Hosting a Christmas Card Party

Mandy Douglass explains.

I decided to get a head start this year on my Christmas Cards. One of the main reasons is because I want to distress my December and leave a little extra time open for fun projects and spend more time with my family. I decided to head up a Christmas Card Party this year with friends and family. Here are some things we did at the party:

1. Ate LOTS of yummy food.
2. Created projects that would relieve stress during the Christmas Season.
3. Design and start putting together our Christmas Cards.
4. Laugh, reminisce, and enjoy time together.

Here are some tips for you if you would like to do a Christmas Card Party:

Food
Create a feeling of Christmas. We had Wassail, Gingerbread Cupcakes, A vegetable tray, and even tomato basil fondue. (** Note, I would be happy to provide the recipes for these items if you would like me to ) The smell and taste of Christmas was definitely there, even though my Christmas decorations weren’t up in my house yet. It would be a great night for you to share recipes with friends of what their favorite holiday treat is. Bring a sample and a recipe to share.

Set a Theme
Don’t feel like it HAS to be Christmas Cards. If your friends don’t do Christmas Cards, or aren’t quite ready to start, just have them work on a Christmas Project that might relieve the stress of their holiday season. A few of us worked on Christmas Countdowns. You can even encourage friends to do a “Thankful Card”. This way it gets sent out before Christmas, it gives your Christmas card a little twist, and takes all of your friends and family off guard, because instead of getting it on Christmas Day, they will get it early!

Planning & Prep
Get all your pieces together if you are hand making them. Bring a computer (be sure internet access is available) and upload your Christmas card on your favorite website.

Address your Envelopes
There is a lot controversy on do you hand address or do you use a label. From a survey I did on my blog it was an even half and half. Here is my opinion for what it is worth: If you hand write a message on your card, then a label would be completely fine. If you only have a typed message on the card, then hand addressing gives a personal touch to the card. As long as you hand write somewhere on the card that you’re sending, the receiver will feel like you took the time to really send them a genuine salutation, rather than just a cookie cutter, on the to-do list, guilt if I don’t send it, Christmas Card.

Time Frame
Because my husband is in school, I chose to do it on a night he is in class when my kids went down for bed. I chose 8-midnight. I found a lot of mom’s appreciate the time so they could spend the evening with their family.