Party Central

I am in the midst of planning and hosting three parties before the end of this year, and today was a party-shopping day. We're having a Halloween Charades Party at the end of this month, then a Christmas Open House in mid-December, then Christmas Dinner. There will be about 22 people on Halloween, between 50 - 70 for the Holiday Open House, and we will have 9 for dinner on Christmas Day. And whether it's 9 or 70, I am all about details. ("Love is in the details," as my dear friend Blanche always told me.)

Today was my search for the perfect placecard gifts for the Christmas dinner. I won't tell you what this year's will be, for the simple reason that it will spoil the surprise for our friends. But I'll tell you what I did last year and the year before. Instead of just having a placecard with a name on it, I decided on little gifts at each place setting.

The Christmas before last year, everyone got something different for their placecard gift, to suit their individual tastes and interests. That resulted in disparity in the size and shape of each little gift-box. I wrapped them all in the same gold, silver and white paper, with gold and silver bows, so at least there was unity in the wrappings.

Last year, there were six of us for dinner. I bought six white boxes, about 4x4x4" -- and I again bought everyone a different gift, as long as it fit into that box. I think I gave my friend's husband a Christmas tie, but I rolled it up to fix into that cube-like box. And again, each gift was in the same wrapping paper-- last year's was a glitzy, sparkling gold paper that felt like satin. Topped off with gold ribbons, and those placecard gifts were nearly too pretty to unwrap.

I also wrap up a placecard gift for myself, of course... and as everyone is oohing and aahing over their gifts, I'm making a big fuss over mine as well. Actually, I wrap up these little gifts so far in advance of Christmas, that by the time we're sitting down to our holiday dinner, I've most likely forgotten what I've wrapped up for myself anyway, so it's not that much of an act.

This year's placecard gift is really great... so I'll have to remember to tell y'all about it after the holidays. I'll probably forget so I hope someone out there will remind me.

The Halloween Charades Party is all set. I wrote on the invitations: "Come as you are, or come as you dare!" So on the 30th of this month, we'll see just how daring and creative our friends will be. And if, by chance, someone chooses to come 'as they are,' then I'll have some surprises ready for them so they won't exactly be 'as they were' after they walk in our front door.

I don't know exactly how long ago our house became 'Party Central' but it's been that way for quite some time now. This house has been a happy home since we moved in, and we've always felt that we wanted to share it with friends. And what better way than to have a party? Besides that, my husband gets so busy and involved with work most of the time, our parties are the best way for him to catch up with everyone. Works out pretty well, since there's some kind of party here every other month or so. We've had parties for Valentine's Day, the 4th of July, "Welcome" parties for neighbors moving onto our streeet and "Farewell" parties for families who have moved away. We've had tea parties and countless Charades parties, and this will be our second Halloween party. We've had two New Year's Eve parties, and I've lost count of the Christmas Open House parties.

And, sticking to my Aunt Dolly's rule that "no one should leave your house empty-handed," everyone gets a little party gift as they leave. That's part of the fun for me-- finding those little gifts. And I do look everywhere I go, all year long. One of my storage-closets is filled with boxes marked 'Christmas' and 'Valentine's Day' and 'Halloween' --- just to keep everything easy to find when the time comes. And books--- I love to give books. I'm constantly searching the bookstore of our local library, as well as the bookstores in Clear Lake. So more often than not, our friends leave here with a book in their hand, as well as some sort of gift matching up with the theme of the party.

My husband laughs at me because I'm always so far ahead of schedule with these parties. But that's the only way to do it, in my opinion. Otherwise, you're running around at the last minute searching for just the perfect thing-- and you never find it because it's already been sold. To someone like me! Or my friend "A," who already has everything she needs to make her Thanksgiving table look turkey-friendly and festive. ("A" does Thanksgiving, I do Christmas... and we all do the cooking. Lots of fun, and no one person gets stuck with all of the work. Even the guys cook-- my husband makes a delicious oyster dressing.)

Anyway... that's what I was up to on this beautiful Tuesday: on a search for placecard gifts for our Christmas dinner. And for once, I was happy that the stores were filled with holiday items even though the calendar is not yet up to Halloween.