The holiday season is typically filled with large fancy parties, small intimate gatherings, and extravagant dinner parties. Planning your own Christmas party can seem like you’re competing with hundreds of other festive events during this time, but by adding special touches to every aspect of your party, its sure to be a success.

Magical Themes

A great party starts with a great theme. You may be thinking that your party theme is a given since it is Christmas time. But take it one step further and you’ll end up with a fabulous Christmas party that will be talk of town. Some theme ideas include:

- Black tie dinner party - Winter wonderland - Sophisticated cocktail party - Casual fireside party

These party themes are easy to put together and aren’t too far from feel of season to seem out of place as a Christmas party. People love to get dolled up around this time and so costume parties may be a little out of place. Each of your party themes should tie into all aspects of your party including any decorations, invitations, and even food. Choosing a theme may seem difficult at first but once you get started on planning your party it will make entire process seem easier.

Sending out party invitations is a great way to get your guests excited about party. Most people are invited to at least several parties during holiday season, and invitations can help set your party apart. Your invitations don’t need to be too extravagant to make an impression on recipients. Just be sure to include all pertinent information that your guests will need to know.

Invitations can be sent in a number of ways. While custom made invitations certainly will have most impact on your guests, you don’t want to spend your entire party budget on invitations either. Making your own invitations might seem like a lot of work but it can actually be quite simple. You can download invitation templates from Internet and create your own personalized invitations that will really wow your guests. You can add color pictures to these templates that will look like a professional created them.

Another invitation option is to send electronic invitations. There are several websites that offer invitations services complete with an online RSVP function that makes it easy to check who is coming to party. You can add festive music and animation to your invitations. Guests will love getting these creative invites in their inbox. Make sure that you contact guests via telephone if they haven’t responded by your RSVP date. Some people don’t check their email often.

Party Decorations

Halloween is day of year that has most parties thrown in its honor. Everyone loves to dress up and attend Halloween parties with their friends. Most people end up getting several invitations to different Halloween parties that are often on same night. If you are planning to throw your own Halloween party, how can you get all your friends to head to your shindig and not someone else’s? You need to come up with some unique and fun ideas that will get everyone on your list so excited about your party they won’t even consider going anywhere else.

Not Just Any Old Theme

Many people don’t bother thinking of a theme for their Halloween party since it seems to be somewhat of a theme already. But rather than just putting up some Happy Halloween banners and fake cobwebs, why not come up with a great theme party idea? You can do anything from a haunted house or graveyard to a monster mash or horror movie bash. Once you’ve chosen your theme apply it to everything from your invitations to your party food. Guests will love some guidance on what to dress up as, especially if you do something a little different.

Your Halloween party invitations are one of most important aspects of your party. Invitations are best way to get your guests excited about your party. Many people don’t even send invitations anymore so even sending out simple ones will help your party stick in people’s minds. Be sure to apply your party theme to your invitations. If you can’t find any invitations at your local party store that go with your theme you can always use invitation templates that you can download for free from Internet.

You can totally customize invitation templates and add colorful pictures as well. Guests will love to receive these fun invitations in mail. You should send your invitations out approximately three to four weeks before your party to give everyone time to make plans to attend. If you’re running short of time sending electronic invitations is a great idea too. You can add animation and sound to e-invitations and even check guest’s responses online. Be sure to contact anyone who doesn’t respond via telephone since not everyone checks their email often.

Spooky Decorations

Everyone will expect to see your house decorated to nines on Halloween so be sure not to disappoint. Your decorations should match your theme, so give them plenty of thought. For instance, a haunted house theme should be complete with low lighting, smoke, a spooky soundtrack, and even live ghouls to jump out and scare guests as they arrive. A horror movie bash might include retro horror B-movie posters stuck on walls which you can find on Internet and print off at home.