8 Tips for Pulling Off the Perfect Holiday Dinner Party
Now that Thanksgiving’s over, it’s time to set our sights on even more feasts, festivities and holiday dinner parties. Whether you’re throwing a different one every week or simply one party to rule them all, here are eight tips for pulling it off perfectly.
1. Choose a Color Palette and Pattern: Find or create a pattern and repeat it throughout your holiday decor. We went with a color palette of gold, mint and white. Add in some wood and slate details as well for a natural touch.
2. Design Chic Table Settings: Go super sophisticated on the table setting front. For ours we used simple white feathers to add a pop of personality to each setting.
3. Make DIY Hot Toddies: Hot toddies are the BEST. Create a bar where you can mix in all sorts of different flavors into a classic hot toddy.
4. Give Everyone a Holiday Travel Survival Kit / Goodie Bag: Know your friends plan on having one too many hot toddies? Create a kit/bag of essentials for surviving holiday travel, include things like ear plugs, advil, etc, and Chex™ Party Mix to make sure you’ve got snacks for long layovers and the like. Since holiday parties are typically before everyone leaves to see their families, this would be like a sendoff goodie bag.
5 Create a Edible Advent Calendar: Make an advent calendar filled with edible treats. For ours we whipped up a batch of Chocolate Pecan Pie Chex™ Party Mix. Nom.
Make a Batch of Sweet and Savory Holiday Bark
Never underestimate the deliciousness of one of the easiest desserts ever. We made Chex Chocolate Bark by melting 20 ounces of dark chocolate and sprinkling in 1/4 cup shelled pistachios, 1/2 cup dried cherries and 1 cup Cinnamon Chex cereal. Check out our holiday bark from a couple years back to see how it’s done.
7. Always Have Fruit, Cheese and Nuts on Hand: Have you learned nothing from us thus far? Every dinner party starts with a few snacks for those who arrive on the peckish side. Instead of spending hours of time creating the perfect canapés, set out some stinky cheese, fresh berries and nuts. You can’t go wrong. Plus, this doubles as a great dessert option for folks who like a little savory with their sweet.
8. Set Up a Silly and Sparkly Photo Booth: Create a photo booth out of old school tinsel. Your pattern and color choice is also repeated here, but with nostalgia to boot. We hit up Walgreens and Target to grab a few cheeky holiday sweaters, elf ears and props. And yes, that is Misty Spinney rocking the role of St. Nick. So good.