How to Throw a Caroling Party

Who doesn’t like a good party?! The holidays are slammed with all sorts of parties and activities: work parties, ugly sweater parties, church parties, etc. My husband and I enjoy decorating for the Christmas season and are a fan of parties so we decided to throw one of our own. We have a tradition of caroling to several of our neighbors a few days before Christmas. We decided to invite others to join with us by throwing a Cookie and Caroling Party. It was such a success last year, that we decided to host one again this year.

How to Throw a Caroling Party

1. Choose the Date and Invites: Due to the large amount of parties being thrown during the holidays, we like to schedule our caroling party a few days before Christmas. It adds a fun activity for those who may not be visiting extended family for the holidays and is close enough to Christmas day that people usually don’t have conflicting plans. To save on time, I sent out customized evites two weeks in advance. I asked my guests to dress warm and to bring a favorite batch of cookies to share.

2. Decorate & Clean House: Easy peasy because I have had my Christmas decorations up since the day after Thanksgiving! So if you don’t count that, all the work was done a few hours before the party began. We cleaned house, set up the cookie table, and made two big batches of hot chocolate (mint and regular).  There is one decoration that is made solely for this party, and that is three large paper snowflakes that are hung over the refreshment table. They don’t keep very well (believe me I tried) so we made new ones this year.

3. Party Schedule: After the guests arrive, we choose three to four songs to sing at each house and then head outside. I prepare a bag of goodies to share with each house which my toddler enjoys handing out. Last year, due to the cold weather, we only caroled to four homes, but this year we were able to visit seven.

Everyone loves when we stop by and you wouldn’t believe the amount of people that tell us that we were the first carolers they have ever had. Caroling is such a simple activity that everyone can participate in and it brings in the Christmas spirit like nothing else. This year we had quite the choir, all four parts were sung and it sounded beautiful. One family who had just moved into the neighborhood, saw us coming and hurried to their front porch to greet us. This was the first time we had met them and is actually how we have met a few of our neighbors.

After caroling, we enjoy mingling while munching on goodies and drinking hot chocolate (or orange juice, due to the warm weather, all the kids wanted OJ instead).

My little cookie monster. He took one bite from about every single cookie.

Like I said, we enjoy decorating.

What do you think? Will you be throwing a caroling party next year?