While you send out the invitations for your Caroling party you can ask everyone to bring a bag of fruit, some snack crackers, jellies or jams or other items to make up some good cheer food baskets to deliver on your route. You can find inexpensive baskets at many thrift shops, or in your own closet.

Fill the baskets with the fruit and non perishable fruit and deliver them to anyone on your caroling list that could use a little helping hand.

On the night of your caroling party get together with your friends and carpool from one destination to another. While you’re at each spot spread holiday cheer with your baskets and your songs. Have a good time while you’re doing something to give back to the community.

When you’re done invite your friends back to your place for some hot chocolate and cookies or appetizers at your place so you can talk about the night and look forward to the year ahead.

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I have a couple Christmas wedding decorating ideas to share with you today. I know, it’s only August, and Christmas is still 5 months away. If you’re planning a wedding, that’s not very long to get everything together, so you should already be at least in the planning stage.

• My favorite Christmas weddings have all featured poinsettias. They’re fabulous to put at the alter when you’re getting married. Small poinsettias also work very nicely as table centerpieces for dinner.
• White tulle, with white miniature wrapped inside can look like fluffy white snow.

• Christmas wedding table decorations can include pine cones, Christmas greens, shimmering silvers, reds, and whites. Votive candles, or larger pillars can give the room a soft glow.

• Leave a small box filled with Christmas chocolates on your guests plate, as a decoration, and a party favor.
• Wrap white lights on branches, for soft background lighting when you turn out the lights for a little dancing.

Images (c) L Gerlach

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• Cut of cubes of meat and cheese and stick a toothpick in each.
• Cut up vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers and celery. Serve with ranch dressing.
• Sliced fruit with store bought fruit dip
• Chex mix or other nut mixes
• Cut up fruit
• Decorative crackers (Ritz makes some holiday ones)
• Bread toast with spreadable cheeses

All of these appetizers can be bought at your local grocery store and put together very fast. Put the appetizers in decorative festive bowls and on platters. Add some soda, punch, napkins and plates and you’ve got yourself a last minute party!

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What is a progressive dinner? It’s a chance for more than one person to play host and provide food for the party. For this party there is some traveling involved, which makes is so much fun. The party travels from house-to-house. One house provides the appetizers, one house provides the dinner and one house provides the dessert. Everyone travels to the first house and shares appetizers together. When you are finished with the appetizers, everyone loads up in their cars and heads over to the next house for the main course. After the main course is finished, it’s time to travel to the last house for dessert.

If you have a large number of people, then you can delegate the responsibilities a little more. For example, one person may not like to cook but she would love to open up her home. Someone else, who is not having everyone over to their home, could agree to bring the dessert. Everyone pitches in and just focuses on having a great time.

Progressive dinners can be fancy or casual. You can include the kids or leave them at the house with a babysitter. Another idea is to have a few people watch all of the kids at the last house that is serving the dessert, feed them dinner there and let the kids join in for the last course.

You could also have a progressive dinner at local restaurants in your town. This can be a lot of fun also and it involves no cleaning of the house or dishes, which can be a plus around the holidays. Use your imagination and just have a blast!

Plate set pictured here is the “Perfectly Plaid” Collection Christmas Dining/Entertainment 8-Person 48-Pc Set.

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Drive around the city together enjoying all of the beautiful Christmas lights. (One year we all had walkie talkies and could talk back and forth. It was a blast!) Be sure and have some Christmas music playing while you drive around.

After the tour is done, have everyone meet back at your house for some appetizers, games, movies and hot cocoa. You can send the kids in another room to watch movies and the adults can enjoy some conversation, appetizers and drinks.

Some possible appetizers are:

• Summer sausage
• Cheese ball and crackers
• Pigs in a blanket
• Queso and chips

You could also serve some light desserts like cheesecake bites or Christmas cookies. For the drink, if it’s been cold outside offer coffee, hot tea and hot cocoa.

Since you, the host, have been out enjoying the lights with the rest of the party, you want to have food and drink that has already been prepared is easy to throw together in just a few minutes. You don’t want to keep your guests waiting while you’re in the kitchen.

This party could easily become a yearly tradition for your friends and family to enjoy every year!

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Here’s idea #1: Jesus Birthday Party

For those of you who attend a Christian church and celebrate Christmas with your church family, why not throw Jesus a birthday party? Here are some ideas that I got from a friend of mine who coordinates this at her church:

• Have everyone bring their favorite holiday dish to share.
• Let the kids decorate cupcakes and make ornaments.
• Decorate the church Christmas tree together.
• Sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus.
• Invite Santa to come and visit with the kids and get their picture taken with him.

This can be a fun and laid back party with church friends and a great way to start off the holiday season. Not to mention, a great way to get everyone’s help in decorating the church building.

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