Ideas for Christmas Eve!

This Artichoke Spinach dip is delicious!

Artichoke Spinach Dip

1 – 14 oz. Can artichoke hearts – drained and chopped

1 pkg. Frozen spinach – cook and then thaw and press water out well( I put on plastic gloves and squeeze it well)

3 - 4.5 oz. Cans chopped green chilies - drained

4 oz. Monterey Jack Cheese – grated

1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese – (shredded NOT grated fine like you put on pizza)
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

Serve with Tortilla Chips

Preheat oven to 325. Mix above ingredients and spread into a 1½ quart baking dish. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan. Bake uncovered for 30 min.

If you want to make the evening a bit more spiritual, have each person in the family write down what gift they will give to the Christ child this year. (i.e. Be kinder to my sibblings. Obey my parents better. Be more gentle and kind. etc.) Put everyone's written-down gift in a pretty box and put it under the tree. Save it for next year to be opened up at the party, and see how everyone did with their committment for the year.

crackers with sausage& cheese
s'mores
deviled eggs
mini sandwiches
chips & queso & salsa
cocoa & eggnog
RUMBALLS
pigs in a blanket
watermelon slices any melon works
Angel food cake with sliced fruit sprinkled with sugar
frozen banannas dipped in chocolate

Chipped Beef Dip

8 oz cream cheese, softened

½ cup of sour cream (I use light)

½ cup of mayo (I use light)

6 green onions, stems chopped (to look like chives)

1 small jar of Amour dried beef (any dried beef will do – they are usually on the top shelf at the grocery store. They come in thin, paper-like sheets of beef. I basically cut the beef up into small squares.)

Dash of seasoned salt

Small pkg of chopped pecans

Combine all ingredients except pecans. Sprinkle pecans on top and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Serve with Triscuits (I like the thin kind).

It’s really easy!!

Bisquick Sausage cheese balls. You can make a batch spicy by using spicy breakfast sausage and then a batch of mild by using mild breakfast sausage. These can be baked ahead of time and the freeze great. www.food.com

Or our family is crazy about spicy cheese wafers (with rice crispies). The secret is to use the sharpest cheddar cheese you can find. again these can be made ahead of time and frozen. www.food.com

If it ever gets warm again before Christmas, grill some link sausgae. Freeze the frozen links. On the day you will serve them, thaw them, heat them up in the microwave, cut them in bite sized pieces serve with spicy mustards and or BBQ sauce.

Purchase tiny rolls stuff them with roast beef, ham or smoked turkey. "Lemonaise" is a fancy mayo that is so amazing, you can have it on the side with fancy mustards.

Steamed and chilled asparagus is awesome. (again lemonaise is great with this)

For seafood lovers spread a package of cream cheese directly onto a dinner plate. Pour spicy or regular cocktail sauce on top. Drain a can of crab meat and pour and spread the crab on top of sauce. Squeeze half of a lemon on top. Chill for an hour then let sit for 20 min before serving. Use water crackers to scoop the dip from the plate. (optional: You can sprinkle Tabasco sauce on top of this, then a little bit of Worcester sauce on top or you can add these sauces to the cream cheese before spreading on the plate for a spicier dip).

Our family always has Tamales with queso or chile con carne for Chritmas eve. To heat them, place them in a microwavable dish filled with paper towels, add about 1/3 cup water, cover and heat for about 2 minutes on high, Move the tamales around the dish, cover again and heat another 2 minutes.

Fruit kabobs made with fresh fruit are fun and can be done ahead of time.
Stuff some of your celery with peanut butter, place a line of raisins on top for ants on a log. Put a toothpick on each end and attach a carrot round sliced about 1/8 inch thick to each end of the toothpicks and you have little "cars".
Stuffed jalapenos can be done two ways and are always a hit.

Canned jalapenos
pimento cheese

Dump the peppers into a strainer to drain completely.
If you don't have gloves, COAT YOUR HANDS WITH MAYONAISE FREQUENTLY during prep to prevent burning from the canning liquid.
Cut each pepper in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Stuff with pimento cheese. Time consuming and can get messy but delicious.

Fresh jalapenos

Fresh peppers (preferably with good stems)
Cream cheese (you can add anything you want for flavor but we just do ours plain)
Bacon (the really cheap stuff that is cut super thin is best)

Oven to 350

Leaving the stems on, Cut each pepper in half lengthwise (including the stems which will be usedfor a handle) and remove the seeds.
Stuff each half with creme cheese and wrap with a piece of bacon. (Each pepper should take about 1/2 piece of bacon unless you find some monster peppers) Place on baking sheet.
Bake at 350 for about an hour or until the bacon is crisp.
There are never enough of these at our family gatherings.

It seems like we never have a gathering without stuffed jalapenos! Mix cream cheese and a packet of Fiesta Ranch salad dressing mix. Slice fresh jalapenos in half and fill w/ cream cheese mixture. Wrap with bacon; bake in oven at 325 for about 40 min. YUM!!!

Pigs in a Blanket (cut up hotdogs baked in Crescent Rolls)
BBQ meatballs (heat them in a crockpot to serve)
7 layer mexican dip

If you're looking for something sweeter, one of our favorites (especially if there will be kids) is fruit pizza. Spread a roll of ready to bake chocolate chip cookie dough on a round or rectangular cookie sheet/pie pan. Bake the cookie. Once it's cooled, frost it with cool whip and then top the pizza with slices of your favorite fruit...kiwi, pineapple, sliced grapes, strawberries, blueberries, etc.

Good Luck,
K.

spinach artichoke dip is a favorite at our house

I agree with Patti on the food, can't go wrong with mexican dishes!! Taco's,nacho's, chili con queso,etc...mexican can be simple!!! or you can do breakfast for dinner!!

An activity that my family does every year for New Year's eve, is a White elephant gift party!! Have however wants to be a part of the gift exchange. You/They decided if you want to buy the gifts, cheap ones or put a limit. What we do we find things at our homes that we do not want anymore!! Wrap them up and have however brought a gift draw a number. The first person picks what gift they want. The second person goes and they can decide if they want #1's gift or pick a new one and so on and so on..... it is funny to see who ends up with what!!

It's hard to suggest not knowing what you already have, but www.allrecipes.com always has good suggestions, and for easy but yummy suggestions you could go to http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Pages/home.aspx?e=email All their recipes seem quite easy, but tasty. You could find a lot of different things!

I could suggest some things, but like I said, I wouldn't want my suggestions to be things you already have! I like to have different finger foods, a few dips and chips/crackers, and veggie trays with ranch. If the finger foods and dips are hearty enough, then people don't have to worry about eating later. ONe of my current favorites is extremely simple, but every time I make it no one has ever tried it. You brown half of a package of breakfast sausage (I like maple best), and melt together 1 package of cream cheese with 1 can of Rotel, and mix it all together. It's different than the Velveeta and Rotel, but people love it.

Pigs in a blanket (sausage wrapped up with cheese in a biscuit) You can also buy the mini versions premade at the grocery store.

Crispy dogs (hot dog with cheese wrapped in a tortilla and then fried crisp) use toothpicks to keep tortilla wrapped

Mini chalupas - use round tortilla chips instead of the big shells

Hi A.: I agree with easy finger food. It's not about the food on Christmas Eve. We've been celebrating Christmas Eve at my house now for 15 years. We have 6 children of various ages and the children do a simple play acting out the Christmas Story. The older children or adults read the scriptures, usually from Luke. The younger children play Mary, Joseph, shephards, king, and an angel - you can also add the animals. You can make a simple costume with sheets and paper plate faces for any animals. After the story we sing a couple of christmas carols. I have the youngest children in the family 3 boys - 10-14. They still talk about it and who will play each part. Their cousins still talk about it too.

Merry Christmas,

J.

In regards to food, you could make it a little Mexican and have some tamales with salsa and guacamole.

Hello A.
You can buy the gingerbread kits at walmart and 10 come in the package have everyone decorate one and have a contest. Give a Dollar away gift whatever just to put competition on. It will make you laugh and at the same time everyone is doing something together. Have fun.

Our circle of friends is into making taco rings. You just brown ground beef or turkey and add taco seasoning, and then cheese if you want. You lay out two cans of crescent rolls, the fat end in the middle, in a circle. I like to make a circle with one can and then use the second can in between so I know I have a full circle and it is spaced evenly. Then you put the taco meat up at the top in teh fat part of the triangles. You use probably a pound and a half of meat. Then you take the skinny end of the triangle of teh crescent roll and bring it over the meat for a pocket. It looks fancier, and like a Christmas wreath, if you bring it across at an angle instead of straight up. Then you just cook it in the over based on the directions on the crescent roll! You can put small bowls of sour cream or salsa in the middle of the wreath when you put it out on the table for dipping and it adds Christmas colors! Hope this helps!

There are several things you could do actually. If you want to stay with finger foods just change the foods you use or you could change the theme of food. Once a quarter my sister throws a women's get together and we do a pot luck with different themes for the food. The last one was salad theme and anything counted as long as it had x amt of ingredients. I think someone brought a 7 layer dip. We have also done a desert party. Every brought their favorite desert and then she had a few finger foods to go with it. You could also change the games to volunteering somewhere or for something together. A lot of it depends on what you want the outcome to be. Do you just want to change the foods and keep the games or do change all around. Good Luck

I love deviled eggs with paprika, I made pumpkin bread got recipe on internet and it was easy and made a nice finger food, pigs and blankets are good, or cocktail sausages with BBQ sauce is good too, fruit is healty and a nice finger food, with some yogurt dip. Guacamole and chips is always good too.

If you're looking for an activity, there are lots of fun group games.

Last year my mom took all the kids off to her room. After a while she returned and turned out the lights. The children walked in (5,5,4,2 1/2, 1)with silver piper cleaner halos on their heads and flashlights. They lined up in front of us and my mom told a basic Christmas story. Then she said "and the angels said" and the children tried saying with her "Glory to God in the highest and on Earth, peace and good will toward men." It was so cute! Our very own Christmas pageant!

Merry Christmas,
S., mom to 5!

These are real good.....
Use Buddig thin sliced corned beef
spread softened cream cheese on four slices
overlap two side by side and stack the other two on top
Use a sweet pickle and roll the pickle up in the slices
Wrap it up in foil and freeze, make alot.
When you are ready to serve, slice them and put them decoratively on a plate, They look festive and taste great!!

These rolls are easy to make all you need is cream cheese, diced black olives,diced jalapenos (both canned), a package of ranch dressing(powder) and flour tortillas, let the cream cheese sit out and become soft, mix all ingredients and spread lightly on tortillas, roll the tortilla up, cut in half and refrigerate, they are really good, use less jalapenos if you don't like spicy, but they usually don't come out too strong in my opinion!

I saw where someone mentioned meatballs. I have a different kind of sauce than BBQ... it's grape jelly & ketchup. You use equal amounts... example.. a cup of jelly and a cup of ketchup. Put it in a pot and slowly heat so the jelly breaks down and combines with the ketchup. I know it sounds wierd but it's gives it a sweet & sour taste.

If you're worried, try a smaller amount.

My family does the same thing for New Year's Eve and it's so much fun. I'm not sure what kinds of things you're looking for but I want to suggest that you go to allrecipes.com and I know you will find some great recipes for snacks and finger foods that are easy to make. I always use this site and it's wonderful. Good luck and Happy Holidays!

You didn't give enough information. What kinds of foods keep showing up each year? The newspaper has a food section that has ideas each week, and there are lots of magazines that are filled with neat ideas.
You can pour just about anything over a block of cream cheese and serve with seasoned crakers. Depending on how many people are at the party, a fun thing to do is arrange for fresh pizza to be delivered about half way thru the party.

We do Italian Christmas on Christmas eve and it's always a big hit! Everyone loves pasta.

Go to Sam's or Costco and hit the section with all the prepared dips, etc. They have some great ones!
And same with finger foods, Sam's and Costco have tons of appetizer stuff in the freezer section. And they have these cute little cheesecake bites that are so yummy!
Keep it simple!!

Last weekend I went to a family education conference and we had a "Yankee Gift Exchange". I had to look it up on the internet because I did not know what it was. It works well with adults, I am not sure about children. Everyone brings an inexpensive gift, worth a certain amount. Everyone or every family chooses a number and you go in order to choose a gift. #2 chooses a gift and can swap with #1 if he/she wants what #1 has and it goes to the last person. A gift can only be traded 3 times and then it stays with that person. The person with #1 can choose any of the gifts after everyone has had their turn. It sounds greedy, but actually it is fun to watch the giving that is involved and the relationships of the people. It was a lot of fun and turned out to be more spiritual than I thought.
Pinata for the kids !

I see you got many answer. I apologize now if I duplicate one, but no time to read through these. My MIL always does Christmas Eve and serves Tamales and boiled Shrimp with other sides. We all look forward to it each year.

I made a Corn Dip yesterday for a Luncheon and it was a big hit......... Now I plan on taking it for Christmas eve when we all gather.......

2 cans of Mexi-Corn (drained)
1 can of chopped Green Chilis (drained)
1 jar of Pimentoes (drained)
1 cup Sour Cream
1 cup of Real Mayonnaise
5 fresh jalapenos (chopped)
1 bundle of Green Onions (chopped)
10 oz of grated cheddar cheese

Mix all ingredients together and add salt and pepper to taste..... It says to serve with Fritos, but I serve mine with Wheat Thins and it is YUMMY!!!!
You can serve it with about any kind of Cracker.....
Also it is better if chilled over night

Here is another Hit at my Office for Luncheons:

TORTILLA ROLLUPS

8 oz Sour Cream
8 oz Cream Cheese (Softened)
2 to 3 green onions chopped fine (or ever how many you like…)
1 can chopped green chilis or jalapeno’s
1 can black olives (I only us about ½ to ¾ of the can)
3 cups of cheese (I usually use add more)
5 Burrito size Tortilla’s

Mix Sour Cream and Cream cheese together, low speed on blender. Add all other ingredients and mix well.

Spread mixture completely over tortilla and roll it up.

Wrap up in a moist paper towel and put in zip lock baggie in refrigerator to keep fresh till your ready to serve.

Merry Christmas!