Encourage Family And Friends To Drink Too Much Before Playing Dirty Santa

Ask any hostess who is well known for throwing great parties what the three most important things are to create a successful event and you are likely to get the same answer time and time again.

I consulted with TheSpecialOne's friend MarthaStewartLite and she assures me the answers is...

• Advance planning.
• Devoting a high degree of attention to detail.
• Doing something unique that makes for a special event.

There will be many holiday parties through not only next week, but, certainly, through the month of December.

Christmas Party Games, I think, would make for an interesting party theme.

A party game that appeals to me is called Dirty Santa. TheSpecialOne's family has been playing it for years. I typically don't buy gifts for people on days that society expects you to give gifts, I give them when I choose. I do buy gifts, though, just to get in on the game.

TheSpecialOne's family has a Christmas tree set up just for the game. Everyone brings presents and puts them under the tree. Once we've had dinner and {usually too many} drinks we play the game.

Slips of paper corresponding to the number of gifts under the tree go into a hat. We pick the numbers and then go in order from lowest to highest.

Each person, starting with number one, selects a gift and opens it. The kicker is that people with the highest number have an advantage, because if they don't like the gift they get, they can take the gift from anyone who went before them.

A website called Celebrations has a variety of resources available to help you select and plan a wide variety of party activities including games and crafts.

You could call it the social media website for party hosts and hostesses.

Not only can you access advice from party planning professionals and access party planning tools, the sites includes what's described as an "interactive community" where people can share party ideas and recipes. Photos and videos can be posted there as well.