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has anyone done a holiday open house for employees?
My husband is a VP at his company and we are thinking of hosting a holiday open house at our home NEXT Christmas for his employees. With spouses and children included we would likely be looking at around 75-100 people. With two small children underfoot this would be a huge undertaking for me, so I'm starting to think about it and plan now.
Has anyone done something like this? Any tips? I'm looking for advice and ideas on everything from food to how to handle invitations (do we send them or just post something at work?) to timing (2-4pm on a Sunday afternoon for families or 6-8pm on a Saturday for adults only?).
My early plan is to cook some, but I will need some help either from a caterer or from pre-prepared foods like apps from Costco, for example...but I've never used this type of food so I'm not sure if that's a good option.
Also, if we do it on a weekend afternoon and include children we do not plan to serve alcohol, except perhaps a champagne punch. Does that sound reasonable?
Anyone have any thoughts or advice to share?
EDIT!!! I meant to say 4-6pm on Saturday, not 6-8pm...we do not want to do this during the dinner hours.
Re: has anyone done a holiday open house for employees?
Hi! I was a guest at a party like this... though it was during dinner hours (no kids). A colleague of DH's who is a designer invited us. He did all of the apps himself - because he loves to cook and had the rest catered... he also hired a DJ, House Cleaning Services (before and after) and added a Heated Tent to the back of his house. And of course his house was gorgeously over-the-top decorated for the holidays,
If you have children - earlier in the day - would def' have Santa or some festive Holiday Entertainers for children. (Magic, Face Paints, Balloon Artists, Crafts etc. )
In my professional/personal opinion (for what that's worth) - I wouldn't take this on unless you had some professional help. Esp. because you have young children to also focus on and your DH should be able to write it off.
PS. I'm a big fan of alcohol at events - but if it is during the day maybe serve spiked punch, hot chocolate etc.
Good Luck!
Just a thought. Even though I realize this isn't what you're asking, but does his company host their own holiday gathering? I know it could be a lot for families to try to get to two events in one month with all activities and a lot of pressure for you.
I held a dinner party for DH's department a few years ago. I'll try to answer from my experience with that.
Kids
With spouses, we had 65 guests. Almost every employee had children and they all had more than 1. I could have very realistically doubled my headcount with their children, so there was no way I was inviting them. DH's employees were all 22-40, so right there at parenting age. If your DH's employees aren't that age, then maybe kids wouldn't be as much of a burden.
The other thing (really the main thing) was not no but HELL no did I want 65 children running around my house. No no no no no.
I remember that yall's house is large, but I don't think it's that large. While this is an open house, think realistically about your entertaining space. It's possible that you could have 80 people there at the same time. My party was in the fall and thank heaven for nice weather and the patio and fire pit. My DR was completely taken up with the buffet, my formal LR was full of drinkers as the bar area, my other LR was the quiet spot for wives to chat, and the majority of people were outside on the patio. And this house was 3100 sq ft, but it was full to the brim.
Time
Without children, I like the idea of 4-6 on a Saturday. You could do cocktails & apps and then the couple could go out for dinner and make a date night of it since they'll already be dressed up and out.
Invitation
If you go Saturday and make it adults only, I think an invitation would be nice. If you go Sunday for families, something posted at the office is fine.
Food
Frozen apps are just fine. Try them out this holiday season to ID the good ones
Your goal really needs to be to minimize work and not choose involved dishes when you're cooking for that many people.
I'd be sure to hire help. With that many guests, I'd probably hire 3 people: one to be washing dishes, one to be refilling trays/reheating, one to be picking up dirty dishes. Having someone to pick up the dirty dishes is the most important, even if all they do is put them in the kitchen to be dealt with later. They can stay to clean up and your house will be party-free an hour after it ends.
If you do choose involved apps to make, I would have the help arrive 2 hours early. I'm always running around like a chicken with my head cut off before a party
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AAAND! Oh my goodness, congrats on the baby girl!
Unrelated, I was trying to answer a question for a girl on D&R about painting a '50s-'70s ranch brick house. There are a couple neighborhoods (and by that I mean parts of town, not subdivisions per say, ya know?) in Nashville, particularly one over on the Green Hills side of town, where there are lots of painted ranch homes. It's been so long since I've lived there I can't remember the names to google them to show her pics. Do you know what I'm talking about?
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Thanks for all the great advice! This part in particular...it hadn't even occurred to me to hire help for the party. That is defnitely a must! Where would I find this kind of help? (I could probably hire a couple high school girls from my neighborhood to do this, but maybe there is somewhere I can hire someone trained in catering service?)
There are lots of neighborhoods in town where this is common, including the Belmont area, the Lipscomb area, Forest Hills, Oak Hill, etc.
I agree with what tarheels has said. It gets overwhelming with kids and nobody wants that. 4-6 with an invitation mailed to the adults would be the best way to handle this.
If you really want to do something with the kids my husband's former company did a pumpkin patch visit. It was on a Thursday night. They catered simple cook out food and then had a hayride for anyone that wanted.
I think neighborhood girls will work just fine, just be sure to explain to them what you need done. MIL used high school girls for BIL's wedding in the backyard, but didn't give them a word of instruction, so they were just sitting in the house for an hour after the reception started waiting to be told what to do.
Or if you have a housekeeper, ask her. She knows where everything is
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Re: f you really want to do something with the kids my husband's former company did a pumpkin patch visit. It was on a Thursday night. They catered simple cook out food and then had a hayride for anyone that wanted.
6 - that sounds like a very cute event!
W. ~