Santa

I am in charge of having a family christmas party next year and I need some ideas.?

There will be approx 50 adults and 40 kids. We are having it at a hall and it will be catered. I need any ideas that will make it special and fun. We are thinking about having a raffle but I don't want it to be a general one. Something fun and different. Any ideas will be much appreciated. Santa will show up and have a gifts for the kids. We are thinking about having all the kids sing some carols too. Please help. : )

Public Comments

1. With that many children you will need to keep them busy. I suggest that you do activities like guess how many candies are in the glass jar...then give prizes for 1st 2nd, and 3rd place winners. Have a Christmas scavenger hunt...also expand it to hid envelopes with each child's name on it. (inside the envelopes have things children will like) Also, every 30 minutes have an adult reading Christmas stories to the younger children. You may also hire a storyteller/musician to entertain for one hour....depending on your budget. We have sang Christmas carols at my home for Christian singles on Christmas eve and that is what the guests enjoyed the most. I hired a piano player to play for three hours and had him wear a tuxedo. A raffle is a good fund raiser. Also, consider an old fashioned fish pond booth and decorate it like winter with snow, etc. Well, I do not know what part of the country you live in? If you need more ideas let me know...I enjoy entertaining!!!!!
2. Good food is a must. No matter how spectacular the decorations and music are, if the food is lousy, the party will be a flop. No need to be weird, just have the traditional Christmas favorites-- roast turkey, stuffing, ham, etc. Not to mention great desserts. I noticed that the downfall of a lot of catered desserts is stale cookies/cake. Go easy on the booze. The last thing you want is Uncle Harry getting up on a table and doing a strip tease. A raffle is fun for the winner, but not much fun for everybody else. See if the caterer will give you references (and actually follow up on the references by calling them up). Don't wait too long to find a caterer. The fall might be too late. Around now, the caterers might be more willing to accomodate you with better pricing. As you get closer to Christmas, they will get busy and feel that they can pick and choose their clients.
3. That sounds a whole lot of fun!!! I am glad you have just under a yr to get it sorted!! Sounds good getting the kids up singing carols! Sounds like you know what you want!! Good food, all your family around! Sounds fun already!! You could have for the raffle whoever wins has to dress up or try and do stand up comedy or has to doa for fit!! Good luck wish i could be there!
4. We play the gift game where everyone brings a wrapped gift with no tags. Everyone who brings a gift draws a number. Number 1 opens their choice and shows it to the others. Number 2 can steal the first gift or open another. If number 2 steals number 1's gift number 1 gets to open another one. Then you move on to number 3 etc. You have to limit the number of times a gift can be stolen or you may never go home. Since there will be so many guests you can divide up into smaller groups divided by ages or sex. It is great fun. For the younger kids be sure to have plenty of games to keep them occupied. You may even want to try Karaoke everyone gets a kick out of that and the little ones can dance to their hearts content. I commend you for starting early. Best of luck. Update us on your progress!