A home party kicks off the summer celebrations and ticks all the right boxes for my kids: funny, cheap, easy, and memorable! It works equally well for a quirky summer birthday party, too. Here I want to share how easy and cheap a Christmas in July Party for kids and teens really is.
WHY this year?
Like everyone else, we are scrambling to fill our summer with activities for our 10 and 14-year-olds. If 2020 and 2021 have taught us anything, it’s about getting creative with family entertainment, as you can’t count on anything ‘normal!’
Something I love to plan for the weekend after my kids break up from school is a Christmas in July party.
WHERE should I have a Christmas in July party, and WHO should I invite?
First off, this is a casual home party. Limit your guest list to your closest family and friends.
Make the most of it. We rarely have a party to spend time with our kids without entertaining loads of adults too.
The vibe is chilled and relaxed with this DIY Christmas in July party. The more imperfect, the better.
WHAT to wear (hint: something jolly)
Give everyone a simple dress code – Hawaiian shirts, swimming trunks, floral tops, sundresses, Santa hats – anything bright, fun and comfortable.
Or hit the reds and greens and add a light-up necklace for fun.
THE TABLE is set for fun
Set the yuletide scene on your dining table or a low table in the living room. If you have a festive tablecloth go for it, or a plain white one is perfect, too.
You could even spread a few picnic blankets on the grass outside.
Now have a rummage through all your cupboards. You are looking for pretty much anything with a red and green vibe. Straws, glasses, plates, bowls, trays. Bonus points if you find any items actually from last Christmas! Nothing needs to match, use your imagination.
Summertime items are fun too: grab anything with a tropical theme, like plastic picnic plates or bright food trays.
Mix and match it all together.
DECORATE (but not too much)
Kids love sparkling fairy lights. You might need to rummage a bit in the loft for the Christmas boxes, but it will be worth it. White or coloured lights, it doesn’t matter.
If you have other kinds of lights, grab those too! We have a strand of flowers, a strand of flamingos and one string of polar bears. Somehow it works.
Hang the lights on whatever you have available, maybe from your curtain rails or use some tape to tack them up on the walls.
TIP: You can go nuts and put up all your Christmas decorations, but I would not recommend it. Just remember, this party will only last for the afternoon, you don’t want the clean-up to go on for days!
At Christmas, you want your tree to look perfect. But at Christmas in July, let the kids go wild!
One idea is to use your smallest, artificial tree and get your kids and teens to cover it in something summery. Mini paper umbrellas work well, or a find few strands of shiny garland. If you have a box of bright and unbreakable baubles, that works too.
The brighter (and tackier!) the better.
MUSIC for a Christmas in Summer yuletide celebration
The real mood setter here is music. Caribbean Christmas music is our family’s choice for a Christmas in July party mood! Make your own jolly ‘mixtape’ on Spotify or search YouTube.
Check out this Christmas in July Party playlist on Youtube I have already made for you!
Some of our favourite festive songs with a summer twist are:
- I’m Getting a Ukulele for Christmas – Carly Jamison
- Little Saint Nick – The Beach Boys
- Jingle Bells – Caribbean Island Steel Drum Troupe
- Feliz Navidad – Jose Feliciano
- All I Want for Christmas Is a Real Good Tan – Kenny Chesney
- Numbah One Day of Christmas (Twelve Days of Christmas Hawaiian Style) – The Hawaii Calls Orchestra
FOOD for Christmas in Summer Party
You’re a parent, so you will know that food is the main event for any party.
Have the kids make funny food tents and get them to come up with some silly joke titles.
TIP: To make a food tent, fold a small piece of card or coloured paper in half and write the food label on top, decorating with markers or stickers
Here are some Christmas in July food ideas my kids love to make food tents for:
- Ice water becomes melted snowmen
- Watermelon cut in triangles becomes Christmas trees
- Mini marshmallows are now snowdrops
- A bowl of chocolate chips is reindeer poo
- Carrots are snowmen’s noses
You get the idea!
Make sure to mix in one or two of your family’s seasonal favourites to make your table feel even more like Christmas. For instance, we like:
- Veggie sausage rolls
- Jaffa cakes
- Chocolate oranges
And these are all surprisingly easy to find year-round!
A fun food project for kids is making Santa hats. Take a cocktail stick and thread these three things in order from top to bottom: a white mini marshmallow, a whole strawberry (leaves cut off) and a slice of banana.
Older children enjoy threading red and green grapes on BBQ bamboo skewers and making festive patterns with cucumber and tomatoes.
Another Christmas in July food idea is to make a visually pleasing fruit tray. Arrange slices of kiwi in a tree shape and dot them with raspberries for ornaments.
Do you have any Christmas cookie cutters? Use them to cut festive-shaped sandwiches for smaller kids. Or, if you have time and enjoy baking, make sugar or gingerbread cookies in shapes of seasonal and summer themes. This set from Amazon is super cute.
DRINKS that Santa would approve of
Looking for something cool to drink? Tweens and teens go crazy for frozen hot chocolate!
I have an easy frozen hot chocolate recipe that we always make for our Christmas in July party.
Another drink option is festive punch.
For an EASY festive Christmas in July party mocktail:
- Mix one-part orange juice with one-part cranberry juice drink
- If your kids like bubbles, add a dash of lemonade
- Pour in a cup and garnish with an orange slice
- Pop in a paper straw!
GAMES to keep the tween and teen elves happy
Now that everything is ready to enjoy, let the fun begin! If you are wondering what to do at your Christmas in July party, here are 3 Christmas-themed games to try for children:
- Snowball Toss
Set a timer for 1 minute. One team member tries to throw as many marshmallows as they can into the mouth of the other team member (trade-off team members if you have odd numbers)
- Cookie-decorating contest
Either make your own sugar or gingerbread cookies or buy a pack of rich tea biscuits. Whip up some icing with powdered sugar, a bit of water and some food colouring. Buy 2-3 bottles of various sprinkles and a few different sweets for decorating (M&Ms, candy sugar crystals and chocolate drops work well).
Give everyone a plate and let the competition begin. Take pictures of the contestants and their creations.
Everyone is a winner because they will eat their masterpiece at the end!
- Christmas memories
Use a large tray or a cookie sheet. Put on it a selection of 8-10 random items. Any little bits will do, look around your house for random Christmas or summer items. Maybe throw in a marble, roll of tape, novelty Christmas eraser, plastic bauble etc.
The goal is for everyone to stare at the tray for a minute, hide it under the table and then try and remember everything that was on the tray. Repeat by taking away a few different items each time, or even change the items on the tray.
Add more items to increase the challenge if you like!
PHOTOS to put in the family album
The final touch to your party is a family photo. Get everyone to crowd around the table (before they dig into the food) and take a few snaps for your memory books.
LET’S PARTY like it’s the 24th of December!
Above all – relax and have fun without the pressure of a ‘real’ Christmas holiday!
Comment below and let me know if you tried this Christmas in July Party for kids and teens. I would love to hear how it went.
If you enjoyed this, you might also like 13 summer holiday ideas for tweens and teens at home and the ULTIMATE summer bucket list!
Christmas in July Party for kids and teens
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