Tacky Christmas Sweater Parties

I take after my mom in a lot of areas: we're both short, we both love to sing but don't do it well, we're both bookworms, and well, we both love to host parties.  I have vivid memories of helping to fill huge buckets with sodas and beer for our annual summer BBQs and a NYE party was the norm at the Herring Household.  My birthday parties were always the bomb and our class "end of year" parties were always in my backyard swimming pool.  So it's no surprise that I've followed suit and caught the 'hosting bug'...

I've been itchin' to host a holiday party for years but neither had the time nor the funds to make it happen.  This year, however, was going to be the year!  Due to a small apartment, conflict of dates, etc, etc I ended up having two parties.  Both 'tacky sweather' themed.  Totally fine with that :)

My first party was for my BCG friends last Friday.  Thanks to my mom for coming through with a delectable spread (whilst I scrubbed away cleaning my apt), there was plenty of good food and drinks to be had!

Food: cream cheese Christmas tree dip, pinwheels, strawberry cheesecake bites, bread bowl dip, peanut butter fudge, cream cheese ball dip, pumpkin bread, bacon wrapped water chesnuts, chocolate covered pretzels, stuffed mushrooms, apple cake, chips and french onion dip.  All home-made except the last one :)

Drinks: hot apple cider with spiced rum, hot chocolate, and both red and white wines :)

I decided to decorate for the occasion:

 And even enlisted my Dad's help in 'holiday-ing up' my 'back yard':

Here are some photos of my fabulous friends.  Some played into the whole "tacky sweater" theme and others did not, but there was food, drinks, and a white elephant game shared by all!

Check out my home-made sweater!  I may have needed my mom to cook all the food since I'm a disaster in the kitchen...but you better believe I know how to get crafty!

After most of the food was eaten, all of the cider was drank, and every one of the gifts had been opened, we decided to play a little game of Jenga.  Yes, that's 37 'stories' high:

And so concluded my very first Holiday party.  But not to fear, there was another one the very next night!  This time for my non-BCG friends...

Yes, that's the same tacky sweater as the night before.  I'm not rich, people!

I got so caught up in the festivities that I forgot to pull out my camera until a bunch of my sweet friends had already left.  Sad day.  But please note that almost everyone on night two participated in wearing tacky Christmas garb. Win for holiday party #dos.

Thanks to Taylor for bringing a bottle of Bailey's and to a few others who opened their White Elephant Gifts (wine and beer) early, we had plenty of Christmas cheer to go around - which led to us hitting the streets of Uptown after all the food was gobbled...

Merry Christmas to all!