We've seen a lot of wonderful parties here at Country Jewell in addition to the gorgeous weddings we often host. Our event barn is the perfect place to entertain family and friends, and the following ideas all work beautifully when you have your party right here with us.
Festive Food & Drink
One thing that everyone always seems to remember the most from any celebration is the food. During the holidays, there are certain flavors that people most likely expect, so incorporating those can be important. These include gingerbread, peppermint, pumpkin spice, chocolate, sugar & spice... (We just realized, holidays include a lot of dessert flavors!)
Serving gingerbread cookies is not only delicious, but you can make it do double duty by letting everyone decorate gingerbread men as an activity. If your group likes a challenge, maybe you could build an entire gingerbread village together! As for dinner, buffets work well to let everyone pick and choose what they like and feel comfortable going back for seconds.
Drink stations are perfect for parties because it allows everyone to help themselves when their cup is empty. Jugs of self-serve water, tea, and punch make it easy. You might want to set up an apple cider, hot cocoa, and/or coffee station too. Set out delicious add-ins like cinnamon sticks, marshmallows, and other flavorful mix-ins so everyone can create their own special holiday drink.
Fun Party Games
Most holiday parties include gifts, and you can turn those gifts into a game with a little planning. If everyone will be bringing a present with them, ask them to wrap it but not put a name on it. Then you can have a "White Elephant Gift Exchange," which is a game where guests take turns opening presents but are allowed to steal gifts from each other. You can find rules for a variety of ways to play this at WhiteElephantRules.com.
This site also has some cute "Left - Right" story poems that are another way to decide who gets which present. It involves all guests starting with a gift and sitting in a circle, but as the story is read, presents are passed either left or right when that word is read.
Another fun present-giving game is to wrap a gift in a box within multiple wrapped boxes, set a timer, and let guests take turns racing to get to the final box in the middle. When the timer goes off, the gift is passed to the next player, and the one that finally gets to the present gets to keep it. To make this even harder, you can make players wear oven mitts while they unwrap! It's quite funny to watch.
Creative Decor
You can work party favors into the decor by making personalized ornaments for each guest and using those either in the centerpiece, on a tree in the middle of the room, or as place cards at their seat. Appetizers beautifully presented on stacked platters are excellent centerpieces that also keep guests fed until dinner is served.
We are big fans of photo booths at every celebration too. Nearly everyone at your party will have a cell phone with a camera on it, and a photo spot encourages them to capture memories throughout the night to share with each other. It doesn't need to be an actual booth. All you have to do is designate a special spot with a few decorations and set out props, like chalkboard signs, hats, funny glasses, etc... and let your guests at it. When staging a holiday photo spot, don't forget the mistletoe too!
Country Jewell Events & Parties
Our rustic event venue near Knoxville is a wonderful place to host a party for your family and friends, not just during the holidays, but any time of year for all kinds of special occasions. There is plenty of room to accommodate up to 100 guests.
Downstairs offers lots of room for everyone. We have 20 folding tables and 100 folding chairs at your disposal. There is a warming/serving kitchen with a refrigerator, oven, and microwave. You are welcome to bring in your own food and drink, or Country Jewell can arrange to have the party catered. The spacious upstairs loft is also open to you, where you can dance, play games, sing karaoke, and all kinds of other fun activities.
The most important part of any holiday party is that you have fun spending time with friends and family. If you'd like to use our spacious event venue near Knoxville to do that, give us a call at 865-494-0552. Happy Holiday-Planning!
A delightfully quaint Knoxville wedding
& event venue.
6550 Hickory Valley Road
Heiskell, TN 37754
865-494-0552
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