Party Planning and More…

These easy party decorations are made from all those scraps of holiday wrap you’d normally throw in the trash. Use these to brighten up your house this holiday season.

• Heavy wrapping paper
• Scissors
• Clear tape
•  Hole Punch
• Time needed: Under 1 Hour

1. Cut eight 5- by 5-inch squares from heavy wrapping paper (you can also use precut origami paper).

2. For each square: fold in half to form a triangle, pretty side out; fold in half again.

3. With scissors, cut into the first fold (now folded in half) about 3/4 inch down from the top, stopping about 1/4 inch from the end. Make a similar cut about 3/4 inch down from the first, as shown.

4. Open the square completely, plain side up, and bring up the 2 inside points to form a roll. Tape the points together with double-sided tape.

5. Flip the square over and tape together the middle points. Flip the square over again and tape the outer points.

6. Tape each of the 8 sections together, middle ring of one to outer ring of the next, to form a chain; tape the first and last sections together to form the star.

7. To secure the star, tape the tips together in the center. Punch a hole at the top of one of the points and pass a string through to hang.

Source:  http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11076 

If you need some heavy wrapping paper the Gift Wrap Mall has some beautiful paper.

I was watching Martha Stewart today and caught three easy ideas to make your home look festive for the holiday season without spending a lot of money.

1.   Floating Candle Decoration.  Fill a cut glass bowl with water and red, white, and green floating candles.  We all know that red, white, and green are the Christmas traditional colors and this will add just the right amount of color as a nice table center piece.

2.  Crystal Candycane Centerpiece. Stack two clear glass cake stands and a clear glass vase on top. Hang candy canes from the edges of the cake stands; fill the vase with smaller candy canes, lollipops, or peppermint candies. Scatter candies on the flat surfaces of the cake stands. You can use any combination of cake stands, glasses, or vases to change the look and height of this centerpiece.  To view a picture visit:     http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=stv910021&layout=martha

3.  Crystal Ornament Decoration. Take a crystal cake display with a stand and cover (all different shapes and sizes) and filled the cover with different Christmas Bulbs (different sizes and colors) and placed the bases under the covers and turned this right side up.  This made a beautiful festive center piece.

Its important to keep your guest entertained at your parties.  One way to accomplish this task is to keep it fun.  Who doesn’t like to play a game?  Some games that I might suggest for your Christmas party that are good for all age groups are the following:

Gift Wrap Game

What you will need:
Gift items, wrapping paper, tape, music - that can be turned on and off.
Wrap each gift item in several layers of paper (the number of layers depends on how long you want the game to last)

Give your group / groups a gift and tell them when you turn on the music to pass the gift, when you turn off the music who ever has the gift gets to take off ONE layer of wrapping paper, continue this until the last layer of paper is taken off ,and whoever has the gift unwrapped gets to keep it.

Sock Guessing Game

You take a new pair of thick thermal socks. Then you put objects, that you see or use around Christmas time, into the socks. Make sure you put the same things in each sock. Things like scotch tape, ornament, pine cone, etc. Make sure you put about 20 to 25 different objects in. Tie a ribbon or rope around the opening to make sure nobody peeks. Give everyone a piece of paper and pass the socks around at your party and tell them how many objects there are in the sock and have them write down all they can feel. The person that guesses the most objects correctly is the winner.

Pass the Bow

You will need at least 6 players per team, but can be more

Items needed: 6 gift bows for each team
Winner: Team that passes 6 bows down and back first

How to play: Have the team’s line up side by side, either sitting or standing next to each other.   At one end of the line, place the six Christmas bows. With their left hand have each player grab the right wrist of the person to their right. On the mark, teams pass all the bows down and back again. If a bow falls, players must retrieve while still holding on. The chain must not be broken!

Gift Wrap Relay

Items Needed:  2 small boxes of equal size, Gift wrap, tape and a table of any size.

Get Ready:   Gift wrap the boxes. Cut extra sheets of wrapping paper to fit the size of the box. You will need one piece of wrapping paper for each person on the team. Divide into two teams.

How to Play:  A team member will leave their group, run to the gift station and unwrap the gift, rewrap the gift, and run back to tag the next team member. The first team to have each member wrap the gift wins. To tease the teams before they start, a gift that rattles adds a fun touch. A box of macaroni and cheese works great and it gives them a laugh when the first person unwraps the gift.

By now you should have a general ideal of who is coming to your Holiday Dinner.  Now you need to decide where you are going to set up the everything.  Its a good ideal to plan early where you are going to set up the food, drinks, and the seating arrangements.  The best thing to do is to set up your food and drinks on seperate tables.  I always suggest if possible to set these up in an area of the house that is easy to access and that is easy to clean (some place with out carpet).  Even the best guest can still have an accidental spill.  Did you remember to get cups, plates, napkins, and any other serving items that you will need?

The night before you are going to want to set up your tables and prepare a few things early.  The first thing that you will want to do if your having Turkey and Dressing is to mix up your dressing and then stuff your turkey and get it started cooking or start cooking your Baked Ham.  Its always good to prepare your turkey or ham the night before that way you can have it sliced up and ready for the guest tomorrow.  If you need any  recipes for your  Holiday dinner you can check out http://giftwrapandmore.wordpress.com/ There is recipes for deserts, bread, turkey, ham, and holiday drinks on this blog.

While your turkey or ham is cooking go ahead and start preparing your home made bread.  You will want to cook the bread until it is just lightly browned on the top so that you can heat it up tomorrow to have hot and fresh rolls for your meal.  If you are using brown and serve rolls you can wait until around 20 minutes before your guest start arriving to cook the bread.

 You can go ahead and cook your pies with your turkey or ham if your oven is big enough.  This will decrease the amount of time that you will have to cook in the morning.    Get all of your deserts done to night that you can  and any specialty breads.    Do not cut any fruit or make any fruit salad unless you are using Jello as these will turn dark over night.   You may also want to cook any deviled eggs tonight and set up your deli trays. 

When this is all done go ahead and pre-set your table.  Put the table cloths on and put your center pieces and place additional chairs that are needed.  Next place you plates, cups, silverware and napkins on the tables.

First thing in the morning on the day of your party you will want to start any of your side dishes.  Place all of your deserts  and deli trays on the table about an hour before your expecting any guest.  Remember you will always have those guest that arrive early.  Start your drinks and punch and place these on the table as they are done.  Go ahead and put your ice in a container and place it in the freezer to be removed and placed on the table as your guest start arriving. 

After you have finished your side dishes and placed them on the table start heating up your turkey or ham. It will only take about 20 minutes, then you will want to heat up your bread.  Go ahead and place these on the table as they are done.  Now all you should have left is a few finishing touches and you will be ready to enjoy your holiday meal and your guest.  Holiday meals are easy with a little planning and preperation ahead of time.  This allows you to play host instead of cook during your holiday celebration. 

I hope that you all have a Happy Holiday Season. 

If you are looking for some additional drink recipes check out http://giftwrapandmore.com/