Wassail Party

This was our second year hosting a Christmas Wassail Party, and it was a huge success! 

Here are some of the goodies I made. We had lots of food thanks to all our guests bringing goodies to share.

Dallin and Tanner loved eating my Grinch Kabobs.

We decided to go green by using real mugs for the Wassail drink. Here's the little table where guests could choose a mug. Jeremy made the wassail, which had some issues, but ended up tasting really delicious.

Here's how I arranged the room to make it so that people could gather around the piano and tree, and be near the food and wassail at the same time.

We ended up having 17 adults and 19 kids! The main activity throughout the night was singing and listening to Christmas songs around the piano (like going a-wassailing or a-caroling). I played the piano and managed to get through every song okay. And YES, people actually sang with me! 

Dallin got really attached to our friend Maddy. He clung to her most of the evening!

This year, along with constant playing and sort of singing Christmas songs while people ate and visited, I planned about 40 minutes of Christmas singing games for the kids, complete with bells, finger cymbals, maracas and drum activities. Tanner said his favorite part was playing drums with his friend (to the Drummer Boy song). 

I also considered it a huge compliment that none of the kids wandered into the basement until 1.5 hours into the party when we had a scavenger hunt for mallets (pencils) that I hid around the house for the kids to play the triangles in the song We Three Kings. I dunno, maybe one of the parents told the kids they couldn't play downstairs, but I like to think they were having too much fun upstairs with all the treats and singing and this craft table.

My idea for the craft table (above) was inspired by the Nativity event we went to a week earlier. I wanted the kids to have something to do that would encourage them to stay in the room while we sang songs that they didn't know. The crafts included coloring pictures of the Nativity, stringing beaded ornaments, and making paper angels. It was fun watching the kids spend so much time here, being a part of the singing more than last year. 

Above is me demonstrating how to sing with the Dynamic Ball. This was a big hit! We also had a lot of fun with some visuals I made for 12 Days of Christmas (a game inherited from my mom) and we discovered some unexpected singers in the group!

I couldn't have done this party without my better half. Thank you, Jeremy, for all your help and patience with my crazy ideas!! I love you!