It is so much fun to have adult Christmas parties! Here are some great Adult Christmas Party Ideas. Just in case you don't know what a progressive dinner is...it is where you have a meal at different people's houses. You would start at one house for appetizers and cocktails and so forth.We always made ours formal, but you can do yours however you like. Here is the way that we did it!

1 month in advance, we (the ladies) met to decide who would host each part of the meal and have it at their house. We had about 12 couples who participated and we needed 5 houses. So, two or three couples were in charge of a part of a meal at one of their houses. Make sense? Keep reading. They each figured out what they would make and it was up to them to decorate and set everything up for everyone when they got there. We normally stayed at each house for about 45 minutes, except for the main meal and the white elephant ornament exchange. They were longer.

First house: appetizers and cocktails

Second house: soup and salad

Third house: main course

Fourth house: dessert

Fifth house: white elephant ornament exchange and more cocktails

At the appetizer and cocktails house, the host would set up a really nice table with a variety of nice appetizers and they would also have cocktails. This was where everyone mixed and mingled visited and we went to the next house. We took the cocktails with us. The guys would load up the drinks in a wagon and bring them to the next house. We lived very close, so we walked to each house.

Soup and salad was next. Then we had a very formal sit down dinner at the main course house. About three or four of us hosted the main course dinner. We would have a ham, and then some type of white meat, nice sides, bread and wine. Very fancy! We would move living room furniture into the garage so that we could set up 6 foot long tables. We set up four of them. Each table was decorated with china, silver, tablecloth and a beautiful centerpiece with candles. Each table was a different theme...because no one had 24 place settings. The tables were beautiful and we put a party favor on each plate. Normally the party favor was a glass christmas ornament or some type of beautifully wrapped candy. The centerpieces on the tables were normally different types of garland for each table...different colors of ornaments and crystal candle holders with taper candles. For example: one table would be all silver and white, another gold and red, etc. They were really beautiful. I will post a picture as soon as I find one.

Adult Christmas Party Ideas

After the sit down dinner, we would head to the dessert house. There were usually about 6-8 different types of dessert and coffee and more cocktails. After that we went to another house for the white elephant exchange. Each person would bring a really nice wrapped ornament. It was fun seeing what the men chose at the store. Just in case you don't know what a white elephant gift exchange is..there are many variations, but this is how we did it (we brought ornaments, but you can bring regular Christmas gifts, too):

Put the wrapped ornaments in the center. Everyone draws a number. The number you draw determines the order in which you pick an ornament. Whoever has number 1, pick a gift first. Opens the gift...everyone oohs and aahs. Then whoever draws number 2 goes and so forth. This is the catch...if you like an ornament that has been opened and it's your turn, then you can steal an ornament from someone else, you don't have to pick a wrapped one from the pile. Well...you can imagine there is always a very popular ornament. If you take one from someone else, they get to pick from the pile or steal from someone else, too. You have to put a limit on how many times a particular ornament can be stolen. We had a limit of 3, otherwise you will be there all night. This gets really fun, some people get a little upset. The men usually make fun of the ornaments. But it's really lots of laughs. You want to draw a higher number, that way you can steal any of the ornaments that you want. One year someone brought a really ugly brown ornament that looked liked nuts glued together. Every year it ended back in the white elephant exchange. It was really very funny. These progressive dinners were so much fun! Great Adult Christmas Party Ideas

Tacky Christmas Sweater Party

Here is another Great Adult Christmas Party Idea. Do you remember when Christmas sweaters were all the rage? Try to think back to the early 90's Bill Crosby? Come on...admit it. You still have one or two hanging in your closet right? Well, it's always funny to see the Christmas sweaters that people show up in. Have a prize for the tackiest, most ornate, or goofiest Christmas sweater. Oh...and if you really did throw yours out, a great place to buy one is Good Will or another second hand store.

Mexican Theme Party

Okay...blend the Margaritas and let's get this party started! One of my favorite Adult Christmas Party Ideas! I love to have mexican themed Christmas Parties. What fun! This is an easy party to throw and it's also easy on the pocketbook. All you need is a little salsa music, some mexican food, and great beverages and you're good to go! The great thing about this type of party is there is little preparation for the food. I set up a chalupa bar that consists of the following food: chalupa shells, refried beans, seasoned taco meat, fajita meat,diced tomatoes, grated cheese, guacamole or sliced avocados, salsa, chili con queso and chips. The hot items just put in chafing dishes or crock pots. Sometimes I add tamales to the mix. In San Antonio, tamales are always very popular at Christmas time!

As for the beverages, I like to serve Corona beer, Margaritas and Sangria!!

Please don't forget about the dessert! I also have a table filled with mexican pastries that I buy at a mexican bakery. If you don't live in an area with a mexican bakery...I'm sure that your guests will forgive you if you have traditional desserts! :) Even though this is under my Adult Christmas Party Ideas section...it is appropriate for any age!

More Adult Christmas Party Ideas Coming Soon!

For recipe ideas for your progressive dinner, see all of my recipe pages!
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