The holidays are fast approaching, which means it’s time to start planning your upcoming Christmas party! A creative theme can take your celebration from boring to lively and fun for all your guests.
In this article, we’ll explore 18 unique Christmas party theme ideas ranging from elegant to funny, traditional to unconventional. I’ll provide inspiration for decor, activities, menus, and more to help bring each theme to life. Whether you’re planning an intimate gathering or a large-scale holiday bash, you’ll discover creative ideas to make your Christmas party one for the books!
Kid-Friendly Christmas Party Theme
When hosting young ones this holiday season, choose a theme that will delight children of all ages. Here are six fun and festive ideas:
North Pole Adventure
Turn your party space into a winter wonderland straight from the North Pole! Decorations can include fake snow, glittery snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, and life-size cardboard cutouts of arctic animals like penguins, polar bears, and arctic foxes. Set up a craft station where kids can make their own plush polar bear or penguin to take home. Serve mini candy canes and frosty sugar cookies.
The Polar Express Pajama Party
This is one train everyone wants to be aboard!
Ask guests to dress up in their coziest pajamas, just like characters in the beloved holiday book and movie. Mail out golden tickets as invitations and set up a hot cocoa bar with toppings like marshmallows, sprinkles and candy canes. Screen the film and serve frosted sugar cookies just like the conductor’s. Hand out jingle bell ornaments as party favors.
Around the World Holiday
Pick 2-3 different countries and highlight unique Christmas traditions from each. For example, in Sweden you could decorate with straw Yule goats, serve Swedish meatballs, and have everyone make their own paper straw stars.
Expose kids to holiday customs they may not be familiar with from other parts of the world.
Christmas Crafting Camp
Get kids in the DIY holiday spirit by setting up different craft stations perfect for little hands. Provide supplies like paint, glitter, pom poms, googly eyes, stickers, and more so they can let their creativity run wild. Possible projects include decorating mini gingerbread men, building mini snowmen out of marshmallows, and making pine cone Christmas trees.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Bring the Grinch to life with fun games and activities. Deck out party foods and decorations with green frosting, food coloring, and fluffy green accents to “grinchify” them. Screen clips from the classic cartoon, play games like “Pin the Heart on the Grinch,” and award prizes for best Grinch impressions. Kids will have a blast while learning that Christmas means more than just gifts and parties.
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Elegant Christmas Party Themes for Adults
Once the kids are tucked in bed, keep the sophisticated holiday merriment flowing with these elegant Christmas party themes for adults:
Winter Wonderland
Channel the magic of the winter season with an ice queen color scheme of whites, icy blues and silvers. Incorporate winter-inspired decor elements like pine sprigs, bare birch branches, white twinkle lights, silver ribbon, mirrors and glass accents. Display white poinsettias on the tables. Serve cool-toned cocktails like pomegranate martinis and have jazz versions of winter songs play softly in the background.
A Christmas Carol Dinner Party
Immerse guests in the classic Dickens tale by hosting a Victorian-inspired party. Incorporate elements from the time period like candles, oil lamps, velvet, lace, and rich wood tones. Ask attendees to dress in period-style clothing. Serve a grand meal of roast goose, potatoes, chestnut stuffing, wassail and figgy pudding. Switch your modern music for carols popular during Dickens’ era.
Retro Holiday Cocktail Soirée
Channel Christmas past with 1950s inspired decor. Adorn tables with vintage linens, glittering mid-century ornaments and other retro accessories. Have guests dress up in fabulous 50s fashion. Also serve classic cocktails like old fashioneds, manhattans, and martinis. Your guests will feel like they’ve time-traveled to Christmas past!
Rustic Christmas Gathering
For cozy, old-fashioned charm make your party space rustic-chic. Incorporate plaid linens, string lights, pine cones, fir sprigs, and bare wood accents. Display mini birch log centerpieces and red trucks carrying tiny Christmas trees. Serve comfort food in cast iron pans like baked mac and cheese, beef stew, and apple pie. Hand out plaid blankets or flannel shirts as gifts.
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Funny, Unique and Non-Traditional Christmas Party Themes
If you’re looking to make guests chuckle or try something totally different, these unique Christmas party themes will do just the trick:
Ugly Holiday Sweater Party
Your annual ugly sweater party can get a whole new twist. Ask guests to pull out their absolute gaudiest, brightest, tackiest holiday sweaters. Offer prizes for categories like Funniest, Ugliest, Most Creative, etc. Don’t forget an abundance of silly holiday photos to memorialize the night!
Christmas Luau
Trade icy weather for tropical vibes! Adorn your backyard with tiki torches, pineapple and palm leaf decor. Greet guests with flower leis. Serve classic luau foods like shrimp ceviche and poke alongside holiday cookies. Get everyone doing the limbo and enjoy some Christmas songs with a Hawaiian twist.
Christmas Carol Karaoke
Provide microphones, screens with song lyrics, and backing tracks so guests can belt out their favorite carols. Award prizes for best singing performances. For an even more competitive twist, split guests into teams to battle it out in a sing-off.
The 12 Pains of Christmas
Highlight the hilarious, yet all too relatable, headaches of the season. Decorate with empty gift boxes, tangled lights, burned cookies, and wrapping paper scraps. Make signs with funny phrases like “My Testing and In-Laws are Coming to Town.” Let guests commiserate and share their own holiday mishap stories.
Winter Luau
Talk about holiday mashups! Transform your space into a blizzardy beach paradise. Incorporate inflatable snowmen, fake snow, and winter greenery alongside hammocks, leis, and tropical flower centerpieces. Serve hot cocoa in coconuts alongside Christmas cookies. Your guests’ jaws will drop at this unexpected juxtaposition.
Related Article: 25 DIY Hilarious Christmas Cards That Will Make You Laugh Out Loud
Classic & Traditional Christmas Party Themes
You can never go wrong incorporating these timeless motifs and symbols that epitomize the Christmas season:
Traditional Christmas Colors
Red, green and gold will never fail to delight. Use these festive colors abundantly throughout your space – table linens, candles, string lights, ribbons, napkins, flowers, and any decor you can find. Serve classic recipes like roast turkey, cranberries, mashed potatoes, and nutmeg-spiced eggnog.
Woodland Christmas
Bring the essence of the forest indoors through natural textures and earthy tones. Incorporate pine cones, birch logs, pine branches, acorns, burlap, bare wood, and tartan accents. Arrange mini Christmas trees on wood slab centerpieces for a rustic feel. Hang string lights and tan stockings to complete this cozy theme.
Vintage Noel
Step back in time with nostalgic 1950s – 1970s inspired decor. Display vintage ornaments, nutcrackers, and carolers from bygone eras. Incorporate retro Christmas colors like avocado green, burnt orange, peacock blue and gold. Serve time-honored dishes like wassail, sugar cookies, fruit cake, and eggnog.
Movie Watch Party
Screen back-to-back classic Christmas movies to set a festive mood all season long. Display blown up vintage movie posters and serve movie snacks like popcorn and candy. Share trivia questions between films and give out fun prizes. A movie marathon never fails to entertain!
Sparkling Winter Wonderland
Glam up your space by making it shine, glisten and glitter. Incorporate gleaming silver and white accents like mirrors, rhinestones, tinsel and glittering lights. Display frosted pine sprigs and white flowers like roses or orchids. Serve champagne cocktails and your most decadent desserts, like black forest cake. Your party will absolutely sparkle.
In Conclusion
The holiday season offers so many possibilities to host a Christmas party unlike any other. By choosing a creative theme and letting it influence your decor, activities, invitations, music and food, you can throw a yuletide affair to remember. Focus on picking a theme that fits your guest list, budget and overall vibe you want to achieve.
With thoughtful planning and joyful execution, your Christmas party will be a huge hit whether you have kids, adults, close family or coworkers on the guest list. The new year will be here before you know it, so start dreaming up ideas now. Here’s wishing you a beautiful holiday season and all the best in the year ahead!
