Holiday Party: A Home Alone Themed Christmas Party

Every year, we throw a themed Christmas party. This year, our theme was Home Alone. I’ll admit, I wasn’t originally on board with the theme but it was one of the best parties we’ve ever thrown! And, that’s saying a lot because I adored last year’s Rudolph theme.

Jerad and I attended an awesome Christmas party thrown by a few of our acquaintances one year. Once we got married and had our own home, we decided we wanted to share this type of experience of the holiday season with our friends and family. Just like that, a tradition was born. We’ve hosted as many as 40 people in our home for our parties, and we’ve gotten better and better at theming the events. We try to keep our themes a secret telling only a few folks before the arrival of the party invites in their mailboxes.

We pick our theme a year in advance. Selecting the theme and party date a year in advance means we can grab all kinds of good after Christmas sale items! Party planning begins every fall with the final selection of our party invites. I order the party invites before the start of October. This year, I ordered this awesome invite from Etsy. Jerad then creates our coordinating Christmas card.

The Food Spread

We always provide the main dish, sodas and a few snack items for the party. Then, we ask our guests to bring food to supplement our spread. Asking guests to bring food eliminates some of the stress of party prep and lowers the costs of the party.

This year’s spread included items to match the theme such as mac & cheese, cheese pizza, and popcorn(Which all make appearances in the movie.). In addition to the party invites, I also purchased downloadable Home Alone images from Etsy. We used these images around the house to decorate and for food labels.

I always try to label the food to match the theme. The Etsy invites came with a Thank You note we adapted. I somehow missed taking pictures of our dessert spread that included our Santa brownies, and our punch.

Home Alone Party Decor

We took decorating for this party very seriously and even managed to hang empty paint cans over our front door.

The Entertainment

We always play a few games at the party and a fun round of a White Elephant gift exchange. The first game is always a warm-up to the main trivia event. The trivia round is always ultra-competitive, and this year was no different! The prizes for the trivia round were Home Alone themed ornaments.

We set our gift costs at $5, this requires guests to be creative with the items they bring to the party. I’m still very sad that I missed out on the toilet light with 16 color options! I could have decorated my bathroom for all the holidays.

The Basement Party

By now, you’re probably wondering where all the kiddos were… tucked away safely in the basement. In the last few years, we’ve hired a babysitter to entertain the children. The kids join us for snacking and then head downstairs to their own party. Their party includes music, crafts, foods, and awesome blowups. I stock their areas with juice boxes and fruit snacks.

Trust me, the kids never complain. In fact, some of them would rather skip the food and head straight to their party.

The Photo Backdrop

I normally purchase elaborate photo backdrops, but this year, I opted for a streamer background from the Target Dollar Spot. It didn’t look great in person, but it does make a nice festive backdrop.

We’ve just recently decided on next year’s theme… and here’s your hint it’s going to be ICONIC!

Table Runner: Spoonflower
Tarantula: Amazon