Festivus

Each year during the holidays we host a Festivus party.  Themed slightly after the famous Seinfeld episode it is agnostic of any other holdiays.  T-shirts with the Festivus mantra are provided as party favors to each attending guests.  Guests are asked to wear their holiday “best” which really means their worst/cheasiest outfits.  Lots of polyester and sweater vests show up here.

We ask people to participate in a chili cook-off as a part of the party.  The first 10 RSVPs are accepted (party usually is 100 people).  Guests score the food based on uniqueness, spicyness, creativity and most original.  Winners in each category receive a Golden Ladle as their trophy.  The best overall wins additional bonus during the raffle.

We do a white elephant style raffle.  We provide about 40-50 gifts for the guests...ranging from really crappy prizes to really great ones.  Each guest is provide a standard raffle ticket upon showing up.  Random raffle tickets are drawn and you pick a wrapped gift.  Normal white elephant/yankee swap rules apply or modify to your liking.  The overall chili winner however at any time can perform a one-time lock of a gift.  So if they see something they like and it isn’t locked, they can immediately lock it themselves.  Locked gifts are not retrievable even by the overall winner...so sometimes it isn’t best to wait until the end.

It’s a great time and an annual event for our family to host.