Holiday party ideas on a budget
It’s time to celebrate the holidays with friends and family.
No matter what your style, you can throw a winter celebration that fits. And you don’t have to spend a lot of money. Here are some ideas.
Game night
* Play two truths and a lie, holiday edition. Talk about two awesome or awful gifts you’ve actually received and include a third that you never got. The goal is to see if your friends can figure out the two you actually received.
* Play Christmas Minute to Win It. The idea of the game, based on the NBC television show, is to create quick but challenging activities for one another — like building a pyramid out of 28 green Solo cups so it looks like a Christmas tree, or use empty wrapping paper tubes as a straw to pick up and transport ping pong balls — all in just one minute. You can compete as teams or one-on-one. Minute to Win It is a fun way to get laughs out of everyone. And it keeps everyone busy.
* Play charades based on Christmas carols. Act out a specific song and see who can guess which one it is
New Year’s Eve parties
* Play games similar to the ones above but with New Year’s themes. Count down the hours until midnight by coming up with activities, writing them on small pieces of paper and placing the suggestions inside balloons. Inflate the balloons and then pop a balloon once every hour and complete the activity inside.
Ugly sweater party
This gives everyone has a chance to be creative and see what others come up with.
You could either purchase a new sweate, knit one if you’re handy with yarn, or you could buy a cheap, plain sweater and then add to it. You might attach battery operated lights, tinsel and/or ornaments. Consider trying to make your sweater look like a tree or reindeer. Remember, the tackier, the better.
Gift swaps
To plan a Secret Santa party, you’ll need a bit of time. Start organizing soon. Get your group of friends together and draw names. During the week leading up to the party, have everyone find discreet ways to deliver their gifts without the other person knowing. You might opt to give one another smaller gifts throughout the week.
You will want to set minimum and maximum spending amounts and a specific number of gifts to give each other.
This will lead to lots of excitement leading up to the party, where the biggest gifts will be given. Each person will be anxious to figure out who drew his or her name. Have some other party games ready to keep the fun going.
If Secret Santa isn’t the route you want to take, consider a white elephant or new gift exchange. If you go with a white elephant, have everyone find items they no longer want. These can be gag gifts that are for laughs. Or, have everyone bring a store-bought gift.
Either way, put the gifts in a pile, and take turns picking and opening their gifts. People can opt to steal presents or to open new ones.
By Paige Plummer
December 09. 2013 10:05PM
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