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I’m excited for the holidays because it means family, friends, and fun. We recently had our first family gathering and my little sister made my aunts broccoli & cheese recipe and helped me with a few new tips for planning a holiday party. We are a pretty good team, if I do say so LOL. We have several holiday gatherings planned so far, and I’m sure we’re going to end up planning a few more small get together too. Even the small gatherings need a little planning to make them special, meaningful and a little extra special.
10 Tips For Planning a Holiday Party
If you’re planning a holiday parting or gathering here are a few tips to get you started! Don’t forget if I miss something to leave me a comment. I’m always open to party planning tips that make life easier!
- Help – Reach out for help! You don’t have to do everything alone. Ask your spouse, family, or friends for a little holiday party planning help. I think you’ll find there are plenty of nuts out there who love to plan parties and get-together, like myself.
- List – If you know me, I am a list girl! I’m always making lists, checking them twice, and typically forget them when I go to the store. Lucky for me I have a husband with an awesome smartphone who will snap me a picture of my list when I am away from home lol. It never fails, if I don’t remember my list I forget the important things like Solo paper products! The key to planning anything for me is a list! It’s no surprise my holiday party planning starts with a list!
- Guests – Invite guests by invitation, or save a little money and send out text messages, call them, emails, or even messages on social media. You can invite guests so many ways thanks to the techy world we live in.
- Theme – If you want to have a little extra fun be sure to choose a fun holiday theme for your party. One of my favorite things about planning a holiday party is choosing a theme. I tend to have fun white reindeer every single year, so this year I think snowflakes will be included too LOL. Oh, and don’t forget the Ugly Christmas sweater is always a FUN and excellent themed party.
- Where – Will you be having a holiday celebration at your house or somewhere else? Be sure to consider where you’re going to have your party.
- Planning – Now that we know we are going to be making a list it’s time to start planning. Write down how many people you’re planning on attending your celebration, food, decorations, and any other details you’ll need to take care of before the party.
- Entertainment – Talk with your friends and family and get ideas to keep everyone busy and having fun. Conversations are great, but there is nothing like some good holiday games, music, dancing, and other forms of entertainment to keep your guests engaged and having fun.
- Safety – If you’re hosting be sure your guest are able to get home safety. I avoid serving alcoholic beverages because I don’t want anyone to drive home. If you choose to serve alcoholic beverages be sure not to allow anyone to drink and drive.
- Food – To make things easier on your consider having a potluck. Have each guest brings something that will fit your holiday party’s theme. It’s a great way to involve your guest, and save you some work.
- Cups and plates – Don’t forget the paper products! Remember those Solo plates and cups while you’re at the store. SOLO brand is my brand of choice for all my holiday gatherings because they’re durable and look great.
Broccoli & Cheese Recipe
This recipe for broccoli and cheese makes a lot! If you’re not planning on having a lot of people over you may want to cut recipe in half! Either way it’s still yummy and one of my favorite holiday recipes or sides with any meal LOL. Who doesn’t love cheese?
Ingredients
- 3 cups of uncooked rice (cook according to directions will cook into more than 2 cups of rice)
- Two packages of frozen chopped broccoli (10 ounce packages)
- Two cans cream of mushroom soup condensed
- ¼-cup milk
- 3/4 to one package of 16 ounce Velveeta Cheese (depending upon how cheesy you like things)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Cook your rice according to directions on rice
- In a medium saucepan combine milk, cheese with cream of mushroom soup and melt cheese on medium-low heat. It’s okay if cheese isn’t completely melted, and it’s totally fine to add more or less cheese depending upon how much cheese you like. You may want to add a little more milk just to make sure the cheese is nice and creamy.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine cooked (HOT) rice with broccoli, and once cheese is melted pour on top of rice and broccoli mixture and mix well.
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Pour the mixture into a 9 x 13 baking dish and bake for 30 to 45 minutes until cheese is bubbly on top.
SOLO Products
We received some clear SOLO Cups and AWESOME fun and colorful SOLO Heavy Duty Paper Plates! They’re totally festive, and perfect for your next holiday gathering! 
The holidays are coming up quickly which means tons of family gatherings, friends stopping by, cooking, baking, fun, and the dreaded dishes. When I think of all the fun, he holidays bring one thing that often brings me down is the thought of doing dishes, LOL. I know, but it’s the truth. I don’t like dishes, and I very seriously doubt I’m ever going to be excited about them. 
Solo is the perfect brand to help you focus on the important things this holiday season, like family and friends.
