December brings colder weather and holidays shared with our loved ones. Our Holiday Party Ideas will help you create lasting memories for your family during this special season. We offer ideas for different holidays and traditions that are celebrated during this time of year. You’re sure to find some fun and easy ideas, whether you’re looking for the tried and true, or something new!

Invitations
Decorations
Food
Party Favors

• Fold a piece of green construction paper in half, and cut out the shape of a basic Christmas tree. Decorate the front with stickers in the shapes of ornaments and candy canes. Draw thin lines of glue from one side of the tree to the other and sprinkle with glitter to resemble garland. Write the party details inside.
• Purchase solid colored ornaments and write the party details in a circle around the outside. Package these in a box with bubble wrap and mail to your guests.
• Attach a card-style invitation to a candy cane and mail in a padded envelope.
• Include in the invitations if you would like guests to dress “festively”, i.e. in red and green.

• Create a card-style invitation out of white cardstock. Paste a die-cut menorah on the front, or draw one on with blue marker. Draw flames coming off each of the candle sticks, color them in with glue, and sprinkle them with gold glitter. Write “You’re Invited” on the front and all the party details inside.
• Write the words to the dreidel song on the front of a card-style invitation and decorate with stickers. Write all the party details inside.
• Attach a card-style invitation to a bag of gelt and hand-deliver them to your guests.

• Fold white cardstock in half and cut out the shape of a snowman. On the front draw two eyes and a smile. In silver marker, write “You’re Invited to [child’s name]’s Winter Party!” on the front and include the party details inside.
• Make a cut-out snowflake by folding a piece of square white paper corner to corner three or four times to create a small triangle. Cut small shapes out of the folded sides and open it up to see your unique snowflake. Write all your party details on the snowflake, fold it back up, and send in an envelope. Your guests will have fun opening up the snowflake to see the invitation.
• Use stickers, markers, and die-cuts from a scrapbook store to create a winter scene on the front of a card-style invitation. Try an outdoor ice skating rink with penguins and polar bears. Then write the party details inside.

• Use a small stocking as a favor bag and stuff it with a candy cane, a jingle bell, and Christmas stickers.
• Give each child an ornament to take home that has their name on it, and the year.
• Purchase small gifts such as board games, card games, T-shirts, or stuffed animals, and wrap them in brightly colored wrapping paper with big bows on top. Have each child wait to open their favor until they get home.

• Create a traditional favor bag that includes a few small favors such as a dreidel, chocolate coins, and a candle.
• Buy plain felt bags at the craft store and sew or iron on a menorah or dreidel decal. Give each guest their own tote to take home.
• For one of the party activities, try candle making. Then each child can take home their creations.

• Brew a large pot of homemade hot cocoa and send each child home with a thermos full. For an added touch, attach the recipe to the thermos with ribbon.
• Give each child a gift certificate to the local ice skating rink or ski mountain. (This works even better if you are holding your party at one of these places.)
• Make it an activity during the party to make popcorn balls or cookies and send a batch home with each child as their party favor.

• Place a small tree in the party area or by the food table and decorate it with your own cookie cutters and ornaments hung on the branches.
• Give each child a jingle bell necklace or bracelet as they arrive and color the end of each guest’s nose with red washable marker to resemble Rudolph.
• Drape garland from the ceiling instead of traditional crepe paper.
• Wrap empty boxes with colorful wrapping paper and set them on shelves around the party area. Set them on the food table to hold bowls of goodies.
• Hang candy canes over the chandeliers or light shades in the party area.
• Combine red, green and white balloons and anchor them with balloon weights around the party area.
• Find more Christmas decorations from our partner, Celebrations.com.

• Decorate in blue, white and silver. Drape streamers from the ceiling and anchor groups of balloons around the party area.
• Set up a menorah in an area where it can be seen, but will protect the candles from being blown out.
• Scatter gelt on all the tables in the party area.
• Cut out menorahs from large sheets of construction paper and use them as placemats.
• Make a menorah out of felt and attach it to the wall in the party area. Have each child make a candle out of felt and attach velcro to the back of each candle. Allow each child to attach their candle to the menorah.

• Hang a string of clear lights around the entrance to the party space and around the windows.
• Fill a large pot with apple juice, water, and a few cinnamon sticks. Let it simmer during the party and it will fill your home with a delicious smell.
• Make cut-out snowflakes and hang them from the ceiling. Or, make this a party activity and let the guests make the snowflakes to hang!
• Scatter white balloons around the floor to represent snow.
• Make your party area an ice skating rink by securing clear plastic bags to the floor.

• Create “Rudolph Reindeer” sandwiches. Start with any type of sandwich and cut it diagonally to create two triangles. These become the reindeer “faces.” Add two raisins for the eyes and five or six raisins for the mouth. Slide broken pretzel bits between the slices of bread for the horns, and half a cherry for the nose!
• Serve rice cereal treats cut in the shape of Santa or a Christmas tree and sprinkle the tops with red and green sugar.
• Make a Christmas veggie tray by alternating strips of green and red veggies on a platter. Try tomatoes, red pepper strips, radishes, celery, green pepper strips, and broccoli.
• Mix red and green M&Ms with caramel corn or rice chex.
• For an easy dessert, serve cupcakes with peppermint ice cream.
• Find Christmas candy recipes from our partner, Celebrations.com.

• Make latkes (potato pancakes) and serve them with sour cream, applesauce, or jam.
• Make your own applesauce by combining apples, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract in a saucepan and cooking until smooth.
• Serve sufganivah (traditional jelly donuts).
• Make sugar cookies in the shape of dreidels and menorahs. Make this an activity by allowing the children to frost the cookies in blue and white frosting.
• Make marshmallow dreidels. Stick a toothpick through a marshmallow and attach a chocolate kiss to the top with some icing, so it comes to a point.

• Make snowman-face crackers by spreading any round cracker with cream cheese, and adding small slivers of carrots and black olives to create a face.
• Serve pigs in a blanket because it’s cold outside! These treats are made by wrapping small hot dogs in flaky dough.
• Roll large marshmallows or donut holes in powdered sugar or coconut and call them “snowballs”.
• Cut slices of cheese with winter-themed cookie cutters (like a snowman, star, or snowflake) and serve them with crackers.
• Make a “Snowy Day” cake using a 9”x13” cake in any flavor. Frost the cake with white icing to create the snow. Purchase ice creams cones with pointed ends and cover them with green frosting. Turn the cones upside down and place them on the cake in groups to resemble trees. Squeeze a bit of white icing on the trees to look like snow. Pipe the words “Let it Snow” with the remaining green icing.