Host a Christmas in July Party!

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Many retailers have Christmas in July sales. Many people may not have felt comfortable getting together yet this past Christmas. Now that restrictions are lifting and vaccines are in place, why not finish out the month with an impromptu Christmas in July Party?

I love Christmas and in our house, we cannot WAIT until the Hallmark Channel starts showing nonstop Christmas movies in the late fall. They are currently showing Christmas movies round the clock in July and we couldn’t be happier. 🙂

So why not have some friends over for a Christmas in July party with festive decorations, food, music and a Hallmark Christmas movie marathon?

Let’s start with decorations.

You probably can’t find any real Christmas trees this time of year but you probably already have an artificial tree in storage. If not, craft and home goods stores are starting to stock some Christmas stuff so you could pick up a tree for your party.

Instead of red and green ornaments, you could do a coastal theme and decorate your tree with sea shells, and marine life themed ornaments.

You could use pastel ornaments or go with a nautical theme in navy and white.

You can buy ornaments or make your own. You could even have all the supplies out on a craft table and let your guests make an ornament to take home with them. Craft stores abound with shells and starfish that would make beautiful ornaments. You can also paint clear round ornaments with Martha Stewart’s line of Sea Glass Paint.

How about the refreshments?

You won’t want to eat any of the standard heavy fair eaten during the winter holidays, but you can still carry on a holiday theme with summery foods. If you want to go with a red and green theme, you can’t beat a caprese salad, which is a delicious Italian salad consisting of tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. That’s it. You drizzle it with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt.

Another delicious summer treat that is simple to make is honeydew melon wrapped in thinly sliced prosciutto.

You can put out little bowls of snacks like Goldfish crackers or M&Ms in your color theme.

For desserts you could do strawberries dipped in whipped cream with mint sprigs for garnish.

Or if you’re going with a pastel theme, macarons LOOK like ornaments.

You can make your own or order them from your favorite bakery. Or make or order some cute beach themed cookies to match your ornaments.

How about some s’mores made with peppermint marshmallows? It’s probably too hot for a bonfire, but you can get one of those cute little indoor s’mores makers.

And what would a party be without a signature cocktail? How about a candy cane martini? You can find recipes all over the internet, and most of them contain delicious flavors like strawberry vodka, peppermint schnapps, cranberry juice, or creme de menthe. Just crush candy canes to line the rim of the glasses.

Finally, you need some tunes.

You can go with traditional Christmas music if you’d like, or you can put together a playlist of more “summery” Christmas music like “Little Saint Nick” by The Beach Boys, or “Mele Kalikimaka” by Bing Crosby or any other artist recording you prefer. There is “Christmas Island” by the Andrews Sisters. There are “island versions” of many traditional Christmas songs.

We have to do all we can to survive the heat this summer, and a Christmas in July Party might just fit the bill and become a yearly tradition. If not yearly, at least a do-over from this past Christmas if it was a weird one for you. Let your imagination run wild and have a great time!

Let me know if you have some great Christmas in July Party ideas!