You've had the holiday open house, the tree-trimming party, the neighborhood visit with Santa. You've sung so many carols, sipped so much eggnog and eaten so many cookies you feel like an honorary citizen of the North Pole.
What you want most is to create a gathering with glad tidings but without the holiday cliches.
Parties are as plentiful as mistletoe this time of year, so making merry in an imaginative way can test even the savviest planner. But have faith. While traditions abound, new ideas for entertaining are out there and sometimes they're what revelers appreciate most.
Your ingenuity will not go unrewarded, either. With guests often facing conflicting obligations, an evening with a twist increases your chances of drawing -- and pleasing -- a crowd.
"Holiday parties can be very stuffy," says Cindy Fischer, an account executive with Fandango, a special-events company in Fells Point. "What's fun is to do something different, to break the mold and be a kid again."
Gathering the Crowd
During this frenetic season, party planners recommend sending invitations -- and getting them out early -- even if you've already asked guests by phone.
"When we started in the business 14 years ago, people sent holiday invitations two weeks ahead of time. Now some send invitations six to eight weeks before," says Hannah Rodewald, owner of Pleasure of Your Company, a card and gift shop in Green Spring Station.
In addition to serving as a reminder, invitations set the tone and serve as a tantalizing hint of what's ahead.
As for what's trendiest in stationery, regal shades of purple, fuchsia and gold are gaining on the more traditional red and green.
"And the celestial theme is in big time," says Ms. Rodewald. "It's replacing the sunflowers of the summer and fall. It's more neutral and easier to send to guests who may not celebrate Christmas."
With the popularity of desktop publishing, many party-givers now buy colorfully printed sheets and cards to create their own invitations. Technophobes can rely on the old-fashioned methods of stamps, stencils and colorful pens to produce personalized missives. Some of the cleverest that Ms. Rodewald has seen include parodies, poems and lyrics.
But don't be intimidated if you're not a modern-day Byron or van Gogh. In this increasingly impersonal world, a simple handwritten note inviting friends over can be the biggest draw of all.
Setting the Tone
Whether you create a holiday brunch for 50 or a New Year's Eve dinner for four, themes set the tone.
Growing up, Ms. Fischer helped her mother create annual get-togethers based on holiday traditions from different countries. Before becoming a teen-ager, she had sampled the food and customs of Germany, Mexico and China all from her own dinner table.
Naturally, that influenced the parties she plans today. One of her favorites is a Babes-in-Toyland bash -- a childlike celebration for adults or kids in which Slinkys double as napkin rings, children's blocks serve as name cards and a jack-in-the-box pinch-hits as a centerpiece.
To carry through on the playful theme, she suggests a menu of desserts and sparkling beverages. And to keep with the spirit of the season, you might consider asking everyone to bring a small wrapped toy to donate to a local charity.
"You want the whole thing to feel like a giant playroom on Christmas morning," she says.
Should you feel too old to play with toys, there are other options, such as a Tex-Mex party with Mexican blankets strewn on the table, trees trimmed with chili pepper lights, and a cactus centerpiece.
Around this time of year, it's also important to be sensitive to friends of different faiths being together. One of the ways party planner Marlene Meyer gets around the awkwardness of "Christmas" parties is by recommending clients throw "winter wonderland" fetes that rejoice in the season more than a particular day.
White china on a white damask tablecloth set against a backdrop of white birch tree branches and twinkling lights gives an elegant and airy feel to the evening.
With themes, it's important to remember that a little goes a long way, says Ms. Meyer, owner of Life of the Party in Bolton Hill. You don't want guests to feel like they're visiting Disney World, so it's best to translate the idea in subtle ways at times. It's also important to consider your crowd when coming up with a theme. If your husband's boss is dropping by, a Babes-in-Toyland party may not be the most appropriate way to celebrate.
Keen stuff for kids
If you've already held a cookie bake-off party for kids and are looking for something different, Ms. Meyer suggests a wrapping-paper party where youngsters use rolls of brown kraft paper, assorted stamps, stencils, decals and crayons to create their own usable works of art.
"Christmas had become so commercial," she says. "It's a little more homespun again. And what's more fun than getting a gift wrapped in homemade paper with a fabulous bow?"
Yuletide foods
"At this time of year, we never do ham or turkey," says Ms. Meyer. "Every place you go, you eat the same thing, so we try to do very unusual foods."
One of her most memorable culinary feasts took place last year when clients opted for a lavish multiethnic spread, including Thai beef salad with nutted wild rice, Greek pizza, roasted pepper bruschetta.
And although potato pancakes with applesauce and sour cream are traditional Hanukkah fare, Ms. Meyer has planned events in which guests were served Moroccan eggplant salad, Oriental vegetable salad, Sichuan string beans, pizza and pasta.
With time at a premium, don't feel like you have to make everything, say party pros, particularly with caterers, supermarkets and gourmet shops now offering festive fare.
Decorating
When decking your halls, walls, mantels and banisters for a party, it's important to pay attention to the architecture and design of the room, says Sinclair Russell, corporate design director for the Becker Group, a Baltimore-based holiday display company.
"You can't throw red tartan in a room that's all pink and blue," he says.
For a holiday party at a beach house years ago, Ms. Meyer decorated exclusively with candles and highly polished seashells, creating a starkly modern look.
One of the wisest holiday decorating investments is candles. Whether you prefer tapers or votives, candles create a mood that's hard to beat.
"Nothing in this world is more flattering both to a room and to people than candlelight," Mr. Russell says. "There's action with candles, a bit of a flicker that you don't get with lights."
One of his most memorable parties was a formal sit-down dinner on New Year's Eve that was aglow with candles, his best china and gold accents. To add to the elegant tone, he hired a waiter to serve the group of five and free him to enjoy his own party.
To decorate with panache, many party planners show their holiday colors with shades of burgundy, hunter green, white, silver and gold.
"I spray anything I can get my hands on gold -- pumpkins, gourds, pine cones, grapes," says Ms. Meyer.
And while most of us decorate the obvious spots, she likes to weave greenery through chandeliers and place sprays on top of mirrors.
The little things
Sometimes the little things -- like a party game that gets strangers talking or a jar of homemade jam that's given as a parting gift -- make a party stand out.
Music is often more important at the beginning when guests are arriving and may need time to warm to one another. One of the most frustrating things, though, is trying to talk over music, so make sure the volume is appropriate.
While Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis are holiday-music favorites, there are other choices, some not so obvious. Russell Nelson, music manager at Borders Books & Music, likes "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which features jazz versions of favorites like "Greensleeves," and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."
If you're looking for brand-new selections, Natalie Cole and Gloria Estefan each have albums due out this season, he says.
Many people may find party games hokey, but there are times when they liven things up.
"We do a lot of parties where the wife knows everyone but the husband doesn't," says Ms. Meyer. "A game can break the ice."
For parties of 25 or less, trivia games such as guessing the name of holiday songs from snippets on the stereo can start the evening off right, she says.
There's always January
Now that your head is full of these fabulous party tips, you're ready to start drawing up a guest list, right? No? You want to have a holiday get-together but have decided that between shopping, wrapping, baking and celebrating, you can't possibly cope with a party of your own. Don't despair. More people are entertaining in January these days, Ms. Meyer says.
"It's simply because January is dull," she says. "Having a dinner party then definitely sets it apart from Christmas."