Message Boards

i am looking for some ideas for a wonderful Christmas with family that has not been together in a long long time. It will start with a rehearsal dinner for my son's wedding with a Jersey meets Texas point of view. I will be having family from Jersey coming and also my son who is stationed in Korea. This will be a Big event please share some ideas for decorating and foods.

Wow! Lots to do. I'm an organization freak, so I would start by brainstorming all the things I think I'll need to do. I usually write each thought on a sticky note so that I can rearrange them later into logical categories. I would also start to think about the color scheme and budget.
Simultaneously, I would start trolling the Internet for recipes and decor ideas that catch my fancy. Print them off. You can always edit them later.

Here's a link to some information that's right here on the HGTV site to get you started.
http://www.hgtv.com/hosting-th...s/package/index.html

KEEP IT SIMPLE. You don't want to wear yourself out to the point you are SO exhausted you can't function or enjoy the holidays yourself.

Food: Call the local grocery and see what they can provide, a caterer, or a couple of friends who will cook for you (you will pay them). I know you will want to cook some items yourself, but you don't have to do all the cooking!

Keep decorations fun and memorable, but simple.

House: Call a cleaning service or hire someone to give the house a good cleaning a couple of weeks before everything starts (call now to schedule). See if they will change all the beds and launder the sheets. DO NOT wear yourself out physically or mentally by thinking everything needs to be sparkling clean. All you will need to do is keep things tidy.

Use disposable cups, plates, foil pans, etc. whenever possible. There is absolutely NO NEED for you to be doing dishes or running a dishwasher 24/7.

Start your baking early and freeze it. Hit holiday bake sales at craft shows, etc. You can usually find stuff there cheaper than you can make it and have loads of different items for your guests to choose from.

Don't over plan activities. If people are traveling from long distances, they will want to rest and visit with you.

Believe me, the family will appreciate everything more if you can enjoy it with them, especially your son who is traveling so far.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: KJKCPSCAP,

Endless possibilities! I would figure the feel weather traditional, formal, casual. Then choose my colors. Then figure out how many people. Set your budget then get the creative juices flowing. To me Texas is go big an Jersey is flashy. I like to think of the small details the things most people forget. I think that is what makes a party memorable. Set up a phot op. area maybe just a nice sheet or type of material hanging on the wall and get wonderful pictures of the family. It doesnt have to be over top in price. Let us know what direction you want to go and I'm sure we can throw all kinds of ideas at you. Best of luck!

I think that KJKCPSCAP has everything covered with wonderful ideas.

Wanda

now days rehersal dinners arn't just for the wedding party...at ds1's we had a backyard bbq, including heart-shaped hamburgers, and all the comfort foods...we had about 40+ guests...

now i know yu can't always depend on the weather in texas at christmas, but could translate in-side in a weather pinch...

listen to the poster who said keep it simple...i'd rather see you enjoy the company, and your ds...i love the phot op (christmas tree in background) and you could do instant photos, if someone has a photo-maker? walmart have very inexpensive 4x6 frames...instant gifts

since your guests are flying quite a ways, i'd have a big basket of all the things they might need..travel sized minitures, including the chocolate!

we didn't offer dessert, except after dinner coffee, and fresh fruit..didn't want to compeat with the couple's cake, ect...

our other rehersal dinner, for ds2, was (by couple's choice) a pizza parlor who offered a great pizza and beverage...different crowd, and fewer out of towners...

is the bride's family local?

Um...these people LIVE in those places...they dont want to esperience MORE of it at your house!!! JMO

They want to enjoy FAMILY TIME, which means YOU too, if you are running around crazy trying to get stuff done or are so exhausted you are snapping at everyone, your guests are NOT going to enjoy their visit very much.

I agree with KJKCPSCAP... get others to do the hard stuff for you. If you dont have the bucks to shell out to hire professionals, enlist the help of friends/family by offering a service to them in return after the event is over. Do whatever cooking/baking you can before guests arrive, freeze if necessary, definitely use disposeable ANYTHING whenever possible. They even have crock pot liners now. Close neighbors not attending may be willing to act as servers, etc if asked also.
As far as decorating goes, I would just decorate using Christmas decorations or their wedding colors. And lots of tiny twinkling lights make anything beautiful!! lol
Just have fun & enjoy being together & the rest will fall right in place!

I admire and envy you to have such a wonderful time to look forward to with your family.

If your family is coming from too far & so your son..so it should be a memorable event for that why don't you check out this site, it will help you to find various hotels in key west where you can organise party where you can enjoy enjoy.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JohnRo,

quote:

It will start with a rehearsal dinner for my son's wedding with a Jersey meets Texas

Generally a rehearsal dinner is given after the rehearsal the night before the wedding. But since you do not mention a wedding, what is the rehearsal dinner for? How many guests in all will you be having?

It sounds as if cost and work may not be issues (with enough money you can hire a lot of help) so it does sound like you want just ideas that will be unique/original/

OOps I just noticed this was originate almost 2 months ago. You must be will underway with your plans!

Every year someone in our family makes the family calendar it's simple to make them up on your computer and have the printed at kinkos you can make goofy pages of all of the grown ups as kids or all of your pets last year my aunt made it and she put the pictures of the people during g there birth month. Zambia by G&M