20+ Holiday Hosting Essentials and Entertaining Tips for a Fun and Stress-Free Evening.
‘Tis the season for holiday get-togethers, family gatherings, cookie exchanges and cocktail parties! This is my favorite time of year to host family and friends! All the holiday drinks, decorations, festive food.. it’s so fun.
If you’re hosting this year, here are some of our favorite hosting must haves. Serving trays, table linens, cheese boards, festive wine glasses and a few entertaining tips that will help you throw the best holiday party this year.
Our Favorite Holiday Hosting Essentials + Must Haves Below:
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Dinnerware + Table Setting Must Haves
Here are a few holiday hosting essentials you’ll need to throw the perfect party for family and friends this holiday season!
Gold Charger Plate – elevate your holiday tablescape by layering your dinner plates with these luxe gold-plated chargers
Festive Table Linens – Add a neutral or holiday-inspired table runner and these gorgeous cloth napkins to match
Gold Silverware – I love the look of this gold flatware set especially for a holiday dinner party!
Long-Stem Champagne glasses – these festive red and green glasses are perfect for your holiday drinks!
Large Wood Serving Board – use this as a charcuterie board to easily organize cheese, crackers, fresh fruit and nuts. It has separate compartments for each item, so you don’t have to worry about creating your own board from scratch!
Dinner / Salad Plates – this snowflake dinnerware collection is stunning!
Serving bowls – these stoneware serving bowls are safe to use in the oven and are perfect for cheeses and dips
Post-Party Clean Up Essentials
Beyond Dishwasher Tabs – with holiday gatherings comes lots and lots of dishes and these dish tablets make cleaning up post-party so easy! They have a built-in rinse aid (my favorite part!), so your dishes come out spotless with absolutely no residue. They’re also fragrance-free, made with plant-based ingredients and contain zero plastic-waste. Currently 20% off on Amazon right now!
Force of Nature Cleaner – Clean up messes without all the toxins! Force of Nature is our favorite kid and pet-friendly cleaner, deodorizer and disinfectant. It can to replace almost all of your everyday cleaning products. Use it on grease, glass, stainless steel, wood, soap scum, odors, pet accidents, and so much more! You can always use code CASSIE40 for 40% off any bundles.
Stain-resistant + Washable rugs – Now I know this isn’t necessarily a clean-up essential, but for anyone who regularly hosts family and friends, stain-resistant rugs are a game changer. No more stressing about red wine spills, dirty shoes or pet accidents. These rugs from My Magic Carpet are machine washable and dryable and feature a non-slip, waterproof backing.
Add a washable runner to your entryway to prevent dirt, mud and snow from getting tracked around your home, and another in your kitchen or living room to protect your floors from wine spills!
Reusable Plastic Food Containers – this pack of 50 food containers is under $30 and is perfect for leftovers (they’re microwave and dishwasher safe too)! It’s always a good idea to have additional storage containers on hand. This way you can give extra food to family/friends to take home.
Shark Vertex vacuum – I have to mention our vacuum because I’m obsessed with it. The suction power and pick-up ability are AMAZING – for both hard floors and carpet. It has an anti-hair wrap feature and HEPA filter too. I compared so many vacuums before deciding on this one, and I can tell you, we definitely made the right choice!
Fun Games to Play with a Group
It’s always a good idea to have a few games planned whenever you’re having guests over! This set of 400 conversation starters is perfect for the dinner table to get people talking! Another family favorite of ours is The Game of Things – it’s hilarious and so easy to play. You draw a card with a topic on it, everyone writes down a response, and then you guess who said what!
For more fun game ideas to play with your friends and family, click here!
Entertaining Tips for a Stress-Free Party
Here are a few of our favorite holiday party entertaining tips! We all know parties can be a bit stressful and overwhelming. Hopefully these tips make your evening run smoothly!
- Set up a self-serve food bar – you can put together a hot chocolate bar, waffle bar, milk and cookies bar, coffee bar (for brunch), taco bar or something similar for your guests! They’ll be able to grab food and drinks as they please, without needing to grab your attention and plus it always turns out super cute!
- Have a a signature holiday drink – maybe it’s cranberry mimosas, a Christmas sangria, or a holiday champagne punch. It’s easiest to make batch cocktails ahead of time, then during the party your guests can self-serve. This takes the stress off of you, so that you don’t have to run around making drinks for everyone. AND, don’t forget to have non-alcoholic options as well!
- Prep as much as you can the day before – clean the house, vacuum the floors, set the dining table, prep as much food as you can, put up any decorations.. this will help relieve some of your stress the day of.
- Take some time to relax and de-stress – Your guests will be able to tell if you’re stressed and overwhelmed, so make sure you give yourself some time to yourself before the party. I love these stress gummies and dynamic roller duos for natural stress relief!
- Make your home feel warm and cozy – light a holiday scented candle, dim the lights a bit to set the mood, turn on the fireplace, set out some fresh flowers.. little things like this to make your home more cozy and inviting.
- Turn on some music! The Cozy Christmas Jazz Spotify playlist is a good one!
Other posts you may like:
- Meaningful Gift Ideas for Mom, Grandma and Mother-in-Law
- 30 Must Have Holiday Travel Essentials
- Best Beauty, Makeup and Skincare Gift Ideas
This post shared our favorite holiday hosting essentials and entertaining tips for stress-free hosting.
