December 5, 2011

Vintage: Bringing Back the Caroling Party

All through high school I caroled with the choir up and down town streets and inside nursing homes. It was all part of our annual holiday tour and I loved every minute of it. When I was older, I continued to sing with choirs, but we only managed to go caroling once. I wanted to do it again, so the caroling party was born. It's a holiday tradition that doesn't require any special equipment (just your voice and some lyrics) and you certainly don't need to belong to a choir to participate.

First things first, make a guest list and set up some ground rulesthen send out the invites. Do you want to carol indoors or out? You might want to have a back-up plan, too, just in case the weather doesn't cooperate. With a little pre-planning, you can arrange to visit your local assisted living facility or senior center.

Ask everyone to don Santa hats, or if you're really adventurous, dress in Victorian costume. Make sure you have songbooks on hand. Simply find the lyrics to your favorite songs online and print them yourself so everyone has a copy. Carry lanterns, jingle bells, and have some extra mittens and scarves on hand, just in case. Practice a few lines of every song and head on out!

Once you're done, you can have everyone come back to your home for coffee and dessert or ask everyone to bring a covered dish and add a potluck dinner to the festivities.

This is especially nice if you can score a horse-drawn carriage or wagon!

Image via bhg.com

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds like fun and something new we can do this year!

Kay