Our annual family Christmas party has always one filled with food, laughter, gifts, games and merry making! Definitely an event we all look forward to to perfectly close the year. It doesn’t matter whether the year went well or if some of us had to weatherthrough some storms. At the end of the day, we know that we can always count on family to be there through it all!
And I think I have the most awesome family in the world – Because of my costume involvement in the drama production, they would kindly accommodate the celebration to after all the mayhem and madness is over. A thoughtful detail that I never take for granted and appreciate them lots for!
Anyway, here’s 3 Must Have segments in our Christmas party and sharing with you how we YAPPIES roll!
1) FOOD
Every year, we always say the same thing – that we had over prepared and have too much food leftover! But that doesn’t mean that we have to slog it out in the kitchen though. The main aim is to have a good time together as a family, not be so busy with preparations and cooking etc that it becomes a dread/chore!
So we usually do a potluck where each one of us cooks or buys a dish over. This way, no one person has to stress over the burden of feeding the whole family! This though, does involve some planning to make sure we have a nice balance of appetizers, mains (carbs, meats..), sides and deserts too! Here’s the ‘who made what’ for this year..
Seafood Bisque (Me!)
Pasta Tuna Salad (Elaine)
Lasagna (Michelle)
Pork Ribs w Fries (Rachel)
Beef Stew w Baguette (Mommy)
Blanch Prawns (Mommy)
Pineapple Streusel w Vanilla Ice Cream (Mommy)
Three cheers to MOMMY for still making sure we are well fed!!! Or she just knows better… that one of her daughters’ dishes might be inedible, so she’d better have back ups! Hahaha..
(P/s: I’ll readily admit I’m a horrible cook, while the rest of my sisters can hold their own in the kitchen actually)
Side note: If you have kiddos, do consider feeding them earlier so that the adults can have a decent meal together.
2) GIFT EXCHANGE
Before we proceed to the adults gift exchange, we give out the children presents first! It’s such a joy to see their anticipation and beams of joy as we call out their names one by one to receive them on an orderly fashion from the level of seniority (Grandpa & Grandma first, then DaYi, ErYi, SanYi & Yiyi).
Now that they are occupied with unwrapping their gifts and a new toy, we proceed to our adults presents for one another.
Every year, we draw lots beforehand and do a Secret Santa Gift Exchange within an allocated budget. This year, my genius dad suggested writing 3 items that we wanted on our wishlist, so we were all pretty happy to get something we wanted!
We also have a much coveted Grand Prize gift where the lucky (or unlucky!) one who draws that special marked lot will have to buy a gift for one lucky person whom you pick out from a separate lot. So of course, everyone hopes to be the recipient of it!
Alas, this year it was my turn to give and someone else receive.. Here’s the blessed Mommy who had great faith from the start and a knowing that it was to be her lucky year!
3) FAMILY GAME
Planning a family game ensures an activity that brings everyone together. Instead of different ones retreating to different corners of the house doing their own thing!
This year, we played a round of Bingo! The 1st person to cross out all the numbers wins a prize (contributed by all players). So we had our very clever Wayne to be the Game Master announcing aloud all the numbers and even helping with the prize presentation… to me! Yay to the winning number 69!!! Going shopping with my Capitaland vouchers… 😃
Basically, any simple game that promotes participation will do. You’d be surprised even simple children’s games can be fun too… It really doesn’t need to be fancy! 😉
And after all these, follow up by ending the night with a yummy desert or an ice cream! I guarantee everyone will leave the place with their hearts and tummies full!!! Til next year… 👋👋👋
