It's Party Time!

I love Christmas time, don't you? It's good for us to celebrate and party together with friends and family, to do something out of our ordinary routine. As we decorate the outside of our homes with lights and turn them on at night, it speaks a message that Jesus is the light shining in a dark world. As we give gifts to one another, we are reminded of the gift God gave us when He sent Jesus to earth as a new-born baby to grow up and die for our sins. As people who have been made right with God, we have much to celebrate!

If you're like me and hosting a party, maybe you could use some ideas.

Have a progressive party.  Plan for party guests to meet at host number one's house for appetizers, then travel to host number two's house for soup or salad, then on to the third host's house for the main course, and finally to a fourth host's home for coffee and dessert. You may even want to end up at a fifth host's home to play games. As they say, variety is the spice of life! :o)

If you're hosting a party in your home, have each guest/couple bring a dish or finger food to share. You provide drinks, dinnerware and some fun activities.

As guests arrive, give each a name tag you've prepared that says, "Hello, my name is ________." Then below that write the words, "Ask me about...." and have them write down an interest they have. It's a good mixer and conversation starter especially in a group where guests don't know each other that well.

During dinner, ask guests to share a personal testimony, or how God has used them to help someone else. Encourage one another to love and good deeds, as Scripture says.

After dinner, play some party games together. Friends that play together stay together, I say. One fun game is the "Right-Left Game", and can be found here: http://www.santalady.com/xmasgame/leftright.html. You will need a wrapped gift to pass around for this one.

Another party game idea is give each guest a pencil and a sheet of paper with the words "Merry Christmas" printed at the top. Set a timer for 3 minutes and have each guest see who can make the most words from the letters in those words. Use each letter only as many times as they occur in "Merry Christmas". (For example, you can only use 2 "m's" in a word, because there are only 2 "m's" in the title words.) You can decide whether you want to allow proper names. The guest with the most words gets a small wrapped gift.

You may also want to put each guest's name in a hat and have random drawings to win small prizes too.

After reading this post, how many times does the word "party" appear? If you said "9", you're just fine!

Copyright © 2011 Elaine Beachy