5 Fabulously Festive Ways to Celebrate the Holidays

By Leslie E. Royal

The holidays are upon us and you are looking forward to having splendid celebrations. With much anticipation, you’re imagining the taste of your favorite Christmas dishes, the beauty of your glittering décor, and the joy of having a time of fellowship with loved ones. We are living in extraordinary times. Extraordinary times call for truly extraordinary holiday festivities. As you plan your yuletide events, consider one of these unique ideas that will be a hit with everyone.

Elegant Sisterhood Holiday Virtual Tea.

It’s been a while since you’ve dressed up and enjoyed the company of friends, church members, sorority sisters, and extended family. This season, encourage the ladies in your inner circle to dress in their most stylish ensembles with complementary hats and fascinators and sit down for a lovely Christmas Tea. Because this is a unique occasion, suggest ordering specialty teas such as Pinky Up and  Tea Forte  in advance. Design your chic invitations utilizing a cool, user-friendly, free site called PosterMyWall. Share the flyers by email, text, and the Facebook event page. In each lady’s home, she can create a gorgeous, decorative display of tasty hors d’oeuvres as well as delectable sweets that can be seen in the backdrop. Virtual mediums that you can use include Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Facebook.

Drive-In Masquerade Office Party Featuring Live Music.

Suggest to your colleagues that you bring the gang back together again for the holidays. Dress your best and head back to the office. This time decorate your cars in a festive way, park in the company parking lot, and prepare to have a blast. Guests can wear quirky Christmas masks or other chic coverings. Keep your distance by relaxing in your car, dancing within your parking space, or sitting in a lawn chair on the back of your truck. As the band plays all the tunes that you love, the caterer can bring pre-packaged meals with canned or bottled beverages.

Front Yard Holiday Movie Night with Pop-Up Coffee and Cocoa Bar.

Bring new meaning to community Christmas celebrations by organizing a collective of individual parties in each front yard in the neighborhood or subdivision. To garner excitement in advance of the festivity, create a Facebook event featuring a Virtual Holiday Cookbook and Recipe Swap. On the day of the party, each family can set up a hot beverage bar featuring specialty coffees like Chicago French Press and Steeped Coffee as or gourmet hot cocoa. Once the dishes are placed on the tables, take photos and upload them to the Facebook event page so that everyone can see the dishes in real time. Dress warmly in sweaters and such as you join your neighbors in singing Christmas melodies, playing games such as holiday scavenger hunt, and toasting marshmallows for s’mores. To bring the gleeful gathering to a magical end, set up a portable movie screen at home in the center of the cul-de-sac to play the Christmas classics.

Christmas QuaraTEAM Getaway.

Many have worked from home for over six months. This is a great time for a traveling holiday celebration. Reserve a spacious vacation rental for your immediate family, a few couples, or girlfriends who have decided to self-quarantine for a few weeks and have a COVID-19 test prior to joining the group. One of the most popular tourist destinations in the world is Savannah, Georgia. Consider a luxury cottage or beach house such as Cora Bett Thomas Vacation Rentals.  Get ready for Holiday Trivia, Pictionary, Flip Charts, and innovative games that include The Adventure Challenge which features the friends, family, or couples edition. Your rental should have a full kitchens to prepare tasty, tantalizing holiday fare.

Seven Days of Kwanzaa at Black Owned Restaurants.

For each day of Kwanzaa, dress in your Afrocentric attire and visit a black owned restaurant in your respective city. You can dine in if you like or just order takeout. Commencing from December 26 to January 1, this holiday commemorates African American heritage focusing on 7 core principles. They are Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). As you peruse the core principles, decide which restaurant closely aligns with the focus of that day and support that eatery. To learn more about Kwanzaa, see this blog post called Celebrating Kwanzaa. Exceptional nationally renowned African American restaurants that you can support for the holidays and beyond include Nana’s Chicken-N-Waffles, Sylvia’s, Yo’ Mama’s, Booker’s Restaurant and Bar, A Piece of Soul Vegan Kitchen, Savannahblue, and Nexus Brewery & Restaurant. A great read is a piece published by BlackExcellence.com called 101 Black Restaurants You Need to Try in All 50 States!

As you gather to celebrate with your loved ones at electrifying affairs to remember, please be safe and protect all in whom you come in contact. Enjoy, Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa.

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An Ashro Brand Ambassador, Leslie E. Royal is an author, international freelance writer, product profile expert, micro-influencer, and global travel journalist. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications including: Upscale Living, ESSENCE, Black Enterprise, The Ashro Blog, FORTUNE.com, and AAA Southern Traveler. She is the creator of the Leslie’s Lane consumer information blog, and author of two books: Leslie Lane The Book!: Your One Stop Internet Resource Guide to Links for Jobs, Inspiration, Discounts, FREE Stuff, Scholarships, Travel & More ( $14.95) — How to Write and Self-Publish Your Book for FREE with Amazon’s KDP: An Easy Way to Complete Your Manuscript in Seven Stress-Free Steps (Leslie’s Lane Inc.) ($9.95) Follow Leslie on Instagram and check out her Amazon Author page.