If it seems like the holidays sneak up on you every year and you find yourself scrambling to organize yet another holiday party, we feel ya! The holidays are a crazy-busy time, and sometimes it seems like all you can do just to keep up the same old holiday traditions that you’ve always done. Maybe that’s why holiday parties tend to be so routine, formulaic and—dare we say?—boring.
Well, good news! That time and energy you put into doing the same-old-same-old every year could just as well be put into planning an event that’s innovative, exciting, and fun! Whether you’ll be organizing the company party or welcoming friends and family into your home this year, why not treat your guests to something truly unforgettable?
Of course, the time to start planning is now. So, to help you kick your creativity into high gear, we’ve gathered a few of our favorite winter holiday events that we’ve hosted over the years.
It’s All About Making Memories
One simple way to elevate your holiday party into something special is to put some thought into the photos. A professional photographer can be great, but even if you just take the time to create a beautiful backdrop and let people use their cellphone cameras, they’ll walk away with treasured memories.
A Dickens of a Time
Want to give your guests a Christmas party to remember? Take them back to Victorian England for a day of sumptuous feasts, parlor games, and perhaps a ghost story or two.
It might not surprise you to learn that Charles Dickens, author of A Christmas Carol, absolutely loved Christmas and enjoyed hosting holiday dinners in his home. He and his wife Catherine were fond of inviting guests for Christmas feasts of toasted cheese, turkey, pork pie, and mutton stuffed with oysters. Although he was never part of the rich class of Victorian England, Dickens was known for going all out on Christmas, and his parties went on throughout the following “twelve days of Christmas.”
It’s not a coincidence that Dickens’ most famous Christmas tale is a ghost story. The tradition of telling ghost stories in the long, dark, gloomy nights of winter—huddled together in rooms lit by nothing more than a fireplace and candles—goes back many centuries. Authors like Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Christmas ghost stories that were wildly popular at the time. Instead of swapping gifts, maybe it’s time to resurrect the tradition of swapping spooky tales!
Take a Gamble
Whether it’s “High Rollers” or “Treasure Hunt” or “A Night in the Museum,” giving your party a fun theme can make it stand out from every other holiday party your guests have ever experienced. Weave in a few interactive elements so your guests aren’t just passive observers. Throw in an element of competition and your guests will be talking about the party for decades to come.
Cowgirls Versus Cowboys
You don’t have to rent a mechanical bull to make your event unbelievably fun.
But you can.
And since you can…maybe you should.
Just saying.
A Winter Tablescape
If your party is going to involve formal dining, remember that you can make any winter meal feel sophisticated and elegant if you embrace the stark colors of the season. Simple, subdued, and stunning, these snowball centerpieces were an explosion of inexpensive white carnations.
Rock Out
Whether your groove is top 40s, jazz, reggae, classical, country, or anything in between, Utah has the musicians you’re looking for. Through a company like Utah Live Bands, you can treat your guests to an atmosphere and excitement that only live music can provide. If you can’t find exactly the band you want, they’ll even produce a custom cover band to fit your tastes! From karaoke to cowboy poetry to a jazz quartet to the cantina band from Star Wars, hiring the right performers will make your holiday party unforgettable.
Summon the Great Pumpkin
Certain flavors like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves are automatically associated with the holidays. We’re always on the lookout for ways to use those amazing flavors in fun, new ways, so at the event pictured here, we decided to pull out all the stops to create the ultimate pumpkin spice drink.
We used two traditional slow drip towers (one with coffee and the other with apple cider) to make the best cup of pumpkin spice goodness you ever tasted. Incredible! What better way to make your winter party extraordinary than to let your guests curl up with a steaming mug of holiday yum?
Paint It Red
It sounds simple, but you’d be amazed how much difference it can make when a party has a thoughtfully chosen color scheme. We eat with our eyes first, so when we walk into a party with a gorgeous color palette, we can’t help but think, “This is going to be special!”
To choose your colors, start with the elements you know you want to include and work backwards from there.
Never Enough Cooks in the Kitchen
Cooking or baking for a crowd can be one of the most demanding duties of holiday hosting, but with a little forethought and planning, you can turn that chore into part of the party! Get your people together to form an assembly line, and you can churn out all the desserts you’ll need in a couple of hours. Even better than the brownies and pies will be the sweet memories you’ll make. Just don’t be surprised if your guests want to do it again next year.
Ice, Ice Baby!
At times, ice sculptures have been a wildly popular centerpiece to draw partygoers’ attention. Of course, trends come and go, and ice artwork fell out of favor for a while. But something so stunning is due for a revival! Not only is an expertly crafted work of ice art breathtaking, but it can also be practical. An ice luge, for example, is a sculpture designed to dispense cold drinks throughout the evening. What a cool (forgive the pun) idea!
True, an ice sculpture is doomed to melt sooner or later, but that’s part of its charm. Your guests will get to snap a few pictures and marvel about it throughout the evening, and then it will disappear…except that it won’t! I mean, when are your guests ever going to forget something so magical as a statute made of ice?
Do a Good Deed
The most memorable holiday party you ever throw may not seem like a party at all; it may be when you and your guests work together to make someone else’s holiday brighter.
Deliver Christmas gifts that your group has donated. Serve a meal at a food bank. Bring some cheer to a hospital. Volunteer at one of the many local charities like Sub for Santa, Habitat for Humanity, Salvation Army, Candy Cane Corner, or the Forgotten Patient Christmas Project. The United Way is a fantastic resource to point you towards some good you and your guests can do in the community.
However you decide to make your holiday party uniquely wonderful this year, we wish you the best. We’d love to help you develop your vision and bring it to life. For more ideas, or to discuss how we can help bring your party vision to life, give one of our amazing planners a call at (801) 225-6575.
Happy Holiday Planning!