I threw my first Christmas Party last night! I have always loved this season, but this one has been especially difficult for myself and friends. Our studies have grown a lot harder and I feel like we have all been so focused on school that we haven’t had much time to see each other. We normally have weekly dinners together, but that fell out as the semester progressed and we got busy with exams and assignments.
So I wanted to throw a little something together to celebrate the end of finals and the end of this semester! This is particularly exciting for some of us as it’s the penultimate semester of our undergraduate careers. My finals this week were pretty brutal, but I am glad they are over and I can enjoy the company of my friends before we go our separate ways and enjoy the company of our families.
I wanted to keep the menu pretty simple since I wouldn’t have a lot of time to cook, plus it is a celebration so all I really wanted to eat was a bunch of junk food. I baked most of my cookies last weekend, partly for my enjoyment, partly for Andrew, and partly for the party so I mostly had to just throw thing in a crockpot or pull it out of the fridge!
The Menu
Appetizers:
- Toasted Ravioli, served with marinara dipping sauce
- Rotel Dip, served with tortilla chips (and whatever else you want to dunk this glorious spicy cheese dip with)
- Vegetable Tray, served with French onion dip and ranch
- Little Smokies, served in KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce
- Crackers, cheese, and summer sausage tray
Dessert:
- Banana Cream Pie
- Brownies, with green icing and sprinkles to look like Christmas Trees
- Milk Chocolate covered pretzels
- White Chocolate covered pretzels
- Peanut Butter cookies, with either a Hershey’s Hug or a Reece’s Peanut Butter cup in the middle
- Haystacks, which are butterscotch coated chow mein noodles and peanuts
Drinks:
- Hot chocolate
- Jello shots, stacked in the shape of a Christmas Tree
- Seagram’s Wild Berry, Strawberry Daiquiri, and watermelon flavored beers
- Various assorted vodkas, rums, juices and soda (I am no bartender)
My Outfit
A couple of weeks ago, I found this cute holiday skirt at Kohl’s that I just couldn’t pass up. It was originally $25 but I got it down to about $17 with some coupons that I had. I paired it with some black leggings since it’s a bit cold out and the skirt is a bit short, a black shirt, and some fuzzy polka-dot socks because my feet always get cold. If I were to have been going out, I would’ve opted for either some plain black flats or heels. I also had a green scarf to make the outfit less dark, but I ditched that because it kept getting in the way of my food, haha. Food before fashion!
The Party
We had seven friends over, which seems kind of small, but it was perfect for our tiny apartment. I’m not sure we could have fit many more. 
We ended up having waayyyy too much food. We didn’t even hardly touch the desserts I made!
We started out watching Jurassic World, though about halfway through we all got really chatty and didn’t pay much attention to the movie. It’s the booze talking. Then we did our Dirty Santa / White Elephant gift exchange. I ended up getting a cowbell. 
I keep teasing Andrew I’m going to ring it to make him come to me. We also gave out the presents we individually got for our friends.
We finished the night with Cards Against Humanity. Somehow earlier in the night, my grandpa’s racism came up as a topic of conversation, so I kept getting all the racist cards. My friends are terrible.
It was a really fun night. It’s something that I definitely want to continue in the future!
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