Help! Need Neighborhood Holiday Party Ideas

[BethR]

I just know this group can help! I was talking with a neighbor today and we'd like to plan a holiday party for our street (about 23 houses). We just don't know what concept to go with so that it could be minimum effort for all involved. I've heard of progressive dinner parties but I think this would be too many people for a sit down dinner. Maybe several houses being "open" with the whole neighborhood bringing pot luck dishes? If anyone has done or is planning to do a neighborhood party like this, I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks -- Beth

[lorilei]

When I was a child, my aunt & uncle had a holiday party in their neighborhood and handled it thusly:

Each home was open in the evening. Houses on one end of the block served appetizers/cider/wine during the first part of the evening. The houses on the other end of the block served desserts/coffee at a slightly later time. A few of the houses sold craft items, others had cookie exchanges or holiday games for the children. Everyone decorated just for the occasion -- and it was a wonderful way to get to know everyone and share a bit of holiday spirit.

Something like this would probably work for your neighborhood as well http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[CATHIEA]

This is what we did in my neighborhood several years ago, when there were several new neighbors and one couple had a major remodelling- We did "progressive" party, that was timed to 1/2 hour per house. Before the party we drew lots for the first house, met there and drew for the next house. At each new house we drew for the next house. Each household provided an appetizer, wine, beer and mixes. This gave us time for quick tours and light snacks. It was a lot of fun.
CathieA

[chefandi]

This is such a fun idea. I hope that you find a way for this to work for you. It's so nice that your whole neighborhood is going to get together! have fun!

[CLustik]

We had a great Holiday party last year and this year it the second annual.

We have about 15 houses and we did a Progressive like this: We only do three houses.
House 1: 6:30-7:30 Appetizers
House 2: 7:30-9:00 Dinner
House 3: 9:00 - ? (Late in our neighborhood)Dessert and White Elephant Party.
Everyone signs up to bring a dish or wine, if they are busy or non-cookers, to one of the houses, that way the host only has to make one thing. I did dinner last year and I did the meat and 1 vegetable, others brought the rest. Dessert we had a variety, plus coffee with liquers, and other hot drinks. The white elephant gift giving was the best. If you have too many people for a sit-down, you can certainly do buffet and have a variety of tables around the house.
It was one of the best parties we've had and in our neighborhood they are pretty regular. It worked well with only three houses, I wouldn't want to get people to move every half hour. Good Luck!

[mightyh]

Here's another holiday idea that goes over really well with my extended family. I don't know what it's called, but it's great if you have a bunch of people. Everyone brings a gift of a certain value (we usually use $5 to guarantee silly gifts that no one gets too attached to).

Make 2 sets of numbers corresponding to the number of gifts and have each participating person pick a number out of the hat. Number each gift as people arrive. Person with #1 goes first--finds gift #1 under the tree. He opens it and shows it to all.

For Person #2's turn, he has a choice--he can either take Person #1's opened gift or choose an unopened gift #2 (he may check out the shape of the wrapped package #2). If he chooses Person #1's gift, then person #1 opens gift #2 (since person #2 has received gift #1).

For person #3's turn, he may choose either Person #1 or Person #2's opened gifts OR may unwrap unopened gift #3.

Play continues until the person with the highest number's turn comes--obviously this is the best number to get from the hat. This last person has the choice of all the opened gifts before him OR the final numbered gift.

This is really fun cause different people value different things, so almost no one ends up with the same gift they opened. Would be great at an office party where you didn't all want to get each other something. Or, as we do, at an extended family get-together where you can't possibly all get each other something. My personal preference is that it's best in large groups and with low dollar value items--we get a lot of candles, flashlights, holiday socks, tins of popcorn, etc.

Remember when purchasing your gift to account for different tastes (male/female, cooks/noncooks, etc)

[HARRYET]

we live in such a warm climate (most of the time - seems this year we are colder by almost 10 degrees then normal)anyway we generally all get together in a local cul de sac, everyone brings a dish to pass, and there own beverages of choice, and the kids can play with out worry of traffic. our neighborhood also has done a hayride/xmas caroling evening (this is out 6th year in a row) anyone in the neighborhood is invited and we again all bring a dish to pass. We do pay a fee for the horses and extra goes to paper products, coffee, hot cocoa, it works out really well and being that we are all so busy these days we catch up with old friends/neighbors and meet many new friends/neighbors. It's been a good tradition for our very transient (sp?) area. (A lot of us don't have family around for the holidays). Hope you find something that works for your neighborhood and can become a tradition as well.

[andi]

Beth,
Take a peek at the progressive dinner thread: http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/Forum1/HTML/002154.html. Our neighborhood is going to try doing this. There were some great ideas for planning with larger numbers. I'd be interested in learning what you end up trying. Good luck!

[BethR]

Thanks to everyone for the great ideas! I'm going to check out the progressive dinner thread, too and run all of these great ideas by a few of my neighbors. I'll let everyone know what we decide to do, and how it goes.
Thanks -- Beth