Hosting a Holiday Open House

While our family all gathers at my parent’s home for Christmas, the weeks leading up to the holiday are filled with fun. Our own family tradition is to hold a Holiday Open House for friends and family. It began when the kids were small and our local fire department would bring Santa to visit all the streets in town on the Sunday before Christmas. This local event turned into a "Waiting For Santa" party with all the kids, their friends and families joining at our home for a potluck brunch. If you can believe it, this tradition has lasted 24 years thus far and has been an open house. As the kids "outgrew" Santa and had sports and school activities, we moved the party to the late afternoon. Santa and the fire department still came by at the ends of their rounds. They loved this party as much as we did.

As the kids left for college, we moved the party date to work with their schedules. Sometimes it had to be after Christmas so that all four kids could be there. It gave them all a chance to see family friends; high school friends and they always had college friends coming from near and far. It became a bit trickier as they all graduated college and began to scatter but the tradition miraculously has continued. It is a tradition that no one is willing to give up. It’s still a potluck, so the food is plentiful and diverse and is not a burden for me! I don’t even ask whose bringing what, the dishes come in, go on the table and there is always enough.

Traditions such as this Open House party are an important part of our family bond. It creates memories, keeps the kids in touch with their friends, and keeps us all busy as the emails fly and the guest list grows. For my husband and myself, it is a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with friends we may not see that often. It also a great chance to get caught up with the kid’s friends. Most of them grew up around our house so seeing them as adults is a great joy. Our holidays would not be same without this annual tradition.

What do we do to insure this party comes together every year? We PLAN. All the kids coordinate their schedules and we choose a date that works for all of us. Next we create the invitations ourselves and have them ready to go by Thanksgiving. Even though it is an open house, we put an early RSVP on the invitation, so that we can get a head count estimate. We fill in the buffet table with heroes and salads and all the rest comes in with our guests. Most of our friends bring a dish, an appetizer or dessert and a bottle of wine. We supply the soft drinks and beer. Paper and plastic goods are the only way to go. There are great ones with holiday designs and heavy-duty quality available this time of year. Our goal. Keep it simple, casual and stress free. We want to be able to spend time with our guests.

For sample invitations and other tips on holding an open house, as well as some creative gift and games ideas visit the Holiday Fun section of Celebration Ideas Online