Organizing A Christmas Family Gathering

Organizing A Christmas Family Gathering

Christmas is time to get together and celebrate the family bonding. No matter where all your relatives and friends live, this is one time of the year when they would come down to meet to and spend time together. So…how about organizing a Christmas family gathering that is full of warmth and have fun. You can prepare some really mouthwatering delicacies to treat the guests and several other things to make your party turn out great. Here are some helpful tips:

Most of the family gatherings are usually based on food. So, plan the menu in advance. If you know who likes what, try if you can get those specialties prepared to surprise them.

You need to send out invitations early so that everybody knows the where and when the party is to take place. You may as well include the starting and ending time in the invitation cards.

You can get some help from some of your family members to get the things organized. You may ask some family members to bring along some dessert, side dish or drinks to your place. If you have planned a family get-together then you can freely ask for help as organizing everything alone could be difficult. You have taken the initiative, let others help you too.

You may also organize a gift exchange at the gathering. You may as well mention this in the invitation card. This would make your party more interesting and lively. Remember the music. Get some good music CDs or DVDs and keep them playing to create the perfect ambience for the gathering.

For the kids, you may arrange for some game or a movie. All the kids can enjoy some game in a room, in the presence of an adult. You may give out prizes to the winner. You may even get some good movie DVDs for the kids to watch.

Remember to have all arrangements to accommodate the elderly and the disabled people if any. This time is to relax and cherish the moments, so enjoy the most out of it.

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Christmas Day Games

Just because the gifts are opened and the paper is strewn about the living room doesn't mean the fun of Christmas has to be over. You can add some fun party games to Christmas Day to extend the fun of Christmas.

If you have a large gathering on Christmas Day, have fun with the hat game. When they arrive, give everyone a Santa hat. These are inexpensive and can be purchased at the dollar store, or in bulk, if you plan ahead. As everyone goes about their business of getting food and chatting with others, the room will look very festive with everyone wearing their Santa hats.

However, the object of this game is to not have your hat on. As people forget about the hats, the object is to get rid of your hat and not be the last one wearing a Santa hat. Inevitably there will be one person so wrapped up in a conversation or the buffet table, they forget to take off their hat and will be left the game's loser. This is a game that can be played again and again as you head forward with the day's festivities.

One fun memory game that kids particularly like is to make everyone pay careful attention to all the gifts that are opened on Christmas day. After the gifts are removed from the room (or you remove yourselves from the gift room) have everyone try and remember every single gift everyone received. Include stockings and any food gifts. Tell people they only have to remember the items that were opened that day, not any gifts they received and opened prior to Christmas day. This can be a fun game that's particularly popular with kids because they love to relive the gift magic. If they were so immersed with their own gifts they didn't notice anyone else's, this is a good chance for them to educate themselves about what everyone got that day.

If you need a game to keep everyone busy before dinner, try the "guess me" game. Buy some large heavy socks that are thick and come at least to the calf. Put several items in the socks. Make sure the items in each sock are identical. The items should all be related to Christmas in some way. You might include a small ornament, scotch tape, a pinecone, a Hershey's kiss, and so on. Have each person feel the socks (having two socks just makes the game go faster, but you can play with just one sock), and write down their guesses about what's in the socks. Be sure to tell everyone how many items are in each sock. The winner gets, you guessed it, one of the socks!

If you have a bunch of performers in your group on Christmas day, how about playing a little game of "Christmas Idol?" Set up a small table for the "judges" and have teams of 2 people (or individuals, if they want) sing a Christmas carol. Tell them to have a lot of fun with the song, and even add a Santa hat or other dress-up items if they wish. The winners can take home a CD of Christmas music. This game is particularly fun if only the children want to perform and be judged by the adults, or if, conversely, the adults perform and are judged by the children.

Fun Christmas Activities for the Family

Family is at the core of the Christmas season, so creating fun memories with your family is always at the top of the must-do list this time of year. What fun activities can you incorporate into your family that make Christmas memorable and fun? There are quite a few traditional activities and some that are a little bit out of the box.

Think back to your childhood and Christmas time in your house. Are there particular memories that are clearer than others? Those are likely the traditions your parents created for you and your siblings. Trying to create traditions with your own children is one way of making Christmas fun and memorable. Perhaps your family enjoyed decorating cookies or making gingerbread houses. Maybe your mom always had something yummy coming from the kitchen. You can create the same kind of traditions by simply keeping potpourri warmed and smelling nice, if you don't have the time to bake frequently.

If you want to do a fun family activity in the kitchen, but baking isn’t your thing, you can make a variety of other gift items in your kitchen. Kids love making chocolate and candy covered pretzel sticks and you can pair those with homemade hot cocoa mix to give as gifts.

It’s great to incorporate music into your family's traditions. How about some family fun singing Christmas carols or creating your own family music CD? Record your family singing Christmas carols and use that CD as your music CD for the holidays. If you are particularly talented, you could make these look pretty and give them as gifts.

Many families like to cut down their own Christmas tree. This can be a really fun family activity. You can find Christmas tree farms located just about everywhere. Check into a local grower's group for locations. You simply show up, grab a saw (this is mom or dad's job), and go hunting. Depending on the location of the tree farm, you might walk only a short distance, or you might have to hike up and down hills and far into the farm's reaches to find just the right tree.

To add even more fun to this activity, you can create another family tradition to go along with the tree cutting. It can be as simple as also having lunch (at the same place each year) and picking up candy to eat in the car on the way home. You might also add a shopping excursion to the day. After the tree is safe at home, you might all go shopping as a family for some new ornaments.

Other fun family activities may include annual visits to certain places in your community. Does your town have an annual "Christmas tree lane" where all the homes on one street decorate for the holidays? You can make a tradition of driving down that street each year, or walking the entire street, if the weather allows. Walking gives the kids a chance to see some of the details of the various decorations.

Many children think hot cocoa is an essential part of the Christmas season. If that's the case with yours, you could start a fun family activity each year where you make a big batch of hot cocoa mix at the start of the season. Let the kids have a small cup each night before bed during the month of December. Closer to Christmas, add special items to the hot cocoa, like mini marshmallows one night and whipped cream another. Be sure to leave this family-made hot cocoa for Santa on Christmas Eve!

At a certain age, children enjoy decorating their room for the holidays. One fun family Christmas activity is to encourage this decoration by letting the kids shop for items to put in their rooms and letting them do the decorating. Be sure to take a picture of them in their decorated room each year. They'll enjoy looking at the pictures year after year.