Hosting Guests With Elegance & Flair During the Holidays
Celebrate the yuletide season and ring in the new year within a way that will dazzle and delight your guests.
Menu Ideas
When it comes to planning a holiday party, one of the most daunting aspects is determining the menu. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Small bites, big flavors
Not every celebration needs to center around a banquet-style meal. Offering a tasting menu or hors d’oeuvres can provide your guests with variety and let you show off your culinary inclinations.
Kick off the festive sampling with a Martha Stewart favorite of baked camembert and cherry jam alongside Spanish chorizo balls and warm olives with cracked Coriander. To further tantalize your taste buds, take a peek at Martha’s curated selection of top-notch hors d’oeuvres. And, of course, you can always balance out these luscious tidbits with our previous post for seasonal recipes that promote healthy aging.
Breaking with tradition
One way to spice things up for your holiday planning is to switch up the menu. If you’re not feeling like the Norman Rockwell turkey and sides, there are tons of options that pay homage to different cultures and histories.
The feast of the seven fishes is a popular holiday tradition among Italian American families, traditionally served on Christmas Eve. The feast is a seven-course meal that features seafood as the star ingredient.
Not a fan of seafood? Take it back to jolly old England with a Charles Dickens-inspired feast, complete with Yorkshire puddings and mincemeat pies. You could even eat dinner by candlelight for added authenticity to your holiday hosting.
Festive Finishes
With social media perfection offering inspiration galore, there’s an added emphasis to having the perfect holiday décor these days. Luckily, there are easy ways to add glamour without spending a small fortune.
Fresh ways to “deck the halls”
Right now social media is bustling with new inspiration on how to decorate for the holidays. From adding texture with velvet bows, butcher paper wrappings, and natural elements like foliage to an expansive new array of hot holiday drinks and potpourri. Then warmly wrap it all together with your own curated music mix, reminding friends and family of cherished moments from the past and those to come as only music can do.
Designer dupes
Have you been eyeing a specific website or store’s holiday collection? Many popular brands have more cost-effective lookalikes, or dupes. Crafting stores like JOANN and Michaels have on-trend decorations for much less than you’d pay at Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn.
Looking for more decoration ideas? A walk through Utah-based home store Modern Display can help you get a better idea of your holiday style.
Activity Inspiration
Make a game of it
One tradition we all indulge in is watching holiday movies. And if you’re an avid viewer of holiday romantic comedies, you might notice some common elements. That’s where holiday movie bingo shines.
You can find several bingo card options online and there’s even an official Hallmark Channel bingo card. Give out festive prizes to winners and enjoy the show. And for more fun and easy party games for seniors, check out our list of favorites here.
A few of my favorite things
This is sure to become a New Year’s tradition. The idea is that every guest brings two copies of the same “favorite thing” from the last year, be it a reusable water bottle or a favorite blanket. Then you give everyone a chance to explain their pick before drawing numbers to determine picking order. After the first round of picks is done, go in reverse order to give everyone an equal chance at grabbing something great.
Fun for the Whole Family
Gimme a gimel
Whether you celebrate Hanukkah or not, dreidel can be a fun game for the whole family. You play by giving each person an even number of tokens, such as pennies or candies. Youngest player starts, then play continues clockwise. Each side of the dreidel has an associated action, and then play goes until only one person has any tokens left. You can watch a video tutorial here.
Frosted with flair
Got young grandkids? Try decorating cookies for Santa. You can even find ready-to-decorate sugar and gingerbread cookie packages at many bakeries and grocery stores if you don’t want to bake them yourself. Set out a few bowls with colored frosting, some sprinkles and maybe some candies and watch your little artists go wild. It might be a bit messy, but it’s sure to be a favorite holiday activity for years to come.
Conclusion
No matter how you choose to spend your holidays, retirement gives you the freedom to make the most of this time of year. So start making those holiday plans and get ready for a festive season ahead!