Where I live, summer falls on a Wednesday, we have 9 months of winter, temperatures regularly fall below -30 degrees below zero, we get 7" of snow at a crack and spend winter snowblowing our roofs. It's inevitable we have a lot of Winter Wonderland parties.
It's that or lose our sanity to cabin fever and Mother Nature.
Winter parties are our forte.
I've done a few Winter Wonderland parties. The most ambitious was a reception for small wedding and very frugal bride, who actually brought me in to keep her "I want my daughter's wedding to be an EXTRAVAGANZA!" bridezilla mother and mom's financially ambitious wedding planner in check - if you can believe that one. (True story!)
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What follows is a compilation of the Winter Wonderland parties I've planned, with an emphasis on Annie's wedding reception for any brides considering a Winter Wonderland themed wedding.
Invitation
Photo credit: scrapbooking.com
Photo credit: addicfashion.com
This was a scrapbooked invitation I made for a regular Winter Wonderland party.
I got the idea for a wedding invitation similar to this from addicfashion.com. I made the snowflake pattern on my Cricut.
Staging
I'll use Annie's reception staging as one staging example so you can see what can be done very low budget.
Annie wanted a Winter Wonderland wedding and reception for about 50 guests but was one of these brides that didn't see the sense of spending thousands of dollars on a one day/night big bash when that money could be better spent on buying a house or something far more practical. She wanted nice but simple and inexpensive.
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Since I hadn't met Annie prior, we spent some time going through my ideas binder so I could get an idea of Annie's tastes and what she wanted. She chose this as an example of what she had in mind.
Okay, Annie was a frugal bride who had champagne tastes on a beer budget but we'd work with that.
We chose as the color palette white, silver and pale blue. Her reception was an evening affair so I also wanted to bring in as much light as possible.
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Luckily her venue was small.
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For a regular non-wedding Winter Wonderland party I'd do something like this:
The polar bear pool I made of polystyrene. The igloo was made of styrofoam restaurant to-go containers. The ice fishing Eskimo was my mannequin I dressed in arctic clothing. The penguins, backdrop, and guy crawling into the igloo were all made of corrugated cardboard. The white Christmas trees were from my party inventory stash. The polar bear was animatronic, loaned to me for the night from a wildlife center. It was the hit of the party) I added a touch of whimsy with a couple of faux fish from a restaurant/food prop supplier and positioned the polar bear sneaking up on the ice fisherman to grab his fish, while his buddy dove for cover into the igloo.
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I've used the same corrugated forest backdrop to stage an area to show off the wedding cake at a wedding.
I added sheer white drapes to give it a touch of elegance and some floral candle arrangements I'd made from dollar store items. I spray flocked some of those arrangements. The deer was one of my Christmas yard decorations. The underlit cake table was rented. Total cost was under $40.
I did give Annie the option of adding a little more blue in her backdrop scene and made some DIY icicle ornaments for one of the white Christmas trees to show her what it would look like. This is an inexpensive option of adding Christmas tree ornaments if you don't have enough of the color that fit your color scheme.
Supplies For DIY Icicles
To make a sparkly icicle start by cutting or tearing a piece of aluminum foil a few centimeters longer than you want your icicle to be. Then tear off the lower corners to give a blunt triangle. This helps your icicle craft taper.
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With the aluminum foil shiny side down fold over the top few centimeters of the flat edge. This helps strengthen the finished icicle and adds bulk to the upper section too.
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Cut a section of silver cord, tie it into a loop and glue it onto one end of the folded foil so it sticks out the top. You could also use sticky tape if preferred.
Photo credit: Pinterest
To make the shape of your sparkly icicles loosely roll the aluminum foil up widthways, starting at the end with the hanging thread attached.
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When you have a roll of aluminum foil gently squeeze along its length to make the shape of your icicle. You need to squeeze very gently at the top and very tightly at the bottom.
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Once you are happy with the shape of your homemade icicles you can start to apply a shimmery shiny layer. I used white glue like Elmers because it dries clear and is easy to dab it on randomly all over the icicle.
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When your icicles have their glue you can then sprinkle on your chosen color of glitter. Do this over a paper plate because it saves the glitter from going everywhere!
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Once the glue has dried finish off your sparkly icicle craft by shaking off any loose glitter and hanging them.
Ultimately Annie decided against the icicle ornaments but we did add some snow confetti to the snow blankets to add a little sparkle to them.
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For the head table we did something very similar to this with sheer white and pale blue draping plus curtain lights.
Photo credit for table: James Zedd
The curtain lights were from my party inventory. The draping and tablecloths were rented by Annie's parents so I don't know the cost of that. This cost us $20 for the candles and greenery in front of the table.
​Backlighting all of the banquet tables was cost prohibitive so we settled on white sequin tablecloths that would sparkle like snow under the lights. I couldn't find any at rental shops so we ended up buying 6 of them for a total of $330.
Photo credit: CV Liners
We topped the tables with snowflake runners I made out of Dollar General bags of snowflakes.
Photo credit: Dollar General
Simply lay them out in a table runner pattern and hot glue them together. Note that these are plastic snowflakes that will melt with an overabundance of hot glue so use just a small dab of glue to glue the snowflakes together.
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The centerpieces we chose were simple, branches I gathered myself and spray painted placed in dollar store blue vases with LED lights in them. $2 per centerpiece.
While both Annie and I would've liked to use DIY icicle chairs, the reception venue wasn't about to let us do this to their chairs. DIY tutorial here
Photo credit: Prop Factory
So we settled for draping the chairs as seen as above, with sheer pale blue material that matched the head table draping. Simple yet classy.
But I'm a perfectionist and to me, the white snowflake table runners I'd made didn't contrast enough with the tablecloths. So I painted them a pale blue.
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The venue offered plain white dinnerware which would've worked fine but I wanted something a little more eye-catching to offer Annie as an alternative - it being her big day and all.
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It took some phoning around and visits to rental shops but I managed to put together a more Winter Wonderland set of dinnerware we could rent.
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Anie was thrilled with the dinnerware.
Photo credit: Party City
I even convinced her to splurge a little and get some favor boxes for the place settings.
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I made some snowflake napkin rings from the leftover dollar store snowflakes.
For the final touch, I printed out some menu cards we could put on each set of plates and made up place cards.
Just when you think you're through, you're not.
Annie still had my idea binder and had fallen in love with another photo.
"Can you make something like this?" she asked.
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I had a faux white fireplace already as well as a white framed mirror to go above it.
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"Well, not exactly like it but I could probably get close enough that you'd be happy with it. So you want that minus the Santa?"
(Her wedding wasn't a Christmas wedding)
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"OH NO! I WANT THE SANTA! That's the best part!" she insisted.
We looked up the price of that Santa - over $300. Annie looked like she was about to cry.
Photo credit: Pinterest
"Wait a sec, I have an idea," I said.
There's a reason Kohl's is my fave store. I found the Santa at right at Kohl's.
It had been marked down from $240 to $86. I'm a Kohl's Preferred Customer so regularly receive discount coupons. I had a coupon for 30% off plus $30 in Kohl's Cash. The 30% coupon brought the price down to $60.20 Deduct the $30 Kohl's Cash and that brought the price down to a very budget friendly $30.20.
The bride got her blue Santa.
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Our Santa wasn't bendable but that didn't matter. I stood him next to one of the lit white deer yard decorations I had.
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Annie must've been happy with her fireplace. At the reception she took her photographer to it and had him take photos of it.
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The entire time we'd spent planning had been a battle - Annie and I vs. Bridezilla Mom and her Dollar Signs In Her Eyes wedding planner.
Yes, I had to have a "come to Jesus" talk with Bridezilla Mom but ultimately, Annie prevailed and got the wedding SHE wanted. And Bridezilla Mom admitted she couldn't believe Annie and I had done what we had for under $2000 and that everything was beautiful. Not to mention a far cry from what the wedding planner would have charged her.
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There are so many ways to stage a Winter Wonderland party inexpensively.
The same decorations can be used for either an adult or children's party.
If you want a tutorial on how to make a cardboard faux fireplace, here you go.
Activities
Photo credit: Lakeland Times
Kids and adults alike enjoy ice skating. Most towns and cities have free ice rinks during the winter months.
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Here in the Northwoods we have Winter Parks that offer skating, cross country skiing, sledding, and other winter activities. My local Winter Park is free, no admission.
I often incorporate this activity in a Winter Wonderland party.
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I've often cleared off a skating rink on the lake in front of my house for guests to skate on.
One year I had a fellow cop bring his dogsled team and take the kids on dogsled rides around the lake.
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The kids absolutely loved that!
Photo credit: Viator
Another year I took the kids to Klondike Days in a neighboring town. Admission is free.
Klondike Days featured:
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History Encampment: A historical re-enactment of life during the North American fur trade era of the pre-1840s.
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Northwoods National Championship Dog Weight Pull: Sanctioned by the Tri-State Alaskan Malamute Club, dogs racing in this event are asked to “pull their weight” in dog food. The event runs both Saturday and Sunday and cash prizes are awarded both days to the winner.
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Great Northern Lumberjack Competition: Klondike Days coincides with the start of lumberjack season, drawing in world champion lumberjacks to kick off the season by showcasing one of the great traditions of the Northwoods.
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Snowshoe Challenge: Men and women of varying ages and skill levels can compete in the 3 or 6 mile snow shoe races. There are also races for kids 10 years and under and 1 or 3 mile “tromps” for those who don’t want to compete, but still want to enjoy a cool winter day in the great Wisconsin outdoors.
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Vintage Sleigh Rally
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Chainsaw Carving Competition
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Native American Cultural Exposition
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Arts & Crafts Show
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Horse Weight Pull
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Old-fashioned Sleigh Rides
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Pony Rides
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Junior Musher Rides
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Numerous Kids Events
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Bluegrass Festival and Other Live Entertainment
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Ice sculpture carving demonstration
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Lots and Lots of Food!
To get around the "lots and lots of food" issue and going broke, I packed each child a bring-along lunch.
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I bought 12 winter kraft lunch bags with handles and some EasyLunchboxes. (Below right)
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Main compartment: Applegate brand uncured organic Genoa salami, Asiago and cheddar snowflake shaped cheese, snowflake shaped crackers and organic Jammy Sammy.
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Top right: Kiwi slices.
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Bottom right: Broccoli florets and grape tomatoes with a mitten cupcake pick.
For their drinks I'd bought a 12 pack of plastic reusable juice bottles with caps and filled them with Blue Hawaiian Punch.
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Tip: It's a good idea to phone each kid's parents to make sure they don't have any food allergies, are lactose intolerant, etc. when packing their lunches, then adjust accordingly. I wrote each child's name on the lid of their EasyLunchBoxes to make sure there were no mix-ups as to whose lunch was whose.
Photo credits: Klondike Days
WINTER BINGO
Free printable game here. You'll need white card stock to print the cards and calling card. You can use Hershey Kisses candy as bingo markers.
First print off the calling card and bingo cards. Cut out the calling cards and place them in a bowl or jar for selecting. Cut out the bingo cards. Each player gets a bingo card. If you have more than 10 players you can put guests into small groups to play together. Game includes 10 bingo cards.
Print out here this snowman or make your own and make as many copies as you'll have players.
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You'll need for the game:
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A regular pair of dice
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Snowman mini erasers to mark off numbers on snowman
(If you don't want to use the mini erasers, use whatever you have on hand that will work.)
Game can be played with 1 or 2 players per snowman card.
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Guests roll the dice until they've covered all of the numbers on their snowman. The first guest to cover all their numbers wins the game.
Winter Wonderland Grand Prize Game
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I know I'm really dating myself here, but how many of you remember the old TV show Bozo's Circus and its Grand Prize Game? This is a takeoff on that game.
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You'll need 6 buckets decorated in a winter theme and several ping pong balls. Line up the buckets, each bucket being further away than the previous bucket like so...
Using a strip of masking tape mark out a line on the floor where guests must stand to toss the balls into the buckets.
You can play this 1 of 2 ways - award a small prize for each bucket hit
OR...
Award a prize to only those who get their ping pong ball into all 6 buckets.
(For my buckets I used plastic gallon ice cream buckets and decorated them, then screwed them into a board to hold them all firmly in place. You can also use kids beach pails and this is about the size you want your buckets to be.)
For child players, Oriental Trading Company has a number of inexpensive prizes you can buy in multiples.
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LAUGH YOU'RE OUT
Game available here.
HOW TO PLAY: The funniest person goes first. They are the Joker. Jokers pick a card and have 30 seconds to make other players laugh by doing what the card says. If anyone laughs, they lose and must give up a laugh token to the Joker. When a player runs out of Laugh Tokens, the game ends. The player with the most Laugh Tokens wins!
SNOWSHOE RACES
This one works best for those who already have kids' snowshoes or have a sufficient enough budget to buy 2 pair. These are the least expensive I've found to purchase.
The kids all had fun with this one! I'd have 2 kids at a time race each other, then the winners of each race square off against one another until only 2 showshoers were left to compete against one another to determine the winner.
If you want a great idea for a party favor, consider doing something like this.
My guests loved my peppermint hot chocolate so I mixed up individual mix containers for my party favors. I added in a bag of mini marshmallows, a small bottle of peppermint oil, a bag of chocolate shavings and a stir stick.
Be sure to include the recipe in your party favors!
Keep them chilled so your chocolate shavings don't melt before you hand them out.
Brew up some peppermint hot chocolate, start planning your Winter Wonderland party and
LET IT SNOW!
