Planning Ahead

I am planning an open house for my Thirty-One business around the end of October, first part of November. I was thinking of a theme and decided it would be a great opportunity for my guests to do some early Christmas Shopping. I was thinking they can shop two ways: They can buy for those on their Christmas list and they can make a Wish List for themselves. I will provide envelopes where they can write down the address of their significant other and I will mail him the wish list with a nice little letter of how I can help him make his shopping easier. I will even offer to gift wrap the presents when they arrive and all he has to do is put them under the tree. I know a lot of husbands who would appreciate that and a lot of wives who will love finding items from their wish list under their tree on Christmas morning.

Then I started thinking of what to serve to make it a Christmas festive open house. I have a lot of assorted Christmas cups and could pick up a few more at yard sales or the Dollar Tree between now and Christmas. 

I could go to Sam's Club and buy instant hot chocolate by the bulk box and use the coffee pot to keep the  hot water heated.



I saw these on Pinterest. All winter, as soon as candy canes become available, I drink my hot chocolate with marshmallow and use candy canes to stir it so I have a nice sweet peppermint chocolate mixture. It is delicious. So it was a no-brainer to decide to do this for my open house.



I thought I could buy some different cheeses and fix these little Rudolph's to go with some assorted crackers.



And I love this beef stick, cheese and cracker Christmas tree. I could definitely do this.



I could make cheese pizza and cut it up with cookie cutters. The peppers could garnish some and leave some plain for those who don't like peppers.



Since you always like to have some fruit for those who don't care for heavy desserts, this would be a good way to serve strawberries and keep the Christmas theme going.



For those who like their sweets, I could easily make these wreath cupcakes. At Christmas, you can even buy a whole bag of M&M's in nothing but red and green.



Since I love to bake, I thought I could make a little gift box of cookies for each guest to take home with them.



This will be a huge undertaking, but I am going to start planning now. Hopefully, it will be a huge success and I can host one every year.