Online Christmas Magazine

I Hate Typical Dinner/Christmas (Holiday) Parties
by Sarah Briggs

I hate typical dinner parties! I arrive at least twenty minutes late so I won‚t be the first one there and watch my hostess going through her melt down first hand. Then I make a drink of some kind, any kind, just to have something in my hand. That, my friends, is a bad sign for the evening, and we've all been there. Cold sweat pops out on my brow as I try to make a lot of "witty" small talk with people I know and don't know. Most of them look like deer caught in headlights as they try to make equally witty replies and all of us fail miserably.

Then Old Faithful makes an appearance: one obnoxious guest that for some unknown reason is the host‚s best buddy. This stuffed shirt or blouse acts like a spraying tom cat in every conversation - the conversation will only be conducted with him/her in the lead - an expert on EVERY subject. Oh, yes, obnoxious one knows more about my job than I do; he buys only the hottest stocks and basically talks about himself to the exclusion of all other conversation.

I muddle though this nightmare of an evening as exit excuses race though my head like a cow trying to escape the slaughter house but none of them will get me out the door, and I know I‚ll just hurt my host and have to mea culpa for the next six months.

So I stand by the hors d‚oeuvres table eating all kinds of foods that I know will kill me, like cream puffs and sausages, as I beat myself up for coming to what I knew would be an attempted Sex in the City-style cocktail party. Then the flushed, rapturous faces of my host/hosts from across the room catch my eye as they stand with trays in hand having a great time. Any fool can see that they think they‚re hosting the event of the season as they blush with delight as they listen to their guests‚ small talk with huge smiles as everyone tries their hardest to make merry for the same reason. No one wants to hurt the host, but I know most of them would rather be hit by a bus than to remain at the party.

It was at that point that I thought back to my own dinner parties I‚d thrown over the years and wondered if my guests had thought of all the fanatical exit excuses I had that night. Did they really care that much for me to endure nights like this at my own table? What a cathartic night that was for me, and I vowed to make some changes so that my guests wouldn‚t ever have to dread attending a gathering of mine or have to make up some ungodly excuse to leave--something like their pink elephant has some dreaded illness that they have to go home to attend to.

Here are a few of the changes I've made to save my guests and to have a genuinely good time, no matter what the occasion is.

Ice Breakers
Hold on, ye of little faith--I heard a groan when you saw Ice Breakers, and I know what you think. Those are for kids parties, aren‚t they? They used to be, but take it from me--a rather large, forty-seven-year-old kid at heart--ice breakers are still great and get your party or gathering off to a great start. This summer I hosted a game night, and out in the front yard, I had several long tables set up with items on them. I made up fifteen sight gags the guests had to figure out and write down on a sheet so they could enter the contest for the most correct answers. Sight gags, you say; what are those? This example is a no brainer, but it‚ll give an idea of what I mean; I had a clock with blood running down the face with a knife plunged into it. What is it? Yep, killing time! My guests had a ball trying to figure out what each of them was, and it put them in a great mood for games once I got them into the house. Play fun games while everyone is at the dinner table to save them from having to make all that brain numbing small talk and keep them from looking like a refugees from a Botox camp with all those frozen smiles.


Ice Breaker For When Your Guests Arrive


Musical Presents
This game brings out the competitor in the mildest mannered person and will get a huge laugh when it‚s over. Here is what you need:

The same number of small boxes (make them different sizes for more interest) for each guests and your family--I always recommend that you make up a few extra in case one gets dropped in the toilet or someone brings a guest without telling me. Don‚t laugh; it‚s happened!

Wrapping paper and all colors of bows

Music that you can stop and start

Small prizes or favors for each box--my favorites are beads the color of my event or a good chocolates. Just be sure that you have the same things in all the boxes

Put whatever prize you‚re giving in the boxes and wrap all of them in all kinds of different paper and put a bow on top. Stack them in the area where you‚ll play the game and wait for your guests to arrive. Once they‚re all there, tell them to get into a circle and say that some of them will get a small gift to start off the evening and that the game is like musical chairs. Whoever holds the gift gets to keep it, but make it painfully clear that no one can open the gift until everyone finishes! Very important to the game.

Pass the presents two or three at a time until you get a very small group left and pass only one at a time. I usually hide my extras and make it look like someone isn‚t going to get a gift until I dramatically pull out a box for the last person and all of us have a good laugh.

You can offer to let them trade if they have a red (or any color) bow for anyone that has a different color bow, and the fun starts all over. After all the trading is done, count down from five and let them all open their gifts. You‚ll be amazed at how adults will act over red and green beads and how they‚ll laugh at themselves for acting like hungry wolves to get a present during the game. Make drinks and get the food on the table; the party is off to a great start!


Dinner Games
Being a five foot tall social eater, I love to play games that get people laughing and talking even while we‚re eating our dinner--no polite talk or conversation hogs for me. But, sadly, I‚ve had a few guests comment on how they don‚t like to talk that much during dinner. Ok, no problem--I just don‚t ask them anymore! I think the best way to enjoy your event or your company, be they family or friends, is through laughter and shared experiences. I guarantee this next game is perfect to get your guests chortling, if not choking, during their meal.


Have You Ever?
Either way you make this game is fine. I personally like passing the jar, but you may prefer to pass a sheet. Get a jar and make it look silly, festive or sophisticated. Hop on the computer and type fifty leading questions that are tailor-made for the event. Be sure to leave four lines between questions for cutting and use a large, easy-to-read font so guests won‚t have to get their reading glasses out. Let‚s do Christmas questions since it tis the season. Here are a few sample questions:

What favorite toy did you get for Christmas and why?
What was the strangest gift you‚ve ever gotten, and what did you do with it?
If you could_________ ________ at ______________ , what would it be and why?
Have you ever wrapped a gift and forgotten what it was? Explain.
Have you ever dialed the phone to wish someone a Merry Christmas and forgotten who you‚d just dialed? Explained.
Ever put something unusual in the refrigerator for the holidays? What was it and why?
Have you ever stuck your foot in your mouth on the holidays? What did you say or do?
Did you tell someone what the present was without meaning to? Explain.
Did you ever mix up some gifts and only realize the mistake during the opening? What did you do?

Christmas Supplies
A decorated jar for the slips of paper--keep it light and small so it can be easily passed and will fit on the table

Color paper to match the event (red & green or silver & blue)

Either type the questions or pen the questions neatly on slips of paper


If you don‚t want to do the jar idea, type all the questions on nice stationery and pass the sheets around the table--I would put the sheets in page protectors so gravy won‚t smear the questions!

Once you‚ve typed up all your questions, print them out on colored paper and cut them apart. Fold them and put them in the jar you‚ve decorated to match your event. Start laughing!

All Wrapped Up
I and my guests love this game every time we‚ve played it. You‚d think this was a one-time game, but it‚s become a tradition. It‚s furn to see how the new people play and not know what we know. It‚s an easy game to make and will get conversations flowing once they‚ve stopped laughing.

Get a small box and put a nice little gift like beads in the color of my event, a picture frame, or small bag of chocolates or wrap it. Go online and find some silly seasonal riddles or tongue twisters and type them. Cut out the typed riddles or tongue twisters and tape them on the back of the wrapped gift. Wrap it again and do the same thing until you have one layer for each guest with one riddle. A word to the wise--add at least one or two more layers in case someone accidentally tears more than one layer or if an additional guest drops in.

After everyone is seated and has plates and glasses filled, pull out the gift to show it to everyone. Tell them that they‚re going to play a game and that they can only remove one layer of the wrapping paper on their turn. They have to read the question or riddle on the back of the box to everyone so that all try to answer it. The last person to unwrap the box gets to keep the gift inside. Start passing! You‚ll never forget all the goofy things people will do or say Elmer Fudd-like tongue twisters--it brings out the kid in everyone!

Now you know what to expect when you come to my house for dinner or a holiday party. I‚ve made up my mind that life is too short to spend it at events that I don‚t like. I pump up my own events so that no one has to feel tortured when they cross my threshold either! Merry Christmas to all and happy entertaining.