Throwing a good old fashioned tree-trimming party can be a fun and entertaining way to celebrate the holiday season with family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors. Most people have treasured and precious childhood memories of making their own Christmas ornaments and decorating their own tree with Christmas lights, so reliving these fond childhood memories is a great way to spend time with family and friends and create new memories. This is an especially great way to celebrate Christmas with single friends or those who are far away from their own families because it gives them a chance to meet new people and to enjoy the holiday traditions that they might not otherwise celebrate on their own.

The first thing you want to do is to send out your tree-trimming party invitations. You can make your own party invitations by cutting them out into the shape of Christmas ornaments and decorating them with glitter, beads, or paint. You can also buy store bought invitations or use an email invitation site to spread the word about your fun tree-trimming party. You might want to ask your guests to bring their own Christmas ornaments to the party and you can even turn this into a fun party game by awarding prizes to the best Christmas ornament or most outrageous Christmas ornament. Another fun twist to the usual tree-trimming party theme is to turn it into a meet and greet for single friends. On the invitation you can ask that guests either bring a Christmas ornament or a single friend to the party with them. Christmas is a great time to meet new friends and start new romances!

You will then want to prepare for your tree-trimming party ahead of time by cooking food, preparing appetizers, mixing drinks, or baking holiday cookies. You can make as much or as little food as you want, but you should have a least a few things for your guests to snack on while at your tree-trimming party. Try cooking any food the day before that can easily be reheated just before your party. Designate specific areas of the party for food, drinks, or other activities. You can set up a drink station with a bowl filled with some non-alcoholic punch that can have alcohol added to it separately if you choose. You can also offer a warm drink, such as hot cider or hot chocolate. Of course, eggnog is the official drink of the holiday season, so do not overlook this Christmas favorite. Make sure to place your food in decorative bowls and use inexpensive Christmas ornaments as decorations. You can also use miniature ornaments as unique glass markers that can easily be wrapped around glass stems or cup hooks with ornament hangers.

Before your tree-trimming guests arrive, you will want to have your Christmas tree already set up and ready to decorate. Place the Christmas tree lights on the tree ahead of time so that once your guests have finished decorating the tree with their ornaments all you have to do is plug in the lights and watch as everyone oohs and ahhs in delight. Place several large bowls or baskets near the Christmas tree with your own Christmas ornaments in them as well as one filled with Christmas ornament hooks. You might not want to put out your most treasured family or German ornaments for your guests to use and be careful of placing breakable ornaments where they could be knocked over and broken.

You might want to set up a Christmas ornament crafting table where your guests can create their own Christmas ornaments during the party. This a great way to give your guests something to do and an opportunity to mingle with others as everyone gathers around the crafting table to decorate their own Christmas ornaments in their own unique styles. Cover a long table with an inexpensive plastic tablecloth, preferably decorated with a Christmas theme, and provide everything your guests might need to decorate their own Christmas decorations. This might include inexpensive clear glass ornament balls, wooden ornament decorations, glitter, glue, foam, beads, sequins, pom-poms, paint pens, wire, or anything else you can think of. Once everyone has decorated at least one ornament, each person can hang their handmade ornaments on the tree while telling a quick story of their favorite childhood Christmas memory.

The final detail to preparing your tree-trimming party is to prepare party favors for your guests to take home with them that will remind them of the fun they had at the party. Probably the most appropriate party favor you can give to your tree-trimming party is, what else, their own Christmas ornament to take home with them. You can buy inexpensive Christmas ornament balls and write their names and the date on them with glitter or paint pens. Or you can purchase some beautiful handmade German ornaments to take home that they will most certainly treasure for a lifetime. Cut a branch off of your Christmas tree ahead of time and place it in a vase near the door. Hang your party favor Christmas ornaments on the branch and tell your guests to take one as they leave. You might also want to wrap each Christmas ornament or other party favors in their own beautifully wrapped presents and have them placed beneath the tree they are decorating. As each guest leaves, tell them to choose their own present and open it on Christmas morning. You could also hand out individual bottles of champagne, homemade cookies, even Christmas snow globes if you like. The point is to thank your guests for coming and helping you decorate your tree.

In the end, your tree-trimming party will most likely be a great success, your guests will have made new holiday memories, and your tree will have been decorated with a variety of unique and beautiful Christmas ornaments. As a result, you will probably find that a new holiday tradition has been started and your family and friends will be looking forward to your next holiday tree-trimming party year after year!