Siri, play ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’.

It’s finally that time of the year again. The nip in the air has set in. The city bakeries are stocked with Christmas cakes. Night caps are now hot chocolates with marshmallows, and dinner might involve trials for roast chicken or pot pies. In short, it’s time to start planning for your Christmas soiree. Whether you are hosting just the family or having a house party with friends, it needs some prep work. The key is to keep it simple yet fun, and we have some tricks and recommendations for just that! Read on for a My Kolkata-approved handbook on planning your Christmas party to make your celebration a memorable one.

It’s time for Christmas decorations

Christmas means quality time with the family. What’s better than prepping for the party with near ones, especially the young guns of the family? From setting up the tree to decorating it, make the most of the time together.

Offbeat DIY decorations

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Invoke the artist in you and make a few DIY decorations for the Xmas tree this year. If you have a Polaroid camera at home, take candid photos of your near ones. Gather a few old photos too from the albums and your phone gallery. Take cardboards and colourful chart papers and make small photo frames with the photos. Hang them tied in golden strings on the Christmas tree between the other decorations. This can be a great activity to do with the kids. You can also use wooden clips to hang the photos in between your other sparkly ornaments.

Photo booth

Keep the DIY enthusiasm going and create a photo booth nook. You can create a big frame with cardboard and add cute Christmas-themed motifs like Santa hats, bells around the frame. Keep the frame colourful with cheery red as the main colour theme, and sprinkle a dash of glitter. You can also use LED lights and stick on decoration on the wall to create a festive nook for photo ops. Get a few Christmas themed accessories like reindeer ears, Santa hats and masks, and a Santa beard, and click away to create memories with friends and family.

What’s on the plate? 

Tuna and beef salad

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A healthy option for party-snacking — this recipe with tuna and beef can be savoured with nachos, lavash or just like that.

Ingredients:

• Canned tuna: 3 cans
• Beef: 500gm
• Cherry tomatoes: 200gm
• Baby potatoes: 200gm
• Iceberg lettuce: 200gm
• Garlic pods: 4-5 pieces
• Chilli flakes: 2 tablespoons
• Black pepper powder: 2 tablespoons
• Lemon juice: 4-5 tablespoons
• Olive oil: 5 tablespoons
• Salt: To taste

Recipe:

• Marinate the beef pieces with a tablespoon each of salt, pepper and lemon juice. Keep aside for a minimum 15-20 minutes. Put the marinated meat in a pressure cooker and add water to cover completely. Cook on low flame for 3-4 whistles
• Once the beef is a little cool, roughly shred, separating the meat from the bones. Store the bones and the broth to use later
• Boil the baby potatoes and cut them into halves
• In a nonstick skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil. Crush the garlic pods and saute until golden, before adding the cherry tomatoes. Toss on medium flame for 3-4 minutes
• Remove the tomatoes and in the same pan, add another tablespoon of olive oil. Heat and add the baby potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and saute until they are golden
• Finely chop the iceberg lettuce right before assembling the salad
• In a large mixing bowl, add the tuna, shredded beef, cherry tomatoes, baby potatoes, iceberg lettuce. Add the seasonings like chilli flakes, black pepper powder, lemon juice and salt. Add the remaining olive oil, mix well and serve

A wine tipple

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What’s a Christmas party without some spiked sips (hic!). While mulled wine is a festive staple, you can also try something new with wine and add a cocktail to the menu.

Ingredients:

• White wine: 750ml
• Mint leaves: 10-15
• Basil leaves: 5-7
• Soda water: 500ml
• Strawberries: 10-12 pieces

Recipe:

• In a large container, pour the wine and soda
• Crush the mint and basil leaves and add to the mix
• Finely chop the strawberries and add to thw drink. Give a good stir and serve with ice or chilled

Fun games for the party

While classic games like Jenga are sure to be a hit, you can take it up a notch with some themed games Shutterstock

Planning a Christmas party and not putting fun games on the list is like not seasoning your food — it can make the party seem bland. From Pictionary, charades, to an antakshari with a twist, here are three games ideas that will make your house party a success:

Pictionary with Christmas motifs

Pictionary is a fun game for all age groups. Brainstorm with the fam and make a list of words that are related to Christmas, like Santa Claus, hot chocolate, eggnog, ho ho ho, sleigh, the North Pole, mitten, mistletoe, wise men, Christmas tree, and more. Don’t forget to capture photos and videos of the game. After all, Instagram carousels and reels are a must too!

A Christmas-special 'antakshari'

The theme is to sing only Christmas carols and songs from Christmas theme movies. It might be tough, but that's part of the fun — and itll keep the game time short, giving you the chance to try more things.

Christmas charades 

You can also try a round of charades but with holiday films or movies with at least one Christmas scene, or throw the net wider and add title songs of web series that have Christmas celebrations like Gilmore Girls or F.R.I.E.N.D.S. — the last one works well for antakshari as well.

So get planning and bookmark these recos for a smashing bash.