Making My Xmas Party go over the Top (1 Viewer)

[Jim Sentry]

Each year I have a Big Party. I hire a Bartender, serve Beer, Wine, and most mixed drinks.

We also have Santa come out and give little trinket gifts to everyone. We do Kareaoke (although I have to force some people), sing carols. Normally we have between 35 and 50 people.

People can eat, drink, talk, dance, play pool, or go to the Theater to watch a movie (BTW what movie would you suggest).

Any suggestions on what else I could do to make it a super party.

Thanks

 

[Markus Lidstrom]

Hire a breakdancing Santa.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Mistletoe, lots of mistletoe...

 

[Kirk Gunn]

Movie suggestion: Christmas Vacation, Scrooged, or something else light that folks can watch a couple minutes, get a giggle, then return to mingling. Nothing too involved... Another idea may be one of the Christmas music DVDs. That way they can watch a song, be impressed by your sound system, then get back to the eggnog....

Everything already sounds over the top - karaoke, carolling, santa with candy... what time should we be there ? I'll bring my obligatory re-gift

 

[Jim Sentry]

That Mistletoe idea has promise.

 

[Jim Sentry]

Hey Kirk your'e invited.

 

[Joe Szott]

Whenever we have Xmas with extended family, instead of everyone giving everyone else gifts (or no one giving gifts!), we'll do a white elephant exchange. That's where everyone who wants to brings a gift and throws it into the pile. You then draw lots and get to either unwrap a new gift or steal an existing gift. If you steal someone's gift, they can then either steal someone else's gift or get a new one to unwrap.

Usually best to have some really good gifts and some stinkers. Lots of fun especially with kids, they LOVE to steal some other person's gift.

I don't know if this is something that could work at your party or not, maybe you provide some cheaper fun gifts if you don't want to ask others to bring them?

 

[Jim Sentry]

Normally what I do is buy some very cheap trinket gifts and Santa comes out at about 10PM and just hands them out to people. But my regular guests now expect this and no longer get a kick out of it.

The first year I did this people were literally rolling on the floor. Now it seems like its just an interruption?

 

[Todd Hochard]

Have Santa give out cards with donations to the Human Fund, on their behalf.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

print up some of these.


CJ

 

[DougWright]

Someone named Christ replied to the request for xmas party suggestions, I think we should listen.

 

[ZacharyTait]

I have one word:

Strippers! Okay, make that 3 words: Mrs. Claus Strippers. Or in the spirit of Bad Santa, Santa's Sister strippers.

 

[brentl]

Drugs, LOTS AND LOTS of drugs!!

Just kidding!!

Beer, lots and lots of beer!!

Seriously though aren't you worried about any sort of liability if somebody gets in any problems on the way home?

Brent

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Bad Santa... or Elf.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Eggnog and bourbon.

 

[Mary M S]

How much do you spend on the trinket gifts?

A couple of years ago when the tiny radio shack remote control cars were selling heavy. I called an on-line store for a more-torque motor version of the radio shack 2" inch vehicles (who were sold out) and ordered $400.00 as a business gift for the people who work in the back at a factory we use. By contacting the website I got a deep discount on a bulk order, for a location used to selling often only 2 to 4 units to an address. (the batteries however cost me an additional 50? in bulk purchase.) This was for 80 or 90 units total. And those cars were much reduced in price at cetain locations I saw them last year, so a bulk order could be pretty cheap (2 dollars a unit, x 50 = 100, -before batteries? ) I aquired a head count of each employees # of children-at-home, since these little cars were a hot item that Christmas, so if they had 4 children they got 4 cars. etc.

All these adults, set up a track in the factory (men & women) and ran them all round the factory. Some kept them for themselves, and would not take them home to the children. They played with them for weeks! My husband had given the owner and son one each and would walk in and find them going down the hall with them. They were a big hit, as something that adults would never purchase for themselves but whom were delighted to revert to playing with under novel (factory/ Party?) circumstances.
(adults are always children at heart, so say something like a big nerf (knockoff) gun setup with targets and tons of extra darts etc).
The white Elephant is great too, which Joe mentions. We have that game with a large extended family at our annual super bowl party. My sister, a buyer for a Large retail chain, collects odds & ends she is gifted through the year. A logo cheap buisness pen/a t-shirt/ a coffee mug etc. Usually there is one or two decent items. (a leather calender, gift cert etc). Makes the stealing fun, trying the get the one or two decent items. Our rules, after 2 steals, item is dead and no longer in play. Everthing is placed in brown paper grocery bags you draw by #

Right now, off top of my head, - I would play the 2003 Live-Action version of "Peter Pan" (as I was recently very impressed with this film) as approriate light holiday fantasy fare. (decent soundtrack with some cannonade also!)

 

[Greg_R]

HOT TUB! You can rent portables (comes with portable water heater, etc.).

A wacky gift exchange is always entertaining ($15 max, etc.).

 

[Sam Posten]

Buy a pinball machine/classic arcade machine. Or a dozen.
Make artificial snow.
Get a standby taxi service so your guests get home safely.
Hire a magician/juggler/ventriloquist/comedian to roam the party.

 

[Sam Posten]

Couple more quick ideas:
Celebrity Impersonator
Instead of putting a movie on the theater, Xbox live Halo2 on the bigscreen!

 

[Robert_Gaither]

What ZacharyTait and brentl said, and lots of cops, you'll have party that you'll all talk about for the years to come while in prison.

How about firework pyrotechnics for the occasion?