A Family Holiday Party is Truly Good for the Soul
In mid December, the Pia family had 80 of their family members come to Hartefeld National in Avondale, PA for a family holiday party. The family was accustomed to doing this, and I have DJ’d this several times before. But when the call came to perform at this years party, the first for their family since COVID began, I wanted to do something special. And so did our host.
Music Videos Add to the Excitement by stimulating more senses
A holiday party makes people feel warm and fuzzy. Good food, good drink, great music, some pretty red and green lights to look at – and a holiday music video for every song played. The well-known ones such as John Mellencamp “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause” went over big. “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney, “Please Come Home for Christmas” by the Eagles, were intersperced with new christmas songs by Justin Bieber, Kelly Clarkson, and Michael Buble.
People danced while glancing over at my large LED tv’s set up behind my facade, set to six foot.
Games Entertain the Kids and Allows the Parents to socialize
There would be a lot of children under ten years of age, so I had games ready for the kids. A ring toss game set featuring four objects to put the ring around was a big hit: a candy cane, a frosty, a Santa, & a christmas tree were the goals of your rope ring. A second prop was a toss game set up on my front facade. It was a snowman banner and five “cotton” snowballs to toss into Frosty’s mouth. The third game for the kids was the cardboard christmas chimney bean bag toss. It was set up to the right of me. Finally, four two-foot inflatable christmas nutcrackers brought a further game of skill to the party to those who tried for my prizes.
Our host had special plans of her own, and had hired a magician entertainer who really wowed the group. He had something for everyone – he had humor for the adults, kept the interest of the kids, and had an overall engaging demeanor that had everyone awaiting the next move in his physical comedy presentation.
Lighting Up the Dance Floor Makes the Room Come Alive
The height of the party was of course a visit by Santa, where the Pia Family had gifts for each child. There was dancing after Santa left to songs such as “You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon, “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” by Wham. Bad Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce had people line dancing, and even an irish jig was done, to “Come On Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners. I had my light show on and this was a great stimulus for dancing. It made our whole month, put things in perspective for us, and got us excited for christmas – all good things for the soul.