What a great post! We moved into our house in March of 2012 and we love to entertain. It is much easier in the warmer months since we have a large covered patio and the kids can play outside. However, we hosted our first large indoor gathering this past Christmas and it was very stressful!! So what were the lessons learned from this last party?? 1) Make rules for the children. -We found food in toy bins and stickiness from spilled juice on the playroom floor. Next time we will tell kids that food and drink are only allowed in the kitchen and dining room. -Designate one bathroom for the kids and put kid friendly towels in them. We have a beautiful powder room which got torn apart...scuffs on our beautiful vanity, stains on the nice towels, etc. Next time we will tell the kids to use the kids bathroom only. -LOCK doors! We did this for this party and it worked out great! We locked the toy room closet and left out several toys that were easy to put away. We also locked bedroom doors that we didn't want kids to go into. Closing a door is not enough! Kids usually end up opening closed doors out of curiosity or open them if they decide to play hide and seek! In our case this forces kids to stay in the play room area only with the kids bathroom close by. 2) Make sure you get RSVP's. We made WAY too much food so we ended up sending guests home with food. Even still a lot of food was wasted. I think it is always better to have too much food rather than not enough, but it was excessive in our case! 3) Clean as you go! We have double dishwashers so I could have easily cleaned up while talking to the ladies after dinner. Instead we all sat around and relaxed. The kids then had meltdowns and many were not able to stay and help clean up. My hubby got called into work at the end of the night and I was left with a major kitchen disaster at the end of the night! Yikes!! I think in the future I may hire a pair of high school gals to help keep the kids in order, help serve, and help clean up at the end of the night! Now for things that DID work out: -Preparing as much as I could the night before (e.g., setting the table, setting up beverages, putting out platters with sticky notes labeling what will go in them the next day, empty dishwashers, clean bathrooms and check toilet paper, etc) -Asking guests to bring something. I provided the main dishes and some appetizers. But then guests brought salad, side dishes, and dessert. We had designated areas for the appetizers/salad, main/side dishes, and dessert. So when the guests arrived we had them place the food in the appropriate area. I have learned to not have guests bring main dishes. We've run into problems in the past where people brought small dishes and there wasn't enough food to go around. -Self-serve beverage station. We get drinks for guests when they first arrive, then we make it easy for them to serve themselves for the rest of the night. We usually do beer, wine, and sometimes margaritas. Then we have a large self serve beverage jar that has water and lemon slices in it. And then juice for the kids. Juice boxes are a no-no because inevitably the kids squeeze too hard and the juice gets everywhere. At dessert time, we turn on a huge hot water dispenser and leave out a tray of different teas and chai. For the kids we leave out plastic cups and a Sharpie pen for parents to write their kids' names on the cups. Then for the adults I leave out wine and/or margarita glasses with charms on them (the charms are all different so guests can easily identify their charm/glass). I also leave out crystal clear plastic cups for adults to use if they want water. Depending on the size of the party, for hot drinks I will leave out either mugs or disposable hot cups. BTW, I also have crystal water goblets at each adult place setting. And I leave a crystal pitcher of water on the table at dinner time. -Having an adult table and a kids table. We had the adult table in the dining room and the kids table in the breakfast nook. This allowed us to have nice adult conversation without the kids interrupting us. We also had the kids eat first so adults could assist if needed. Makes for a more peaceful adult dinner time since the kids mostly played while we ate. -We did a gift exchange for the kids only. It was fun to watch kids open up a gift. -We took family pictures. We pulled each family to the fireplace area and took a family picture for them. I still have yet to email them out :) I have to admit, I was not crazy about doing an indoor party for that many adults and kids. Clean up was MUCH harder indoors. We may have to do a Christmas in July party this year so we can have the party outdoors!! Or have an adult only party at Christmas time. This post was edited by janealexa on Sat, Jan 5, 13 at 17:52

Nod702, I hope you had a good heating system. LOL I played a lot of poker in my youth, but never strip poker. Nor did we skinny dip. I guess we were a modest bunch. I had to look up Fact of Crap immediately! If you like it, Flamey, I probably will too. So many good suggestions--thank you, everyone!! I've added a bunch to my Wish List and will have to made a decision or two. I must eliminate anything involving drawing, as two of the members of my game group are professional artists. Even when they have to draw blindfolded (as in Cranium), they blow the rest of us away. We love anything that involves words, wit, and creativity, and some of these really fit the bill. I'm thinking Balderdash might be right up our alley. (My dad's expressions are starting to sound awfully old-fashioned.) :-)

I love games....I picked up a game once on clearance at Marshalls. It was called Times To Remember. It's a trivia game with questions ranging from the 1950s to mid-90s. I thought it was very clever and have never seen another trivia game quite like it. (my description below) So if you're over 40, you'll love this game. You can play with two people or two teams. I forget the actual rules...but we play like this: You both have a big round disc with years marked. Then you have these big paperclips with 'year spans'. Questions are asked to BOTH teams at the same time and you must guess the year (with year span clips 1 thru 7). Be sure to whisper and point...you don't want your opponents to hear you. If you know a question 100%, then use your ONE YEAR clip. If you have no clue, use your 7 YEAR CLIP. First team to get rid of all their clips wins. It's currently on Ebay...if you're a game queen like me....get it. Just about everyone that plays it, thinks it's fun. Younger people tend to have a tougher time with it. But what makes it fun...is you don't have to be a genius! You might just 'kinda know' or have an 'inkling' or you remember what grade you were in when it happened....so it's a lot of fun. The questions range from super easy...to 'how in the heck would I know'!

Although I agree with Linelle, "you should be grownups" at the same time, I admit my first thought was telling some ribald jokes and having a Ouija board in use when they drop in...but I would not change my hang out or routines to avoid them. Be direct. ish. I would invite them over. First. After they move in, "if your not busy next Thursday night how about joining the Smiths and us for some burgers/munchies/drinks (whatever) at 7 PM? If it goes even remotely ok, then at the end of the evening have the Smiths extend a similar invitation for a couple weeks out. In passing in the interim remind them of the date you expect to see them again - "don't forget - see you next Wednesday!" If they prove themselves to be as you believe, then you've been the welcoming committee, done your part, and you are not obligated to entertain people - even neighbors - you don't like. Period. Plan a later in the summer outdoor get together/block party.