Part of my job (ok, my favorite part of my job) is throwing parties, and my personal favorite was Christmas in August. Everyone loves the holidays and it’s a fun way to do something unexpected. And it’s not that hard. With August 25th approaching, this is a good time to revisit the idea! Unfortunately, no one took pictures at this party, but hopefully the description will inspire you to try it yourself!
Decor
You probably have some holiday decorations in a closet. Pull them out – you don’t need to put up a tree (unless you really want to), but a little garland goes a long way towards setting up a holiday atmosphere. If your holiday decorations are in storage or just don’t exist, try an image search for “tropical Christmas” and print out some pictures of Santa on the beach and decorated palm trees. Of course, if you live in a climate where palm trees are decorated in December, it may not seem quite as unusual as it does in New York, but it still works. Center each picture, align it to the bottom margin of your page, and fold each page over towards the top of the page. Glue to a ribbon or garland, and voila – a fun holiday decoration that you won’t feel bad tossing after the party!
I also made the sign shown above using an old picture frame I had on hand. This took absolutely no lettering skills – I printed out the saying in a pretty font on several sheets of paper, taped the paper to the back of the glass in the picture frame, and traced over it with a paint pen. Once it dried, I removed the paper, and I looked like I had mad calligraphy skills.
Food and Drink
The idea in planning the menu was to have foods that seem seasonal without being super heavy, cold-weather foods. Hopefully you have some holiday platters available, because even store-brand chips and dip look festive when they’re on holiday platters! If you have any leftover holiday paper goods, this is a great time to use them up. If not, just go for plain red and green plates, forks, and cups.
I made easy strombolis using pre-made pizza crust (the kind that comes in a ball, but if your supermarket doesn’t have them, the tubes sold by the biscuit area should work too – you just don’t want a frozen one), one filled with sliced pepperoni, mozzarella, and basil on one and the other with grilled zucchini, roasted red peppers and mozzarella – continuing the red and green theme! These can be made in advance and heated up right before serving, and they don’t have to be served piping hot, which is always good for party food. In addition, I made a veggie tray in the shape of a tree (made easier by using a platter shaped like a tree) with broccoli, cauliflower, and yellow peppers cut into stars.
Of course, there were cookies – I just did slice and bake sugar cookies with red and green crystals. I also made these easy pineapple coconut snowballs from Just A Pinch: https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cookies/no-bake-cream-cheese-coconut-snowballs.html because what doesn’t say warm weather Christmas more than pineapple coconut snowballs?
To drink, we had strawberry sangria (recipe following) and frozen hot chocolate. To go with the hot chocolate, I put out whipped cream, crushed peppermint candies, mini marshmallows, and because this is a drinking crowd, Bailey’s and Kahlua. Of course, water and soft drinks were also served. If you’re doing this for kids, you might want to make a non-alcoholic red punch, and the frozen hot chocolate is a hit with all ages.
In conclusion, throwing a Christmas in August party may seem like a lot of work, but it’s not nearly as intensive as you might think and it’s a lot of fun!
Strawberry Sangria – makes 1 large punch bowl full
This is based on a recipe I found online, but I made some changes, because I thought the original was a little too sweet.
1 cup strawberry simple syrup (see below)
2 bottles prosecco, chilled
2 cups vanilla vodka (can use plain if you can’t find vanilla)
1 cup strawberries, washed, hulled, and halved
Prepare simple syrup. Put two cups washed and hulled strawberries, 1/2 cup sugar, and one cup water in a pot over high heat. Bring to a boil and let simmer about 15 minutes. If the strawberries look “washed out”, strain them out. With or without berries, let cool completely. This can be made a few days in advance – just keep in a well-sealed (especially if you made it at home and are carrying it to work) container.
Put strawberries in bottom of punch bowl. Add prosecco, vodka, and strawberry syrup. Mix well and serve. If desired, add ice.
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