more chatter, check them out for yourself:

Cheap Christmas Gifts

Cheap Christmas Gift Ideas

Christmas Gifts For Boyfriend

Christmas Gifts For Boys

Christmas Gifts For Dad