Hosting dinner, a party or simply entertaining guests can be daunting especially while juggling pieces of your life altogether. You have kids. You have a career. You have a business. You have a husband (maybe).
The holidays are fast approaching and you may already be stressed out planning and preparing for the holiday get-togethers filling up your already too full calendar. Take deep breaths, sit down, and read on. Remember Christmas should be a season of spending quality time together with people who matter to you the most, not throwing the perfect parties.
Bring back the cheer and merriment to your holiday party planning by finding easier ways to finish your to-do list. Get through the busy holiday season with less stress and less effort.
Here are smart and practical tips to make sure you come out a winner mom and holiday party hostess:
1. Stock up the pantry
The most stressful yet essential part of any party is the food. Food keeps guests busy, and lesser chances of noticing you haven’t really touched up on your wall paint yet. Stock up your pantry on your go-to snacks or appetizers so you’re always ready for surprise guests. Put together an impromptu party supply list and get grocery shopping before Christmas Day!
2. Keep the kids entertained
Put on some festive music and a nice appetizer spread and you’ll get the grownups going. Your guests’ kids will need something to keep them busy too. An incredibly easyway to do this is cookie decorating. Simply bake up some sugar cookies from your favorite recipe and prepare some sprinkles, frosting and a dedicated space for the kids to come together and design their cookies together.
3. Create space
With the colder season setting in, parties should be done indoors. Not all of us have a sprawling mansion, but we can definitely take steps to make more room in our homes. Here are some strategies to create more space:
- Utilize the garage – Install a heater, add some cozy chairs and lights and your garage will double for a quiet retreat room to those who want to break off for a little while from all the dancing.
- Stash some folding chairs – Renting them will cost you about the same as buying them, so better invest in good, sturdy ones to expand your home’s seating capacity for future parties all year round.
- Move furniture to spare rooms – The rule of thumb is if your furniture can’t double for a chair or a table, get it out of the way. Choose a day to declutter your home before the holidays so you can create more space for entertaining larger groups of guests.
4. Keep a gift closet
We’ve lost count of how many times we’ve frantically rushed to a store to buy a last-minute gift. Time to ditch that habit and start piling gifts at home. Keeping a gift closet is a great way to keep your Christmas stress-free, and save you some dollars too as you can shop for potential gift items on any sale all year. Perfect for when the relatives are visiting and you forget your niece has a sister until they show up on your door. Problem solved, no sweat or hurt feelings involved.
These are wonderful tips from Wondermom Wannabe’s original article here.
What holiday-party-hosting tip was your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!