Each year I am in charge of our department's christmas party. And each year I have done little table favors for each person attending (generally around 100). One year I did candy canes wrapped with a napkin around the silverware, last year I did candy canes decorated to look like reindeer. Our theme this year is Christmas Around the World. Anyone have any cute and frugal ideas?
How about little mittens made from felt to put the silverware inside? Attach a little floss loop on the back and they could use it as an ornament on their tree.
You can enlist the help of some children or a whole class and everyone could draw pictures on placemat sized paper. They could research Christmas (or holidays that occur around that time)in different cultures and illustrate their findings and write a short description. You can use these as placemats at the Christmas party. It's cute and frugal. For a take home favor, how about a card, that has different Christmas greetings from around the world like Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Happy Diwali (india) and so on. It could be educational too. The front of the card could act as a place setting name card and the inside could have all the greetings in different fancy fonts.
how about cookies from different countries. santa lucia cookies are from sweden. i am sure many countries have their own special cookie or cake.
Maybe you could order small globe keychains from a store like Oriental Trading? Maybe add a santa hat to each also?
Purchase the chocolate candy that looks like a tiny globe (the wrapper looks like a world map) and place in a clear votive container. Tie a holiday colored ribbon around the votive and insert a sprig of evergreen or holly in the ribbon.
What about buying the little xmas tree ornaments w/different characters from around the world and attaching them to the napkins with a holiday ribbons trim.They can be bought inexpensively and can relate to different places around the world.
Vieco Balloon Co. has world globe balloons and clips for them. Perhaps a globe balloon with a Santa hat
might be part of a centerpiece for each table? Good luck!
If you have to have an ornament type of item and your theme is around the world; contact Orential Trading. They sell bulk items like the "world' ball on a keychain where you could simply hot glue a small Santa hat on it. They are fantastic with all their different selling options. Simply Google Orential Trading and it will take you right there or call
How about researching Christmas customs from around the world. Type them on colored paper and attach one to each napkin. Have people share the fact printed on their card this will show how similar we are even living thousand of miles apart. Help us appreciate the gifts we receive since some countries do not give or receive gifts.because of poverty.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I need some ideas for gifts at our Christmas fancy dress party. There will be a prize for best dressed male, best dressed female and best dressed couple. We have a reasonable amount to spend per prize so all ideas will be welcome. I'd prefer them to be unisex types of gift ideas if possible. Thanks in advance.
Here are some ideas:
chocolate
pretty soap
candles
gift cards
wallets
watches
compass
how about gift cards to restaurants or coffee and coffee cups from a local coffee house,
movie tickets
How about restaurant gift cards? Everyone enjoys a nice free meal! Some of them such as Outback are good at other restaurants in the chain such as Carrabas and Bonefish Grill.
If you live near a big city or a tourist area you have lots of options but regardless of where you live, creativity is the key-
For a fancy business party one time we were able to get some of the following prizes. People loved them and said the prizes were the best they had ever at this particular event. The prizes ranged from about $10 to the grand prize that only cost $150. Although we didn't solicit any free items, the local merchants were terrific in discounting some of the bigger items like the hotel stay and we bought a lot of the things for our baskets in bulk which reduced the cost also.
We awarded over 75 prizes to our employees and only spent about $1200. We had several bigger prizes but the rest were small yet still really terrific items.
Some of the bigger items included:
.an overnight stay at a bed and breakfast
.tickets to a holiday symphony concert
.a date night out on the town which included a complimentary meal for two at one of the posh local restaurants followed by a horse carrige ride through the historic district of a local nearby city
.tickets to a touring broadway show at the local coliseum (could be the circus or a lecture series or a concert )
Some of the smaller and less expensive prizes were:
.Casual dinner for two at a local restaurant
.Baskets made up with the following themes
-Bowling, skating or putt putt passes along with complimentary fast food meal coupons
For other prizes we went shopping at local discount retailers and dept stores where we found tons of pre-holiday sales. We bought things like very pretty candlesticks and wrapped some hand dipped candles along with them.
We did a basket or two (one alcoholic and some not) with wine (or sparlkling version) and put some fancy crackers and cheese and a couple of inexpensive wine glasses and fabric napkins.
We bought beautiful siver frames and enclosed a coupon for engraving
Coupons for nail/pedicures/salon visits
We bought pretty glass holiday trays or bowls, bar ware, coupons for
Stationary supplies (roll of stamps, envelopes, a few postcards and pretty stationary) We included a wax seal and stamp for sealing the envelpoes and wrapped it all in an inexpensive wooden tray
I could go on and on but you get the idea. Now if your budget isn't that generous then you scale it to your means and get very creative. The really big thing to remember is presentation and packaging. Sticking it in a bag doesn;t always cut it and adding a little extra like the like we did in our wine basket by adding wine glasses and napkins helps it look more appealing and expensive and just seems more special than a plain bottle of wine. Hope I've given you some helpful ideas. Have fun with it!!!
Go with Gift Cards-restaurants, movie theatres, blockbuster, bookstores, Starbucks, Home Depot, Walmart, Target, even car wash certs.
There are some great ideas here. Thanks to all :)
I find a bottle of wine or mineral water with even a grocery store gift card attached is a simple yet effective prize!
I am looking for ideas for Christmas party games.
By ajohng
Have you considered a lively game of bingo? I collected lots of inexpensive items throughout the year and used them as prizes for each game. The people can take turns being the Caller of the numbers. Our family had a lot of fun playing Bingo last Christmas! One twist we added was this: the first winner gets to pick a wrapped prize, the next winner can select a wrapped prize OR can choose to take the prie that the first winner selected. Usually there's one or 2 prizes that everyone seems to want! This process seemed to add to the fun.
Have everyone draw a folded piece of paper from a bowl when they come in. On each, put a name of a holiday item..."ornament, Christmas tree, Santa clause", etc. The guest then gets a sheet of paper and pen, and the person who can make the most words out of theirs, wins. Keep the words longer rather than shorter, avoiding words like "star" or "tree". I did this one when I sold Tupperware, but it can be adapted as follows.
Find a mirror the size of some paper mache' or wooden box from Michael's or the dollar tree, or a box you have at home, and put it inside. It needs to be the same size as the inside, and taped or glued to the bottom of the box. Decorate the box as if it were a fancy present, but don't seal the lid.
Have each person think about the box's contents. Give each person a piece of paper and pen, and have them guess what is inside, telling them all "it's the most important present you will ever give anyone". As they look at and handle the box, give each person instructions that when they have given up, they can each look in the box but cannot tell the next person what is inside.
Of course, each person will see their own face, putting into perspective the real purpose of a life long gift and how important we all are to the people we love. And yes, I am putting this one up for a tip.
The last one will keep people chuckling all the way home. As everyone to count how many "d"'s there are in Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer"? When the all have given up as you tell them all they are wrong, you tell them 419.
When they stop asking? ou start to sing (are you ready for this?)De de de de ...De de de de in the tune of the song! It's a hoot. I hope all this helps. Have fun!
This isn't exactly a game, but we did it at a recent Christmas party at church, and it was hilarious!
Do "The 12 Days of Christmas" in teams, each team calling out their chosen day (four calling birds, for example" in the proper point as the group sings the song. It's funny how many people will forget their place, and can cause a lot of good-natured hilarity.
Anny ideas for a "Rockin Round the Christmas Tree" party?
By judy from Winston-Salem, NC
