Our Christmas Market Holiday Party & Wine Exchange
With exactly one day left in the year, I wanted to quickly capture this year’s low-key holiday party that we hosted in early December, since we’re thinking it may become an annual tradition. After visiting several Christmas markets the last couple of years and having such fun strolling the shops with a steaming cup of mulled wine in my hand, I thought it would be cute to do a market theme for this year’s party at home. I got this vision for an assortment of snacks and treats in little wax bags for guests to carry around, and lots of different beverage stations to choose from (both warm and cold). Key to this idea was a custom stamp — but I didn’t have time to order one. I decided it was time to test my Cricut’s limits to see if it could handle making a stamp out of craft foam. There are limitations to this method of course (the stamp was much bigger than my ideal because that’s as small as the machine could do it), but for a last minute idea I think it turned out pretty good. For an activity (other than visiting and connecting in a cozy environment), I landed on trying out a wine exchange with the same rules as a white elephant game. Read on for more details!
If you’re ever throwing together a last minute gathering, minimal prep is the way to go. Our December was ultra-busy, from kicking off with my sister’s baby shower on weekend 1, to traveling to see family weekends 3 and 4. That left a narrow window in which to celebrate the season with friends.
Batch cocktails and easy, no-prep snacks were our best friends here. I used just about every serving bowl in my house for a selection of nuts, popcorn, and sweets. The stove was devoted to a large dutch oven of simmering spiced cider, while a crockpot kept mulled wine hot and ready. Guests were also welcome to whip themselves up a winter white sparkling cocktail or an easy festive G&T (with rosemary and juniper berries).
The bags and hot cups turned out to be an amazing choice for minimal cleanup after 16 or so guests. We used a few real wine glasses for the chilled cocktails, but otherwise it was the quickest party cleanup yet. I got the bags from hobby lobby, and the cups from amazon.
If anyone happens to have a Cricut Maker and wants to give the stamps a go, I do have a few tips —
I grabbed some cheap craft foam at Michael’s that came with an adhesive backing, as well as some acrylic blocks for the stamp base and of course, an evergreen colored ink pad.
I experimented with some fonts I liked more but in the end was forced to choose a chunky sans serif, as details get ruined in the cutting process. The minimum width that came out okay was about three inches. I also added some tracking (spacing between the letters) to help the machine cut each one out clearly.
After reading some tutorials, I realized you can change the default blade (deep point) to the knife blade, which works infinitely better.
Transfer tape did not really work for me to get the letters onto the acrylic block, so I just adhered the whole thing and then pulled off the surrounding foam gently, holding the letters in place as I went.
Stamping itself was a breeze, and you can even wipe off the ink with baby wipes and use it again! I’ll probably order a nicer rubber one for next year if this turns out to be an annual thing, but for a single use application, the Cricut saved the day.
Most of the guests we invited were already close friends with each other, so we simply mingled and sipped for an hour or so, enjoying the cozy atmosphere as rain poured outside.
After a while, we started the wine exchange. Each guest or couple was prompted to bring a favorite bottle to swap in a white-elephant style game. We dressed them up with leftover ribbon bits and fresh pine needles, but otherwise left them unwrapped because we determined people should at least have a chance of selecting something they know they’ll like (unless of course it gets stolen!)
However, this particular group were red-lovers — not a single person brought a bottle of white! The game was very merciful too, I don’t think anyone stole anybody’s selection, and yet everyone went home happy. Next year the stakes will be higher! I plan to try wrapping them fully and seeing if that changes anything…and perhaps throwing in a higher price point bottle or two to fight over :)
Thankfully we had a backup game of holiday trivia planned to add a little more competitive spirit. Ryan hosted a hilarious (and tricky) couple rounds that included questions like “what country exports the most Christmas trees” and “in the host’s opinion, is Die Hard a Christmas movie”?
We ended the night with another round of drinks and some of Ryan’s homemade fudge, which is a tradition his father passed on to us.
After a year of hosting several all-out parties (more on my sister’s bridal shower and my 30th birthday to come in the new year), it was so nice to just kick back and relax with friends and enjoy their company without playing bartender or waitress all night.
Cheers to the next year of savoring each season with the ones we love!
— M
