November 21st, 2006
Silly season
The silly season has started - the office parties, dinner parties, shopping trips, Christmas decoration dilemmas. This comes with the usual stress, over eating, binge-drinking and panicking. Most of us are competitive and we want to provide or organise a better happening than last year, and certainly a better one that others do.
Here is a guide as to how to achieve it..
Try to have parties at public places - bars, restaurants or hire a venue - and let others cook and clean up afterwards!
Home Christmas party
If you must have a Christmas dinner party - focus on style rather than substance. Decorate your home in a unique and funky way with baubles, wreaths, garlands and displays. Choose a menu that can be prepared one or two days in advance - on the day itself you should only concentrate on presentation and yourself (you don’t want to appear to be stressed out). If you want to invite over more than a couple of people - host an evening drink & nibbles party. This might be less stressful to prepare and you’ll have more time to entertain your guests. Create a buffet arrangement of canapés and gourmet bonne bouches. Make sure the food looks elegant, Christmassy and most importantly, effortless. Display everything with style and focus on the details.
Office party
More and more companies have a party on site rather than going out to a restaurant. This might be more economical but needs more effort and preparation. Decorate the party zone with cheap-and-cheerful stuff - just get some from a market, but don’t follow that usual predictable tacky décor. Decide on a theme, and go along with it (for example Iceland, Traditional, Modern glamour etc). If your budget allows it, order some nice food from a catering company and use funky paper tableware - no washing-up afterwards.
Shopping
Start your Christmas shopping now. Really, don’t leave it to the last minute, it will just stress you out. Buy presents with each person in mind - I mean don’t buy something you think they might like (just because you do) - get things that would suit the recipient’s lifestyle and taste. It might be better to ask them what they’d like, rather than getting them something that will end up in the loft. If you want to make this Christmas special for someone, make your own gifts! Home-made candles, customised pictures, picture frames, candle holders make great presents. Arts & Crafts are back in vogue, so I’m sure you can find something suitable you can make yourself!
In the next couple of articles we’ll give you tips and ideas as to how to decorate your home this Christmas in a fashionable way.