The days are getting shorter and the nights longer, and the weather is becoming quite chilly outside. However, there are buckets of fun still to be had in the winter holidays. Resist the urge to put on your old tracksuit pants and watch Netflix night after night. Instead, bedazzle your friends with a showstopper of a party that they will remember for some time to come. Good parties require proper planning. To help you with your winter holiday party preparations, I’ve compiled this list of compelling party ideas.
Story Stages
Light Up the Sky With Fireworks
Shake your friends out of their winter ennui and lift their spirits by starting your party with a fireworks display. Starting the night with a bedazzling display of colors and sparkles that light up the winter night sky is a great way to break the ice and give your guests something to talk about.
You can perhaps start off with your own pre-planned fireworks display, and can then invite the guests to light up a few fireworks themselves. Ensure that guests are kept comfy and happy by placing a big bowl of warm punch on an outside table, and also some snacks.
First things first, you’ll need to go firework shopping. Allow the team at the firework shop to guide you. Tell them about the size of your garden and the type of firework display you have in mind. You can choose from a wide variety of fireworks, including roman candles that eject beautiful exploding stars, bottle rockets that will wake everyone up with a whistle and a bang, and cakes that will keep your guests enthralled with intricate aerial effects.
Provide a DIY Cocktail Bar
Instead of boring your guests with regular drinks like wine and beer, spice things up this winter by setting up a DIY cocktail bar. A DIY cocktail bar will allow your friends to practice their mixology skills and will keep them entertained throughout the event. To make this idea work, you have to go all the way and stock your bar with the necessary tools, spirits, and mixers. You will also need to restock the bar throughout the night with clean glasses and fresh ingredients.
The first step is to stock your bar with the basic spirits that guests may require for their cocktails, such as whiskey, rum, gin, tequila, and vodka. Also remember to provide liqueurs, such as Vermouth, Cointreau, and Campari. Here are a few other basics you’ll need to provide:
- A variety of glasses
- An ice maker
- An ice crusher
- A cocktail shaker, or two
- A cutting board
- Garnish, such as rosemary, olives, rose petals, and orange peel
Since your guests may not know how to make a good cocktail, provide a cocktail recipe book, where they can find recipes for classics, such as the Moscow Mule, Whiskey Sour Martine, and Tom Collins.
Host a Cocktail Competition
You can also take things up a notch by hosting a cocktail competition. This is a great way to keep your guests entertained throughout the event. To make things even more jolly, guests are required to dress up according to the theme of their chosen cocktail. Here’s how it works.
First, you need to send out the invitations to your friends, in which you inform them that you’ll be hosting a cocktail competition and that they’re invited to participate. They must let you know in advance which cocktail they’re entering in the competition so that you can ensure the bar is correctly stocked.
On the night, the costumed guests take turns presenting their cocktails to the rest of the party. The winner, or winning team, is judged on their costume, performance, and, of course, the taste of their cocktail. You can either choose a panel of judges, who don’t participate in the event, to select the winner, or all guests can vote for their favorite cocktail.
Throw a Murder Mystery Dinner Party
Why have a regular dinner party when you can keep your guests enthralled with a murder mystery party? Fortunately, you don’t have to write the murder mystery yourself. You can purchase a murder mystery party kit, which typically contains the plot of a murder story, invitations to the party, and also a detailed guide on how to run the mystery event.
The invitation that each participant receives normally contains a bit of background regarding the murder mystery, a character description, and also a few costume ideas. The more elaborately participants dress up, the more successful the party will be. Since each murder mystery has a clear theme and most take place in a specific country and time period, you can decorate the party venue accordingly, and can also plan your menu to fit the theme.
Typically, you can plan the courses of your meal based on the number of scenes in the murder mystery. If you prefer to host a cocktail party rather than a sit-down dinner, you can purchase a kit that’s designed specifically for a cocktail party.
