Ideas for the Holidays - party themes!

Have you considered throwing a themed Midwinter, Christmas or New Year's Eve party?

Just in case, I've collected a few ideas for you:

- For aspiring writers (or accomplished authors - we're inclusive here): write your own paranormal, period or murder mystery scenario, get a few of your friends or family enlisted as actors, ask your guests to dress the part and host your very own Mystery Party.

- Tattoo chic. The tattoos can be real, but don't have to be. This party will however require heavy rock music for that little something extra! Can you think of ways to tattoo your food and drinks?

One of the gypsy caravans at our wedding
Picture (c) Dirk De Kegel

- Go Gypsy! Find some Django Reinhardt, Rosenberg Trio or Fapy Lapertin Quintet music, lots of candles, fringed shawls, colourful quilts, rugs and pillows, tarot cards and - why not - a gypsy caravan. Lots of inspiration in the links in this previous article or directly at Jeanne Bayol's website.

- Nerdy board games. Dress up like nerds and bring out the dice! Pick games that don't take too long to explain, and keep a few simple kids' games as backup for the wee hours' buffoonery...

- Pick your favourite book, film, computer game, fairytale or TV show and ask your guests to be one of the characters for the evening. More fun ensured if they act accordingly!
A few book suggestions: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Alice in Wonderland, Animal Farm, The Picture of Dorian Gray or anything by Terry Pratchett.
On screen: e.g. Ghostbusters, Will and Grace, Jurassic Park, Toy Story, X-Men or True Blood. Be aware that if you pick Pirates of the Caribbean you're likely to end up with a party full of Jack Sparrows.

- Polka Dot Party! It might be the perfect opportunity to wear that itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow bikini!

- Choose a funky colour and get creative with your decoration, clothes, food and drinks. As an extra challenge: ban artificial food colourings!

- A missed opportunities party where everybody dresses up in the work outfit of who their child-selves wanted to be when they grew up. It's bound to spark interesting conversation and a lot of 'Well, that didn't work out, did it's!

- Or you could ignore winter altogether and have an indoor tropical party. Maybe you can rent a local pool, sauna or wellness center and with the right music and a well-stocked cocktail bar, you'll imagine yourself in the Caribbean in no time!

Here are a few more classics:

• Tacky Tourist party
• Tarts & Vicars (as featured in Bridget Jones)
• Arthur's Court of Camelot (or Round Table), possibly in the Monty Python version.
• Cyberpunk
• And of course: Pirates and Ninjas!

I'm still considering whether it would be a good idea to organise a musical party, where your guests would promise to sing at least a third of the conversation. It sounds like fun in theory, but the reality of it might be a boiled down version of hell.

Do you want to share some of your favourite party ideas with us?

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Ideas for the Holidays.

Amazing how time flies... we're nearly halfway into November! Less than a month from now, many of us will be preparing for the holidays and thinking about presents to put under the Christmas / Yule / Hanukkah tree.
In order to get myself in the right mindset, in the next couple of weeks I'm going to try and post a bunch of party, decoration, food & drink and gift ideas.

(c) christmasstockimages.com

First of all: the tree. I have to admit: I love the smell of a real tree. Still, I hate the thought of slaying it just to decorate the house for a while.
Therefore, many years ago, I decided to buy a tree with roots and plant it out in the garden afterwards for reuse the next year. Unfortunately that didn't work out. By the time I got around to putting it outside, it was too far gone.

After three years of miserable failure, I finally succeeded to save one. I planted it in my herb garden (where it really didn't fit in), didn't dig it out for the following holiday seasons and eventually moved it to another part of the garden where it died anyway. In my defense, I did cut it up and compost it.

In the meantime I've found a compromise: I wait until a couple of days before Christmas, when all normal people have long got their tree and the only ones left are the poor little ugly trees nobody wanted. That's when I come in, a superhero with wool mittens, offering that little, despairing, cut-down tree an opportunity to fulfil its final purpose: to bring beauty and joy to a living room. And every year I'm surprised what a bit of careful pruning, lots of sparkly lights and lavish gold-coloured decoration can achieve.

But as perceivers go (another not-so-covert MBTI reference), I'm always open to consider alternatives for the classic tree, and a few of these certainly hold potential:

Last year, on a champagne tasting trip to France, I saw this at the Mercier house:

Wouldn't that make a brilliant, bubbling Christmas tree? I swear, if anyone wants to get me one of those, I'll take good care of it! I might even share.

Just in case you're not a millionaire, here are a few other, more budget friendly suggestions:

A tree made with your favourite chocolates:

Or your best-loved books:

And I just love these:

• My absolute favourite from All the luck in the world.
• Actually, this sushi tree might be even better, if you don't mind having to make a new one each day. Great idea for a seasonal party though!
• Clever Karen's vintage card tree.
• The wooden possibiliTree®: a frame you can decorate any which way you like.
• Get creative with the content of your bookshelves and see how observant your visitors are.
• Got a hammer and nails? Find a couple of pieces of wood to recycle and make one of these, or get one at Wood & Wool Stool.

And now for something completely different, but not entirely: if you'd consider getting someone a pet for a present, see how to wrap it below. Buffoonery, I say!

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