3P celebrates Christmas in July for a whole hodge-podge of reasons:
1. It is a unique time of year to be thankful for business associates, family, and friends. So don’t be surprised if you ever receive a holiday card or present from afar.
2. Our whole career, community Christmas events have been a glistening star at the top of our event tree. Kicking everything off with some seasonal fun has always worked for us.
3. We have hosted many seasonal July wine get togethers…as well as celebrated Operation Christmas Child and Gift of Lights through Christmas In July themed parties.
4. Last but not least: a turkey dinner tastes pretty darn good this time of year.
Let’s put our 3P party antlers on and get this holiday dinner on it’s merry way! Guests and family are always enthusiastically on board to experience some seasonal holiday cheer.
Practically Perfect Planner’s merry ingredients to polish and prepare your own Christmas in July Backyard Bash:
For a little fun with Christmas Lights and Party Cups: DIY Party Cup Lanterns!
I originally saw ceramic lights very similar to these while shopping with my sister Tracy on a visit to Canada. I was SURE there had to be a simple way to make these on our own with regular party cups, easily and inexpensively…and I was right! This is all you need to get these party-brighteners going:
– One string of (50 count) clear LED Christmas lights
– 23-25 Red SOLO Party Cups
– A sharp knife (and a careful pair of hands!)
1.Turn your SOLO cups upside down on a steady surface.
2. Carefully twist the tip of your knife in the bottom of the cup to make a small, round hole. Just big enough to push the light through, without the cup falling off.
3. Push your light through gently, so that it pops through, but doesn’t snap or crack your cup.
4. Continue this, attaching a cup to every other light. This ensures your lanterns will give off enough light once they’re strung!
5. String away! We chose to zip-tie our pretty red lanterns, framing our patio. We tied a sparkly green bow over each zip-tie to add to the Christmas feel! Zip ties are a 3P Event Accessory that we always have on-hand…you can pick them up at any local hardware store such as Lowes, Home Depot, or even Canadian Tire. These handy little red cups come off easily, and are stackable for easy storage until your next summer party.
Next up: A Summer Christmas Table in 5 Simple 3P Steps: The key to keeping this Summer Holiday Soiree easy and stress-free…use what you already have on hand! People have more holiday decor than any other type, and you can get some GREAT use out of your red and green pieces without spending any additional $$.
1. Choose a color scheme to go with your theme! We chose Christmas red and lime-green. From there we knew we could use our red tablecloth with matching napkins, AND our lime-green everyday plates, marbles, and votive holders to pull it all together.
2. Re-purpose your Wreaths! We keep our wreaths hanging neatly in the garage for safe keeping. So, we were able to easily grab a classic Holiday wreath that we’ve had for years, and use it as our centerpiece by lifting it on some matching napkin-wrapped phone-books to create height and dimension. We added a red candle in hurricane glass and surrounded and grounded it with additional marbles for coordinated color.
3. Keep in mind that even though it’s Christmas…it’s still SUMMER outside. We decided to keep it light and summery using mason jars that doubled as mini-oil lanterns, but also adorned place-cards. These mini oil lanterns are readily available and we always stock up on them from Smart and Final. They fit perfectly in the top of our pint-size Ball Mason Jars, you could also use smaller lamp inside the mason jars. We filled each jar a third of the way with lime green marbles, secured the lantern on the top, and even used Glue Dots to adhere our place-cards (which were the tops to our jars) right to the front of them. Jessi wrote everyone’s name in Sharpie on each lid, and we used 3 Glue Dots per lid to secure them. We also used smaller mason jars to hold red votives and shield them from the breeze! Ground each mason jar with it’s own lid, (how handy!) and place a small red votive in each.
4. Create a cost effective and functional favor with mini fans! Yes, it’s July and it is HOT out there! What better way to thank your guests with a favor that also keeps them cool? These adorable fans came in just the right colors from WinCo and we’re under $3 a piece! They even came in silver boxes, that were easy to wrap up with some stretchy ribbon we’d scored months ago from the Container Store.
5. Final Step: festive finishing touches: with favors on the table, and a candy cane in each glass, our merry tablescape was complete. 3P Tip: We store leftover leftover Christmas Candy in Ziplocks in our freezer, cuz you never know at 3P when the holidays might arrive…ho ho ho. 😉
More Decor to set the mood: We grabbed two of our Snowmen wreaths, (yes, accessed easily from the garage too) which took no time at all, and our decked-out door introduced our Christmas theme immediately to our invitees. The humor of Snowmen on the door in 110 degree heat got our guests chuckling, especially when we had our doorbell ringing “Jingle Bells”…LOL.
Sounds of the Season! Christmas music will have guests hugging and greeting each other to your theme…which to any party host: is music to our ears.
A self-serve bar with a few easy-to-find Christmas touches: include holiday-adorned wine bottles all dressed in their best red and green tuxedos, with complimentary wine-glasses sporting seasonal wine-charm jewelry and some cute Christmas cocktail napkins! Also setting out a few snacks for optimum grazing is always a holiday plus!
So finally, your Party People…glasses in hand, can stroll outdoors to be won-over by clever Christmas in July decor that also doubles for a sensational summer soiree with a twist of lime green and Christmas Red!
Stay tuned tomorrow for our FULL Christmas In July Menu: complete with a tremendously easy turkey idea from our favorite Canadian Cartoonist and friend, Lynn Johnston…plus all the fixings from Warm Potato Salad to Cranberry Pineapple Mini’s!
