Host an Unforgettable Girls Night Christmas Party that Sparkles

Inside: Give the ultimate holiday girls night with this simple hosting guide for what you need to throw a ladies Christmas party you’ll all remember!

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Out of all of the kinds of holiday parties I’ve attended, Christmas parties with my girlfriends might be my favorite. The laughs until your stomach hurts, the deep talks, and even the cut-throat white elephant exchanges all make for precious memories.

Giving parties strikes fear into many people, and I think it’s because it feels overwhelming. But setting up a special night to treat my friends brings me such joy. Hosting a holiday girls night really just boils down to a few basic things, and when you know what to do it’s simple! It doesn’t have to be stressful or over-the-top. It’s all about creating a warm and inviting place to celebrate the season together.

This year it was my turn to host my girlfriends of 25 years (and counting). For our Christmas ladies night, I chose a “sparkle” theme, and it turned out to be a magical evening of silliness and sisterhood to remember.

With details of how I put together this recent celebration, I’m sharing the essential parts of hosting a girlfriends holiday party that you can use too!

Guide to Hosting a Ladies Christmas Party.

Decide on a Fun Theme.

This doesn’t have to be over the top unless your friends just roll that way. But a theme makes things more fun, makes it easier to decorate, and makes your party look put together and polished.

One of the most common themes is a girlfriends holiday pajama party. We’ve done that at least a couple of times and it’s always nice to be warm and comfy. I felt “sparkle” was the theme for this year because sparkling things are extra special like my girlfriends (and diamonds😉).

Dress the Part.

Ask everyone to dress according to the theme. This year all of my girlfriends looked so beautiful dressed up in their sparkles—some of them all the way down to their fabulous shoes!

SH&H Tip: Your friends will be more likely to be happy with having a theme if it’s easy— like Christmas jammies, certain colors, or animal print.

Let the Table Set the Stage for Theme Decor.

The holiday decorations you already have in place can do the heavy lifting in making things festive. Bringing the party theme can be as simple as making a themed centerpiece for the dining table, food table, or buffet.

I focused the sparkle theme only in the dining room since we would be eating dinner there. I loaded the center of the dining table with silver, gold, and lots of sparkling decor.

So that we could talk easily without anything blocking our view, I swapped the taller martini glass vases from earlier in the month for stemless wine glasses with a little rhinestone ribbon hot glued around the rims. I filled them with diamond vase filler and a votive candle to amp up the sparkle:

For the place settings, I used highly reflective gold chargers under elegant white and gold china, and neutral linen napkins with a touch of sparkling ribbon. And I finished the table settings off with the soft patina of heirloom silver utensils and some faceted crystal glasses.

I carried the sparkle theme throughout the dining room, with a Christmas tree decked out in shiny metallics:

And some mercury glass finials sparkle on the sideboard under a silver and gold wreath:

You can see all of the details of this tablescape and dining room Christmas decor in the post “How to Decorate a Glam Silver and Gold Christmas Tree“.

A Party Favor to Match.

It’s always a nice touch to have a small gift for each friend, and even better if it fits the theme!

This year for my little take away gifts, I placed a sparkly tennis bracelet with their initial on each plate that also served as their place card. And I added a Christmas scented candle that glows with glitter and LED lights when lit.

Delicious Bites and Drinks.

Every great holiday party needs a signature drink to get friends in a festive mood! This year I served two—White Christmas Cosmos (sparkling with some edible glitter) and Peppermint Espresso Martinis.

Before dinner, we had a couple of appetizers out to nosh on. A charcuterie board with a mix of cheeses, meats, pecans, and fruit that I simply couldn’t resist laying out like a Christmas tree. The other was an easy dip of Boursin cheese topped with fig jam, roasted pecans, and bacon.

After a pasta dinner, we had an extra special treat for dessert—wish I could take credit for making this one:

One of the girls has a friend who bakes the big white Christmas cake on the cover of Southern Living every December and gives it to her as a gift!. It was stunning, and it seemed so wrong to cut into this beautiful creation.

Pictures to Make the Memories Last.

This is at least our twentieth Christmas party together, and we were discussing why we can’t find many group pictures from the early years (we decided phone cameras make it so much easier now).

But now we know how precious those group pictures become! So amongst your hosting duties and socializing, make it a point to take some photos—you’ll be so happy you did someday.

The sweet friends who made the cake took our photos for us when they dropped it off, and I know we will treasure them. We had a little too much fun with it, but they were good sports about it!

Activities to Bring the Fun and Games.

No holiday girls night is complete without fun activities to make us laugh! For this party, our tradition is to do a white elephant exchange with Christmas ornaments. After twenty years we have quite a collection of ornaments from past parties, and it’s so cool to reminisce when we see them on the host’s tree.

Even the ornament I gifted this year (unintentionally) fit the theme. I hated to let this baby go, but I love the one I got equally!

Here are a few other activity ideas that would also be fun for your girls night holiday party:

• Holiday Trivia: Test your friends’ knowledge of Christmas movies, carols, and traditions. Award little prizes.
• Favorite Things Gifts: Instead of ornaments, set a price range and have a white elephant gift exchange with everyone favorite things.
• Photo Booth: Set up a backdrop to get even more photos. Include some holiday props like Santa hats, reindeer antlers, crowns, tinsel boas, and funny signs.
• Karaoke: Let everyone belt out their favorite Christmas tunes with some bluetooth microphones.
• Dance Party: Make a playlist of songs that always get your friends moving and grooving.
• Game Night: Gather around the table with a Christmas cocktail and play board games, LRC, or cards.
• Dinner Questions: Use this list of entertaining dinner conversation starters to learn even more about each other.

Hostess Gift Show and Tell.

This isn’t required, but we always enjoy having the host open her gifts in front of everyone. It’s nice that the gifts get properly acknowledged and it’s a great source of gift ideas for future! And if anyone brought a little something for everybody, we pass those out for everyone to open together.

Look at all the special things I got, including the ornament from the exchange in the middle—my friends are great shoppers!

Other Holiday Party Themes and Ideas

If a sparkle theme isn’t your style, here are some other good girl Christmas party ideas to get you started:

• Pajama Party: Invite everyone to wear their coziest holiday pajamas. Serve hot cocoa, have breakfast for dinner, set up a cookie-decorating station, or watch a Christmas movie.
• Ugly Sweater Party: Have your friends don their tackiest holiday attire. Award prizes for the best (or worst) looks.
• Winter Wonderland: Use elegant white decorations and have everyone wear white. Serve white cocktails like a Snowflake Martini.
• Holiday Charcuterie Night: Have everyone bring a different kind of charcuterie board, and the food is already taken care of.

The love and support of good girlfriends is the best present, and a holiday girls night is the perfect time to celebrate each other. So choose your holiday party theme, send out the invites, and prepare for a night of fun, sparkle, and memories!

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