Christmas is coming up fast, and you may still want to throw together a nice Christmas party with friends, family, or co-workers. No problem! Check out these last minute Christmas party ideas to get your creative juices flowing. It doesn’t have to cost a lot or take tons of time to prepare. Time to party on!
Last Minute Christmas Party Ideas
It’s Christmas time and you’ve forgotten that you were in charge of throwing a Christmas party. In the hustle and bustle of normal life, now it’s just a few days away and you’re freaking out because you have no idea what to do. The holiday season can be overly stressful, but you don’t need to worry. Use these last minute Christmas party ideas to help you put together the perfect party in no time.
Ugly Christmas Sweaters
Take off to the thrift and dollar stores around your area to pick up some quirky Christmas decor and plain sweaters for all your friends that are going to be coming. You can buy an assortment of crafty things like fabric markers, fabric glue, pom poms, ribbon, mini Christmas lights, garland, etc. that can be used to decorate the sweaters. When everyone comes over for the party, they get to make their OWN ugly Christmas sweater and wear it through the night as well as take it home with them.
To make it even easier on yourself, you could simply tell the guests to wear their Christmas best (or “worst”!) and hold a contest for the ugliest attire. Your prize can be something nice, or you could gift them with another tacky piece of Christmas attire like these Real Ugly socks (affiliate link).
DIY or Pinterest Party
Depending on how “Last Minute” this party is and if you and your friends are craft loving people, you could decide to make it a Craft Christmas Party. Look through Pinterest, which is always FULL of DIY Christmas decor ideas, no-sew crafts, and adorable ornament inspiration. Print out the directions, then pick up the supplies you’ll need for everyone that’ll be coming. There are tons of ideas using these shatterproof fillable ornaments (affiliate link).
Pick a few different options of crafts so everyone has a choice of what they’d like to work on. Then, just set it all out. When your guests arrive, you can all sit around and just have a fun time making Christmasy crafts together.
Gingerbread House Competition Party
This one is a fun one. Simply decide how many “teams” you will have based on the number of guests you’re expecting. Purchase one gingerbread house kit per team and grab some extra candies and ready-made icings to share with everyone.
The day of the party, divide everyone into their teams (no more than about 6 people per team), and give everybody their gingerbread house kit (affiliate link). Let them get as creative as they’d like!
To make it more fun, be sure to have prizes. You can make up the categories, but it might be fun to have a prize not only for the BEST one, but for the WORST one as well.
Baking Party
If you’re a baking kind person and your friends are as well, why not throw a Christmas party that involves baking delicious and crafty Christmas treats? When you’re all done making your goodies, the whole group will have sweets to snack on and your guests can take home the goodies that they made.
This is a great way to enjoy fresh-baked delights and also make some last minute Christmas presents for others at the same time! You and your guests could walk away with dozens of cookies, spiced nuts, delicious fudge, iced sugar cookies, banana bread, or whatever else you’d all like. It will be a treasured memory and will make your home smell amazing.
You could even have some gift-wrapping supplies handy like cookie boxes and pretty parchment paper (affiliate link) for everyone to take home their giftable edible treats from the party.
Potluck Party
If you just want to throw a nice relaxed “dinner party” of sorts, just tell your guests you’re hosting a potluck party. This is the least stressful for a last minute Christmas party because there isn’t much to it.
Everyone is responsible for bringing a dish (store bought is fine) and you can also cook a dish. Hosts are generally responsible for a main course, and guests can bring the rest. You can even assign things like sides, bread items, desserts, cups and ice, drinks, plates and napkins, and even plastic silverware!
The dishes don’t have to be anything fancy. You could just have everyone bring finger foods and snacks and have some drinks. Finish off the party by throwing on some Christmas jams, relax, and have a good time visiting with your guests.
Throwing a last minute Christmas party always seems to be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be that bad. It really isn’t that hard to do if you just remember to keep it simple. If you are having a hard time, use these last minute Christmas party ideas to help you out.
If you have any other ideas for a last minute Christmas party please share in the comments!