Now that finals are over and the holidays quickly approach, many students find themselves home for the holidays, hoping to celebrate with friends and family. This week, I’ve channeled my inner Martha Stewart and put together a guide to throwing an elegant holiday party, complete with food and drink, fun activities and a playlist to get your guests in the spirit.

Food

To curate the perfect holiday menu, I would suggest putting together a charcuterie board. Charcuterie boards are a classic crowd-pleaser, great for parties due to their casual nature — everyone can dive in whenever they want. My go-to place for charcuterie ingredients is Trader Joe’s. As a college student, they have some more affordable picks that are great for putting together a beautiful board. Throw all of the following together on your favorite cheese board and dig in!

Unexpected Cheddar Cheese

Fig and Olive Crisps

Spicy Uncured Charcuterie Selection – comes with coppa, sopressa salame, and capocolla

Truffle Marcona Almonds

Double Cream Brie Wheel

Dark and Milk Chocolate Covered Almonds

Granny Smith Apple Fruit Spread

Rosemary Sprigs — to add color and freshness to the board

Drinks

For drinks, the viral snow globe cocktail/mocktail provides a festive look that is sure to please partygoers. The cocktail requires a bit of prep but it’s well worth it. The final product is a cocktail resembling a snow globe, complete with a rosemary spring Christmas tree in the center.

Instructions:

Add water to the bottom of a glass, and once slightly frozen, insert a rosemary sprig. This will be your “Christmas tree.”

Add frozen cranberries to the glass and freeze for about 45 minutes.

Remove from the freezer. Add a sparkling water of your choice, white rum and a dash of cranberry juice. For mocktails, you can exclude the white rum.

Add a few more frozen cranberries on top and serve!

Activities

To keep your guests entertained, White Elephant is a great pick to inspire holiday spirit and maybe a few lighthearted arguments. For this game, each person brings a gift to put in the pile. The first person picks a gift from the pile and unwraps it, and the next person can choose to either steal the first person’s gift or unwrap a new gift.

This chaotic holiday party game is a bit more exciting than Secret Santa and can bring a fun energy to your holiday party.

Tip: Before the party, set a gift price limit. That way, everyone ends up with something of similar value and there are no hard feelings.

Another great activity option is decorating gingerbread houses. You can find inexpensive gingerbread house kits at WinCo. I would suggest getting a few extra candy options and frostings for an easy time decorating. This is a great option for more crafty partygoers and can be a relaxing way to enjoy the holidays with friends and family.

Music

What’s a holiday party without music? Here’s a playlist sure to inspire all of the cozy and festive feels surrounding the holidays.

O Tannenbaum – Vince Guaraldi Trio

Last Christmas – Wham!

I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas – Kacey Musgraves

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee

Santa Baby – Eartha Kitt

Frosty the Snowman – Fiona Apple

Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney

Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley

Sleigh Ride – The Ronettes

Winter Wonderland – Tony Bennett

Mele Kalikimaka – Bing Crosby, The Andrews Sisters

Happy holidays from the Daily Emerald!