Merry Christmas

“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.” ~Burton Hillis

We wish you the gift of time with family and friends.

IBY staff

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Christmas Party Games and Activities

White elephant gift exchange. At an annual department party for my husband’s work we did various types of exchanges. But the most awful gift (true white elephants – those items no one would really want) was one of the most fun. These items should either be something you have in your house or something that costs very little (thrift shops, dollar stores, discount stores are good sources). We always played the game by drawing numbers. Number 1 got to choose a package and open it. Number 2 could either steal number 1s or take a new package and open it. If number 2 steals number 1’s gift, number 1 chooses another gift. Gifts can only be stolen twice. After the last person has picked a gift, number 1 gets their chance to steal.

I've also seen this game played with nice gifts.

FOR ALL AGES

8 Christmas Party Games

40+ Christmas Party Games

20+ Christmas Games and Activities – especially appropriate for school parties

43 Christmas Party Games

Or what about sharing a Christmas Story? Here’s a site with lots of stories, plus links to more stories.

ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS

3 Children’s Christmas Party Games

5 Children’s Christmas Party Games

“Ideas For Your Kids' Christmas Party” by John Lenaghan

Christmas Party Games for Kids 4-8

ESPECIALLY FOR TEENS

Christmas Party Games for Teens

ESPECIALLY FOR ADULTS

Christmas Party Games for Adults

These Christmas Party Games include Christmas Movie Trivia, The Bacon Factor, and more, plus Party Starters. Click here to read more!

Christmas Party Ideas

Want to invite friends to celebrate the season with you? You can make your time special by planning ahead. This article by Julie Henry “Christmas Party Ideas” has some great suggestions. So do these 2 articles by Coral Nafie: “Plan a Memorable Christmas Party” and “Gearing Up for Holiday Guests.” This article, “Christmas Dinner Party Ideas” by Susan Crowley, has a variety of ideas.

The Invitations

Want a unique wording for your Christmas party invitation? What about using a quote about Christmas? Or a quote may inspire what you want to say. Here are some Merry Christmas Quotations for you.

Ideas for Children

Or maybe you want to plan a party for kids. Here are a few resources:

“Christmas Party Ideas For Kids” includes Christmas party games and ideas for a classroom or home party.
“Planning Your Child's Christmas Party” by Kimberly L. Keith
Christmas Party Ideas for Kids

My best advice for any party, is do as much prep as you can ahead of time so that you can enjoy the party, too!

Later this week I'll blog on Christmas games and activities. Click here to read more!

Company or Office Christmas and Holiday Parties

Now that Thanksgiving is over, our thoughts turn to Christmas. I’ll first start with some talk about work Christmas (or holiday) parties.

I’ve gone to company parties at museums (Museum of Natural History and Museum of Flight in Seattle), at convention centers, on board ship, private homes, and more. There’s been food, music, dancing, casinos (with play money and an end of evening auction to spend play money), prizes, photos, etc. Obviously, the bigger the party the sooner planning must begin. Top places can get booked as early as January. Bigger companies can obviously offer bigger more elaborate parties. Sometimes even in a big company, groups do their own special holiday gathering, such as a potluck lunch.

Here are a few resources for your party planning:

Company Christmas Party Planning and Ideas

International Social and Business Etiquette Quiz

Company Christmas Party Games

Christmas Office Party Games

Some of my favorite Christmas and Holiday invites from our site.
Christmas Cocoa Die Cut Fill-in pictured above
Rudolph
Peppermints
Pretty Packages
Ornament Distinction
Did you know you can order as few or as many as you want?

Even just one for the office bulletin board!

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