This post is all about the Best Holiday Party Planning Tips.

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Published September 25, 2023
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What are the best Holiday Party Planning Tips?
What food to serve?
How to clean for a Holiday Party?
How to decorate for a Holiday Party?

These are common questions for how to plan for your next holiday get together.

These tips are great for any holiday, including Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, New Year’s, Memorial Day and even 4th of July.

Favorite Holiday Planning Things

#1 – Clean the party spaces

One of the most important things to do before any Holiday Party is to clean the space. If you are hosting at your home, the spaces in which you are hosting are the most important to clean.

In addition to hosting spaces, cleaning the restrooms is the next most important thing to do.

How do you clean a space to prepare for a Holiday Party? Stick to this tip: Surfaces and floors.

Clean surfaces, wiping them, disinfecting them, dusting them, and clearing off surfaces.

The 15 GREATEST cleaning products you NEED to buy for your home

For floors, sweep, vacuum and mop the floors to make them ultra clean for your Holiday Party guests.

Start with the most important rooms and restrooms, then move to the next most important rooms and clean those.

If you need a list of cleaning products, this post below is the most comprehensive list of cleaning products you NEED for your next Holiday Party Planning cleaning endeavor.

#2 – Plan the Menu

For any good party, you need a GREAT menu. Planning the menu is an important step to planning a great Holiday Party.

For any Holiday Party, which ever holiday you are hosting, one of the best recipes that is a constant win are cookies. This set of 101 Cookie Cutouts from Wilton, have numbers, shapes, and shapes for every holiday. You can then have cookies for every holiday decorated to server your guests.

For the BEST Sugar Cookie Recipe, click the link below or HERE.

If you are stuck on how to actually PLAN for the items on your holiday menu, click HERE to download a FREE Holiday Menu Planner for a FREE PDF Printable. You then have the choice to pick Christmas, Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving.

#3 – How to decorate for your party

Decorating for your Holiday Party is not an easy task. For each holiday, there are different items to use. Garland, tinsel, balloons, tablecloths, candles and tablescapes help to decorate your spaces.

If you are hosting a New Year’s Eve Party, it is best to think of the guest list and ages prior to decorating, as it can set the tone for the basic theme. Classic colors for New Years tend to be gold, silver and black; these are timeless colors.

For birthdays, the traditional decorations include balloons and crepe paper. You can also add a selfie backdrop with tinsel or balloons in the matching birthday theme.

For Thanksgiving, set a warm table with high candles and cozy decorations. You can also use items that are on-hand, like neutral decorations, candlesticks, foliage or branches.

For Christmas, setting up a tree and decorating the fireplace mantle are a great go-to for Holiday Party Planning.

#4 – To game or not to game?

Just about every party has an entertainment portion, one where party go0ers race to get the most chips or fight over gifts.

When it comes to planning your next Holiday Party, you have to thing hard at what your guests will want to participate in during your party. Think of the guests!

Are you having a summer family cookout? Play yard games like ladder ball, crochet or bag toss.

Are you planning a Christmas Party for your family with a lot of young kids? Think decorating gingerbread houses and playing minute-to-win-it games for holiday themed prizes.

Are you hosting a New Year’s Eve Party for adults? Will it be a low-key game night or an all-night party?

When you think of how to incorporate games to your next Holiday Party, asking a few attendees in advance might also help in deciding what to plan or NOT plan. No one wants to go to a New Year’s Eve Party and Play Pin the tail on the donkey if it is an all-adult party. Keep the pinning and donkeys for the kids’ room at a birthday party and bust out the karaoke and create a cocktail corner.

#5- Cocktails, Mocktails or No Bar?

Deciding on whether to have alcohol at your Holiday Party depends on many variables.

Some of those variables are if anyone is sober, then it is simple to NOT have alcohol.

If there are minors or teenagers who will be at risk to have alcohol, make a reasonable choice and have non-alcoholic options for underage persons.

Being prepared for any party is essential, so having a dry bar is a fun way to display options.

In addition to beverages, you also need a variety of glassware. Tall cups, Champaign flutes, wine glasses, tumblers, shot glasses, margarita glasses and even martini glasses can be displayed depending on which drinks will be served.

#6- Invitations

There are many ways to send invitations. Some of them include the traditional mail route, text, email, or an invite on social media.

You can now purchase paper invitations on many websites such as Amazon and Etsy. Narrow down your search for whichever party or holiday you are planning for.

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This post was all about the Best Holiday Party Planning Tips.
~Monica

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