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Throw a Christmas Decorating Party

This Christmas season we are trying to be more intentional about having an “Old Fashion Christmas.” For us, that means keeping family traditions alive, as well as creating some new ones. One of the family traditions that we have really come to love is to throw a Christmas Decorating Party to kick off the season. When I was growing up, Christmas decorating was always fun and special, but it was never intentional. I think that’s what sets this tradition apart from mine as a child. We are very intentional about setting up a designated block of time, free from all distractions so that we can enjoy every part of decorating our home.

My husband did a Christmas Decorating Party growing up and we have taken that tradition, carried it on, and turned it into our own special event. Every year our family looks forward to this special night.

I want to share with you how we throw a Christmas Decorating Party for our family. There is nothing earth-shattering in what we do or how we decorate. The more unique aspect is how we set the event apart and very intentionally make it a quality family moment. You can go as extravagant or as simple as you like, but whatever you do, MAKE IT SPECIAL.

I encourage you to do your own Christmas Decorating Party and adapt it to your family’s needs and traditions. Plan out your own Old-Fashion Christmas with our FREE PRINTABLE CHRISTMAS PLANNER that will help you prioritize your Christmas activities and focus on old and new traditions.  You can find that here –>  Plan & Celebrate an Old-Fashion Tradition Filled Christmas.

Don’t expect the perfect Christmas Party

Decorating for Christmas can be stressful. Instead of getting frustrated with all the work, let the kids work and have fun. Please note that not once in this post will I use the word perfect. This party is designed to involve everyone in the family, spend quality time, reminisce, and elevate the meaning of Christmas; it is never picture perfect. Ornaments will break, drinks will get spilled, and inevitably at least one child will cry. I only share this, because it is easy to get caught up in making a picture-perfect memory and we get frustrated when our family missed the memo and “ruin” the day; we lose sight of why we wanted to do it in the first place.

Sometimes we do not fit all the decorating in and that’s okay. This year, we didn’t fit in decorating the tree the night of the party but got most of the other jobs done. We had some leftover candy and the next night we had a mini tree decorating party to get the job done.

Here is how we throw our Christmas Decorating Party

Before the Christmas Party – have the Christmas Tree up.

We do not put our tree up until after Thanksgiving. One reason is that we always have a real tree and like to keep it up past New Years’. Last year, we found a spruce tree on our 20-acre property and cut it down. It was not a perfect tree, by all means, but worked and fit in our house well. It was the first step into our Old Fashioned Christmas, using what we had.

There have been times when I put up the lights on the tree the night before. But mostly, I put them up the night of the party when everyone else is setting up the Christmas village. You will see below that the kids have created their own tradition by making a runway when the Christmas lights are being tested. You do what works best for your family.

To keep our fresh Christmas Tree from losing its needles too soon, we always give our tree some sugar. I will make a sugar-water solution by boiling a gallon of water with 1 cup of sugar and adding it to the tree water once it is cooled, or you can add a  can of 7Up add one can to your Christmas Tree water.

Play your favorite Christmas Music

This is the first thing we do to set the mood for our day. Pick out our favorite Christmas music

Our Favorite Christmas Music to Celebrate:

• Pentatonix Christmas Music
• Andy Williams
• Bing Crosby
• Kelly Clarkson
• Frank Sinatra
• Jennifer Nettles
• Karen Carpenter
• Muppets Christmas
• Dominic the Donkey
• Cowboy’s Christmas Ball

Everybody Helps Bring Up the Christmas Boxes

Like little ants, our kids help bring up all the Christmas Decorations. Ornament boxes, Christmas houses, holiday wreaths, and outdoor decorations. The job gets done quickly when everyone works together

Set the Table

The table is set as if we are expecting the queen. The kids help me put on a holiday table cloth and I let them pick out a centerpiece for the evening. Our fancy crystal goblets that hardly get used are put on the table, as well as our holiday serving dishes. The punch bowl is filled or sparkling grape juice is opened. This is a special party just for us!

Special Snacks

Food is definitely me and my husbands love language. For the party, I typically purchase store-bought things for our special snacks because I do not want to add extra stress right after Thanksgiving. Make something simple for your dinner meal; frozen pizza, soup, or macaroni and cheese. Make whatever is easy and will fill everybody’s bellies enough to keep them from overindulging in treats.

Gather your favorite snacks (here are a few of our favorites):

• Cheese & Crackers
• Summer Sausage
• Nuts for Cracking
• Sponge Cake
• Ginger Cookies
• Holiday Candy
• Peanut Butter Brickle
• Fudge
• Meatballs

Drinks:

• Punch
• Sparkling Grape Juice
• Eggnog (our kids LOVE Eggnog!)

The snacks are left on the table and they can snack when they would like. We take breaks through the night to snack together. We want to make this night special. It’s kinda a free for all!

Christmas Lights Are Tested

This has become a new tradition for us. Our house is long! So when we test out our Christmas lights each year we can’t help but take them all the way across our living room and into the office and kitchen. The kids pretend that it is a runway.

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Put the Lights on the Tree and Set up Christmas Houses and Nativity Scene

I have become the designated light person. That is what I get for correcting my husband in our first year of marriage. Daniel did the lights that first year and he stayed close to the trunk. I couldn’t help but see it and bring it up numerous amounts of times. The next year, I was in charge of doing lights and I have been doing it ever since. Lesson learned, be careful when you complain about things.

I really don’t mind. My trick is to go from the trunk to the end of the branches and back. I am very thorough. Maybe I am slightly OCD when it comes to Christmas Tree Decorating. After the lights are on, I also put up the garland. Sometimes I use burlap ribbon, other times a simple bead garland. This year we made Old-Fashioned Popcorn Garland with Oranges and Cranberries. It turned out really cute! Once I am happy with how the basic parts of the tree look I am willing to let go of my OCDness and let the kids start to put up the ornaments.

Time for Ornaments

This is my favorite part!  Taking out all of the ornaments and talking about when we received them and who we got them from.  It never gets old to talk about the memories that come along with the ornament.

Everyone gets involved and this is usually when my husband and I sit down to relax and talk together, reminiscing about past Christmas’s.

Our Favorite Ornaments

Some of our favorite ornaments that we wait to the end are the Christmas Pickel, our Misty Acres globe, and the Key to Christmas.

Our Misty Acres globe ornament came from Bronner’s in Frankenmuth, Michigan.  It’s the world’s largest Christmas store and the theme of the entire town is Christmas. We have family in Michigan and took a trip there a few years back. It’s definitely a travel destination! The whole store was Christmas and they had people who did personalized Christmas Ornaments. This is what we chose to have personalized with our farm’s name. We love it!

We also always hang a Christmas pickle on our tree. My German-Irish grandparents had one of these on their tree and I always loved it. Once I was married, we quickly purchased one to add to our tree. The pickle on the tree hangs in plain sight until the night before Christmas when it is hidden in the tree. On Christmas Day, the child who finds the pickle hidden in the tree gets an extra present.  Now, we do not want any fighting on Christmas, so this gift always is a “family gift.”  Typically we do a game. It’s always a fun addition to Christmas Day.

On the top right of the Christmas tree, you will see our Key to Christmas. This is the last ornament we put on the tree. I wish I could give you a link to this ornament but I sadly can’t find it anywhere. It is a cool antique looking key and has a box which tells a story of Jesus being the key to the season. We make a point to read it every year before we hang the Christmas key.

Decorate the mantle

The stockings usually go up at the same time that the ornaments are being hung. It is always a joke between my husband and me about the reindeer stocking. It was mine as a child and he pretends that the “buck” stocking is his. I always fight him for it and win, but it is an ongoing joke throughout the year.

We also like to figure out what words we can spell with the kid’s initialed stockings. This picture was from last year so now we need to find a stocking with an “F” on it for our newest addition and make him fit in the mix.

Decorate our Living Room Hutch

Reading is an important part of our family life. Christmas books fit right into this. We have a whole box of our favorite Christmas books that we like to bring out this time of year. I continually try and switch out this hutch display to keep things fresh.

We also hand up the past “Kids and Santa pictures” along with my Santa’s that I have been gifted from my grandma along with my other grandma’s kissing angels that she made. My deceased mother also had those little bears. This is where I like to present a nice Christmas display of things of importance.

Last but not least, our Nutcrackers Come Out

Funny story about our nutcrackers, this was an unintentional Christmas collection. Before my husband and I were married, we were in a store and he must have mentioned to me that he thought nutcrackers were neat. Of course, I jumped on it and purchased one for him for Christmas. He was pretty surprised by the gift and he did not remember saying that and did not understand why I gave him a nutcracker.

Of course, we just couldn’t have one nutcracker. So, we purchased a few more and now the kids have claimed them for their own. It is easily their favorite Christmas decoration to put up each year.

Remember the purpose is to Enjoy This Time and Kick off Christmas with a Bang

I hope you enjoyed this quick look into how we throw a Christmas decorating party. Like I mentioned above, sometimes this does not happen in one evening. And that’s okay! Make it fit your life. But, remember that the purpose of the party is to enjoy family, make memories, and kick Christmas off with a bang.

Pin Me for Later

Plan out your own Old-Fashion Christmas with our FREE PRINTABLE CHRISTMAS PLANNER. The free printable will help you prioritize your Christmas activities and focus on old and new traditions.  You can find that here –>  Plan & Celebrate an Old-Fashion Tradition Filled Christmas.

Making Rosette’s is another one of the family traditions that we do every year. You can learn how to make them here.

How do you make Christmas decorating special in your home? Do you have any of your own traditions? I would love to hear about your own Christmas traditions. Comment below.

We’d love to have you follow along with us on our Old-Fashioned Christmas! Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. I have been adding A LOT of ideas from Pinterest here and hope to squeeze a few cute projects in this season. Looking for some gift ideas? Check out our Gift Guides.

Next up in our Old-Fashioned Christmas series, make Old-Fashion Christmas popcorn garland with oranges and cranberries. We had SO much fun making garland this year. Can’t wait to share.

– Daniel & Lindsay from Life on Misty Acres

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