This week we bookies took a break from the normal book club format to have a Christmas party. For those of you who couldn't make it, here is a little summary of the fun we had.
We started up the party with a couple of prompts that Michelle provided to get us talking. We discussed:
1. What is your most romantic Christmas experience? (No one really had one to share--isn't that a little bit sad?)
2. What was a favorite present you gave/got? Lauren told us about a book filled with memories from each family member that she gave to her parents. I think we all wanted to go out and make one of those for our parents for Christmas. Too cute!
3. What is your favorite Christmas story? Some of the stories we listed were:
A Christmas Carol
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
The Christmas Orange
The Gift of the Magi
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
I'm pretty sure I missed some others that we talked about. Here are some other fun Christmas stories that we didn't mention. (Let me know some of your favorites so we can add them to the list. There are so many good Christmas stories out there!)
The Littlest Angel
A Brilliant Guiding Star
The Polar Express
After the discussion we played the game Celebrities. If you haven't ever played it before it's a perfect game for any party. I thought I'd put the directions for how to play here in case any of you would like to use it at your next party. Here's how you play:
Celebrities:
Things you need to play: 5 slips of paper per person, one paper and pencil for keeping score, a hat/bowl, and a timer.
*Each person is given 5 slips of paper.
*On each slip you write down the name of a famous character. The character can be fictional or non-fictional. It needs to be characters that the other members of your team would guess.
*All of the slips of paper are put into a hat/bowl.
*Divide into two teams.
*Round 1: A person from team one goes to the front of the room. That person is given a minute to get his/her team to guess the person on the slip of paper. He/she can say anything they want except what is written on the paper. When the time is up, write down the amount of names team one guessed on the score sheet. Then, a person from team two comes up and does the same thing. Round 1 is over when all of the names on the papers have been guessed.
*Round 2: Return the slips of paper to the hat/bowl. For this round the person that comes to the front of the room is only allowed to say one word to get his/her team to guess the name on the paper. Round 2 is over when all of the names have been guessed.
*Round 3: Return the slips of paper to the hat/bowl. For this round the person that comes to the front of the room must act out the name on the paper. They are not allowed to say anything. The game is over when all of the names have been guessed. Add up the scores and find out who won. Have fun!
***Note: if you have lots of people playing, (we had 10), we found it might be best to only submit 3 names per person so that the game doesn't take too long.
This game was a blast! One of my favorite parts of the game was watching everyone act. Who knew we had so many good actresses in our book club? The funniest part of the night was during the one word round. Let's just say that the word "ho" has a whole new meaning for all of us book clubbers (if you weren't there you'll have to ask Nancy what I mean). Hilarious!
A big thank you to Michelle for hosting the party! Everything was so festive and perfect.
The treats everyone brought were super tasty. Here are some recipes/links for the food that was served at the party. If your treat isn't here and you'd like to share, send Karen or me an email and I'll add to the list. (I think we all secretly hope Melanie will share her chocolate, pecan, walnut pie recipe.)
Don't forget to start reading The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander for next meeting. Melanie is hosting and it's sure to be a fun time.
Treats from the Party:
Check out Karen's appetizer on her blog:
Sparkling Cranberry Brie Bites
Here is the link for the sugar cookies Kristen made:
Sugar Cookies
*They were topped with melted white chocolate, mint chocolate chips, and red hots.
