How to Organize a Christmas Family Gathering
Christmas is a great time to organize a family gathering. The spirit of the holiday creates a warm atmosphere that you can use to bring your family together. Family members tend to travel in and out of town this time of year, so get your invitations out early so your guests can fit your family gathering into their Christmas travel schedule. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Create a menu. Family gatherings, especially at Christmastime, are usually based around food, so decide early what you are going to serve.
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Send out invitations. Include starting and ending times on the invitations.
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Ask your family members for help. You can ask people to bring a side dish, a dessert or wine on the invitation. Preparing a meal by yourself for your extended family can be expensive, so don't feel bad about asking for help.
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Organize a gift exchange. This information can also be included on the invitations.
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Accommodate elderly or disabled family members. Start your gathering earlier than usual to accommodate them, or adjust your menu or seating arrangements.
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Plan activities for the children. Kids can get bored at family functions, so keep them occupied with a Christmas craft.
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Relax. Take a few moments during your family gathering to enjoy the people around you. Sit down and have a cup of coffee with your grandmother before rushing off to serve dessert.
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Tips & Warnings
If your family is very large and a gift exchange is hard to organize, try a gift card exchange. Put all the gift cards in a basket and let everyone pick one. Once everyone opens their gift card, they can start trading back and forth for the cards they really want.
Try setting up a small artificial Christmas tree and let the kids decorate it together, or let them decorate sugar cookies with icing and candy.
If you are going to let the children do messy crafts, make sure you let their parents know ahead of time so they can bring extra clothes.
