Pour a bag of fresh cranberries into the bottom of a shallow glass dish. Fill with water. Float candles. Voila, centerpiece.
Do a bow theme. Tie brightly colored gift-ribbon bows on tree branches, around wine glass stems, on fan cords, you get the idea. Tie giant loopy bows on chair backs with a name card attached.
Edible centerpieces are always well-received. Tie a big bunch of candy-canes with a green ribbon and place them in a wide-mouthed jar for an elegant, if unconventional, bouquet.
Forget the fire—there’s no better place to warm up than under the mistletoe. Find some, real or fake, and tack it up in a prominent place.
If you like to cook, tell people to bring a bottle of wine or store-bought loaf of bread instead of the usual salad or dessert. If you loathe the kitchen, assign each guest a dish for as many people as are coming, and simply provide drinks and cutlery.
Throw a pizza party. Buy Boboli crust or whip up your own. Tell each guest to bring an ingredient, such as sauce, cheese, mushrooms, etc. Make different pizzas all night.
Dress up an ordinary dinner with one fancy or unusual side dish.
Make Cranberry butter:
Use a food processor to combine one stick unsalted butter, a half-cup finely chopped cranberries, grated orange rind and powdered sugar to taste.
Make Latkes:
Use a ratio of four small shredded, drained potatoes to one small shredded onion, two eggs, and two tablespoons Matzah meal or flour. Season with salt and pepper. Fry in hot oil.
Give dreidels as party favors. Teach your guests how to play (look up rules online) and then leave them in the other room while you put the finishing touches on dinner.
Instead of buying gifts for all your friends, have them over and do a gift exchange. Each person buys a gift of max $15. The gifts are wrapped and given to the host. Someone picks a gift from a pile. The chooser opens the gift and then tries to guess who gave the gift. If s/he guesses correctly, the chooser is "safe." If not, the next person can either pick a new gift from the pile, or steal the gift the first person opened.
Have a ginger bread house party:
Buy graham crackers, bulk candy, and icing at the store. Cover cardboard squares with tinfoil. Go through cooking magazines to find ideas, and set these on the table. Afterwards, give a prize for the best creation.
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