The holiday season is a wonderful time to connect with friends, family, coworkers, or community. Throwing a Christmas party allows you to spread some seasonal cheer and create joyful memories together.
Table of Contents
Top 10 Christmas Party Ideas For This Christmas Season
If you’re planning a yuletide celebration this year, consider these 10 festive Christmas party ideas!
Cookie Exchange Party
A cookie exchange party lets guests showcase their baking talents while stocking everyone’s cookie tins for the holidays. Have each attendee prepare 2 to 3 dozen homemade cookies, bars, or confections to share. As guests arrive, display cookies on a long table labeled with baking details like cookie type and ingredients. Later, guests can sample and fill boxes with a delicious assortment to enjoy at home. To add to the fun, vote for favorites in different categories like Best Chocolate Cookie or Most Creative Holiday Shape!
Christmas Crafting Party
Get a jump start on your holiday prep with a festive crafting party. Supply simple craft stations around your home with materials like gingerbread person cutouts and icing, stringing supplies for popcorn garlands, colored paper and scissors for making paper snowflakes, or small jars and festive embellishments so guests can craft their own snow globes. As the room fills with the sights, sounds, and aromas of the season, your party will spark nostalgia while creating handmade decor.
Hot Chocolate Bar
Warm up a cold winter night by hosting a hot chocolate bar for friends. Set out several pots of simmering milk or cream on a counter space or buffet table and provide a mouthwatering array of mix-ins. Consider ingredients like shaved chocolate, chocolate liqueur, crushed candy canes, toasted marshmallows, caramel sauce, brown sugar or honey, spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, vanilla whipped cream, and more. Let guests craft their own rich hot chocolate creations while soaking in the sweet smells of the season.
Holiday Movie Marathon
Recall the nostalgia of childhood holidays with a Christmas movie marathon extravaganza. Play classic films all evening like Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, Elf, Home Alone, and The Polar Express while loved ones snuggle under cozy blankets. Serve up popcorn, egg nog, cookies, candy canes, hot apple cider, and other yummy seasonal movie snacks. Don’t forget to encourage folks to wear tacky Christmas sweaters or comfy pajamas to really capture the essence of a festive family film night!
Christmas Around the World Dinner
Take your taste buds on a trip around the globe with tastes of Christmas from different cultures. Research holiday food traditions from places like Mexico, Germany, Italy and select one iconic yuletide dish from several countries to include on your menu. Prepare foods like roasted pork and tamales, gingerbread, buche de noel or struffoli. Decorate by displaying nutcrackers or little wooden shoes and topping tables with poinsettia centerpieces. As dinner begins, share fun facts about Christmas customs around the world while savoring the feast.
Christmas Caroling Party
Spread some auditory holiday cheer at a festive caroling party. To set the mood, welcome guests with warm beverages like apple cider or mulled wine. Before heading out into the crisp night air, fuel singers with a hearty spread of soups, breads and hot appetizers. Once out caroling, consider serenading friends or neighbors, hitting popular spots around town like city squares or outdoor shopping plazas, or singing songs of good tidings outside retirement homes or hospitals to uplift those who may feel lonely during the holidays.
Holiday Game Night
Host some holly jolly competition at a Christmas game night. Group partygoers into teams and have them go head-to-head playing holiday-themed games like a Christmas trivia challenge, assembling puzzles showcasing winter scenes, a gift-wrapping race against the clock, or a white elephant gift exchange with silly or creative presents. Award prizes like candy, fruitcake or small decorative holiday items to the winning team or player. Pepper in classic Christmas music, hot beverages and sweet treats to encourage socializing during friendly Yuletide competition.
Christmas Sweater Soiree
Have a ball decking the halls in ostentatious knits at an ugly Christmas sweater soirée. The dress code requires all guests to don creatively gaudy holiday sweaters, preferably with loud patterns, flashing lights, bells that jingle or 3-D embellishments like pom poms or plush reindeer adorning them. Play over-the-top seasonal tunes, like songs by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, while serving bite-sized appetizers that pack a flavor punch, like bacon-wrapped dates, cranberry brie crostini, or maple-glazed meatballs. Vote on categories like Tackiest Design or Best Light Display to award prizes for the most obnoxiously fantastic sweaters.
Holiday Tea Party
Gather loved ones in their fanciest frocks for an elegant holiday tea party. Adorn your home with crystalline snowflakes, floating candles and fresh winter greenery dotted with red berries and bows. Display a beautiful spread of dainty tea sandwiches like cucumber or chicken salad, scones with clotted cream and berry jam, gingerbread cookies or sugar plum tartlets. Offer a selection of premium loose leaf tea blends like vanilla rooibos or winter spice as the centerpiece in vintage china cups. Encourage mingling while infusing your home with yuletide coziness and charm.
Christmas Cocktail Soiree
For a swanky seasonal celebration that feels a little more grown up, deck the bar cart and throw a Christmas cocktail party. Use an ice ring mold to make an frozen centerpiece etched with pine bough cut outs or engrave spherical ice cubes with tiny snowflakes. Display bottles of liquor like vodka, rum and brandy to build spirits like hot buttered rum, peppermint patty martinis or spiked eggnog. Greet guests with mixed drinks in hand while Christmas music sets the mood. Pass butlered bites during cocktail hour like bacon-wrapped chestnuts, goose pate on crostini, or brie and cranberry phyllo cups. The night delivers all the cozy nostalgia of Christmas with a chic, celebratory twist.
Read More: New Year Party Games
Final Words
This holiday season, add some extra wonder and fellowship to the air by throwing a festive Christmas party. Use these unique Christmas party ideas to infuse beloved traditions, delicious flavors, joyful activities or cozy aesthetics into your annual holiday bash.