Christmas in July is the only holiday that lets you wear a Santa hat with sunglasses and have it make perfect sense. The history of Christmas in July goes back further than most people realize. A summer camp in North Carolina held what is widely considered one of the first organized Christmas in July celebrations in 1933, complete with carols, gift-giving, and a Santa appearance. Since then, it has grown into one of the most reliably fun summer party themes because it gives people something most summer gatherings lack: a real reason to celebrate and a clear Christmas in July spirit that pulls everyone in the same direction. This guide covers everything you need to plan the whole party: themes, decorations, food, drinks, games, and a few ideas that will make this one stick in people's memories long after July is over. Table of Contents Pick a Theme That Does the Work for You Decorations That Set the Mood Without a Full Overhaul Food and Drinks: Summer-First with Holiday Nods Games and Activities That Actually Make Memories Use the Party to Get Ahead on Your Holiday Collection Pick a Theme That Does the Work for You A theme is not just window dressing. It is the decision that makes every other decision easier. When guests know the theme from the invitation, they show up dressed for it, they buy gifts that fit it, and they arrive already in the right mindset. A party without a theme is just a summer gathering with Christmas music. Three themes anchor the majority of well-executed Christmas in July parties, and each one has its own logic. Tropical Christmas Tropical Christmas is the most popular choice and the easiest to pull off. The idea is simple: swap the traditional red and green palette for coral, turquoise, and bright yellow. Santa is on a surfboard. Leis replace scarves. A decorated pineapple stands in for a Christmas tree. This theme works because it leans into the contrast between the holiday and the heat instead of pretending the heat is not there. It is also the most photogenic option, which matters now that every party ends up on someone's phone. Dress code for guests: Hawaiian shirts, Santa hats, flip-flops. Encourage creativity and reward the most inventive interpretation. Tropical Christmas works for any venue, indoors or out, and scales from five people in a backyard to fifty at a community event. Winter Wonderland Winter Wonderland is for the host who wants the cozy, snowy Christmas feeling regardless of what the thermometer says. Crank the air conditioning, go heavy on white and silver decor, use faux snow spray on windows, and fill the space with white lights and shimmery accents. This theme works especially well for evening parties where the outdoor heat is less of a factor. The irony of wearing a cable-knit sweater in July is genuinely part of the appeal, and guests tend to lean into it harder than you expect. Dress code: traditional Christmas attire, ugly sweaters encouraged. Set up a "first to arrive in full holiday gear" award to get people committed to the bit from the start. Christmas Pajama Party The Christmas Pajama Party is a lower-key theme that is growing fast, particularly for smaller gatherings, family celebrations, and any host who wants minimal setup overhead. Everyone wears their best holiday pajamas. No formality required. The activity lineup writes itself: movie marathon, hot cocoa bar, cookie decorating station, board games. It works beautifully when the guest list includes kids or a wide age range because the dress code is comfortable for everyone from toddlers to grandparents. Keep the food simple and the seating cozy. This is the one theme where a living room full of floor pillows and blankets is a feature, not a limitation. Decorations That Set the Mood Without a Full Overhaul The best part of Christmas in July decorations is that most of what you need is already in a box in the garage. Pull out what you own, add a few summer-specific pieces, and the effect is immediate. Start outdoors. String lights wrapped around patio furniture or draped from a pergola look genuinely magical on a warm summer evening in a way that no December setup can replicate. Garland on a railing, a wreath on the front door, a few ornament-filled glass vases on an outdoor table. The natural light and the warm air do the rest of the work. For indoor setups or table arrangements, mix traditional holiday pieces with summer textures. A small tabletop tree decorated with summer-themed ornaments alongside a bowl of seashells reads as intentional and creative rather than mismatched. Stockings hung near a fan instead of a fireplace get a laugh and make the space feel like the party has its own internal logic. One of the easiest decoration moves at any budget: scatter a handful of glass ornaments as loose table decor throughout the party space. They catch light, start conversations, and look like something someone styled intentionally when you just placed them in a bowl. Browse through our Christmas tree ornaments for pieces that work as well on a table in July as they do on a tree in December. The one layer most hosts forget is scent. A room can look like Christmas but still smell like summer. Lighting an Old World Christmas candle as guests arrive closes that gap instantly. Fresh Balsam Fir works well for the transition from outdoors to inside, bringing in crisp pine and forest air without being heavy in the heat. Frosted Cranberry Mandarin is the better choice for evening gatherings, a bright and festive scent that reads immediately as holiday. Browse the full holiday candle collection to find the scent that fits your theme. Food and Drinks: Summer-First with Holiday Nods The biggest mistake hosts make is trying to serve a December menu in July heat. Nobody genuinely wants a full Christmas roast at an outdoor summer party. The better approach is summer food with holiday theming, not the other way around. On the food side, grilling is your best friend. Grilled ham sliders, turkey drumsticks on the barbecue, pulled chicken with a cranberry glaze. All recognizably Christmas-adjacent, all appropriate for standing around outside in warm weather. Finger foods and appetizers outperform a plated formal dinner at an outdoor party in every scenario. For dessert, Christmas cookies are always right. The heat is actually useful: decorated cut-out cookies with tropical-themed icing (surfboards, suns, flip-flops, tiny Santa hats on beach balls) land better than traditional December decorations and double as a low-effort activity if you set up a decorating station. A watermelon carved or sliced into the shape of a Christmas tree is a ten-minute centerpiece that photographs well and disappears fast. For drinks, move holiday flavors into summer formats. Cranberry lemonade, peppermint iced tea, pomegranate punch served over crushed ice, frozen hot chocolate for kids. Name them festively at the drink station: "The Naughty List," "Frosty's Revenge," "Santa's Summer Squeeze." Small printed signs at each dispenser take five minutes and make the whole setup feel considered. If you want the space to smell like the holidays too, a holiday scented candle burning near the drink station adds scent memory to the event without competing with the food. Set up a self-serve drink station rather than passing drinks individually. It keeps guests moving through the space, removes pressure from the host, and becomes a natural gathering point where conversations start. Games and Activities That Actually Make Memories Games are where a Christmas in July party either becomes a night people talk about for years or just another summer gathering. The right activity for your group depends on who is coming, but a few consistently work across every scenario. For mixed-age groups: Christmas in July Bingo with cards that combine holiday icons and summer icons is the most reliable all-ages opener. Pin the Sunglasses on Santa works for anyone who can follow a blindfold. A water balloon snowball toss keeps the kids busy for an hour and usually pulls in the adults too. All three work outdoors, all three require almost no setup, and all three keep every age group engaged without anyone feeling left out. For adult-only or mostly-adult groups: a White Elephant gift exchange with a summer twist (every gift must be useful at the beach or pool) creates social energy from the moment guests arrive. A "best dressed" outfit contest rewards the most creative Christmas-in-July interpretation and removes the awkwardness of costume-adjacent dress codes. Christmas trivia with rounds built around movies, songs, and holiday history gives competitive guests something to dig into. For the full list of game options with setup details, the Christmas in July games and crafts guide covers everything from outdoor relay races to indoor options for any group size. If you want one activity that serves as both entertainment and a take-home favor, ornament decorating is it. Set out clear glass ornaments, paint pens, glitter, and tissue paper. Guests decorate their own piece at the party and take it home to hang on a real tree in December. Every person leaves with something handmade that they will see again in five months, which makes the memory of your party last a lot longer than most party favors. One note on the White Elephant swap: keep the budget cap low, around $20 or under. A low budget removes the pressure of the gift and makes the reveal funnier, which is the whole point. Use the Party to Get Ahead on Your Holiday Collection There is a mindset that drives the best Christmas in July parties: the holiday feeling does not have to wait for December. That same mindset applies to ornament collecting, and July is genuinely the smartest time to act on it. New releases from Old World Christmas become available throughout the summer, and the people who find the pieces they want are the ones who are not waiting until November to look. Popular designs sell out. Collecting in July means full inventory, no shipping pressure, and no compromising on the pieces that actually fit the tree you are building. Hand-blown glass ornaments from Old World Christmas, crafted in the Old World tradition since 1979, are also the perfect party prop. Set a few on the table as decor at the party. Use one as a White Elephant prize. Let the ornament decorating station give guests a preview of what a quality glass ornament looks like before they try their hand at a craft-store blank. The contrast between a mass-produced fill ornament and a hand-painted glass piece makes its own argument. Browse our new Christmas ornaments and ornaments coming soon to see what is available this season. The collection changes throughout the year, and July is when the most exciting new releases tend to arrive. Throw the party in July. Start the collection in July. December will come either way.
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