Anonymous
Post 12/12/2025 09:35     Subject: Do you host a holiday party?
Anonymous wrote:I hate holiday parties. People like you add stress to my holiday. Stop.


Op - why does it add to your holiday stress? Just RSVP no.

FWIW - we sent our invites and only 2 people said they couldn’t make it.

And yes these are all friends whom we see/talk to throughout the year. DH and I are both very social and have many social groups we put time and effort into.
Anonymous
Post 12/12/2025 09:29     Subject: Do you host a holiday party?
I hate holiday parties. People like you add stress to my holiday. Stop.
Anonymous
Post 12/12/2025 09:24     Subject: Do you host a holiday party?
We used to for about 60-70 adults with bartender and helper but realized that it was so much work and even though I enjoyed it don't feel the need to keep doing it. Usually spent about $4000 all in.
Now I do a small gathering of 10-15 women with a gift exchange. Still spend about 1000 but it is very relaxing and I'm able to get really nice food/drinks to share with a smaller group of women.
Anonymous
Post 12/12/2025 08:45     Subject: Do you host a holiday party?
We used to but it's insanely expensive and ppl don't reciprocate as it's too much work and $$. Stopped during Covid and haven't picked it up since. So much was spent on booze and a bartender. We hired a bartender and a hostess to make sure everything was "flowing" nicely and so that we could visit and entertain ppl.
Anonymous
Post 12/12/2025 07:26     Subject: Do you host a holiday party?
Anonymous wrote:Do you do it every year? If so how much do you usually spend? We seem to be the only people in our friend group to host any sort of holiday party nowadays. We have been doing it for the better part of a decade now and usually have 100+ people come and go through the day/night including kids. Its always very fun to see friends we don't see on a normal basis but it has gotten very expensive!

I think all in for food, booze, a babysitter for the little kids, etc we are spending $2000.


too much work and cannot afford to spend money like this.
Anonymous
Post 12/12/2025 07:24     Subject: Do you host a holiday party?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We do Christmas day and NYE. Christmas day we usually get 40-60 family (immediate and extended), and NYE we have about 120 guests...more business and friends than family for that one. I think this year we spent 7k on the Christmas party and NYE is looking close to 15k.


Ooh, nice budget for NYE. What do you typically do?


Mime, fireworks.
Anonymous
Post 12/11/2025 16:19     Subject: Re:Do you host a holiday party?
Anonymous wrote:I don't consider 100+ people real friends. Who has 100+ people they are genuinely actively friends with? Trim your list.


It's not hard to get to that # when you are inviting families. A lot of the PPs are talking about parties where kids are welcome too.
Anonymous
Post 12/11/2025 16:17     Subject: Do you host a holiday party?
We have a party with about 30-35 guests. Kid friendly. We are past needing a babysitter but we used to have a neighbor come help manage the kids. We just get chipotle catering which is a little lame but so much cheaper than any other option we can find and works for a lot of diets. We supplement with a few apps, punch / champagne/wine/beer, and desserts. Everyone inevitably brings something to share (either food or beverage).
Anonymous
Post 12/11/2025 15:50     Subject: Do you host a holiday party?
We do a cookie party from 2-4, and keep it under $200 for 20-25 people. Cookies baked from scratch, cheese/crackers/charcuterie, some alcohol but people don't drink a ton. I don't have a great handle on the costs to be honest bc I pick up butter, sugar ,and flour whenever they're on sale.
Anonymous
Post 12/11/2025 15:47     Subject: Re:Do you host a holiday party?
I don't consider 100+ people real friends. Who has 100+ people they are genuinely actively friends with? Trim your list.