Thinking about throwing a holiday get-together? ‘Tis the season for elusive, ugly and tacky Christmas sweater parties!  Tacky sweater parties are a perfect theme for a fun yet festive party. Follow these tips to throw a successful tacky Christmas sweater party this holiday that is cost effective.

1. Send Invitations: Send out an evite to all of your guests and have the image be a picture of you or your grandparents in their favorite holiday sweater. Be sure to provide all of the details (especially the fun ones like the games and prizes included).

2. Find the Best Tacky Christmas Sweater: The best part of the party is OBVIOUSLY the sweater. Here are some ideas on places to find these fabulous outdated fashion statements: Garage Sales, Family Members (aka. Grandma and Grandpa) and Thrift Stores.

3. Don’t Forget Accessories: Accessories can often times make the tacky sweater that much tackier! Go to your local drug store and look for lighted pins, reindeer antlers, Santa hats, tinsel and more!

4. Make a Centerpiece: Creating a neat centerpiece that can actually be devoured is ideal. Make a ginger bread house with candy and icing to use as a centerpiece for the food table. Something tells me that this will be eaten after tip #9.

5. Provide an Award: Have a trophy personalized that says “Tackiest Sweater Award 2008″. After all of the guests have arrived, simply have them write on a piece of paper who they think should win and then count up the votes.

6. Food: Select a potluck style that will work best for you and your guests. For example: (1) appetizers only, (2) bring your favorite dish, (3) assign each guest to bring an appetizer, main dish, or dessert, or (4) as the host, you will provide the main dish (a turkey, ham, etc.) Try and coordinate this in advance so you don’t have duplicate dishes.

7. Beverages: There are a variety of factors to consider when selecting your beverages for your party. It’s important to have something available for everyone’s likes and dislikes. Be sure to have a variety of mixers on hand as well as non-alcoholic drinks. Having a pre-made themed beverage also saves time and money while still being festive.

8. Keep the Bathroom Line Entertained: All those beverages can certainly call for a long line at the restroom. Decorate your bathroom door with wrapping paper, ribbon and a bow and have people sign the door and write a message on the wrapping paper. The messages are bound to be great conversation starters and ice breakers.

9. Play Games: Set up a scavenger hunt with two teams. Create a checklist of all the items to provide to each team. Each team is then responsible for taking a picture of each checklist item as proof. Here are some checklist ideas: Find a street name that has a Christmas theme, take a picture with your team in your sweaters in a 7-11, sing a Christmas carol to a stranger as team, Find a Santa and sit on his lap, kiss someone under a mistletoe, find something showing one of the 12 days of Christmas etc…) This is absolutely hilarious.

10. Give Prizes: The winning team of the scavenger hunt or games that you play can receive prizes. Some good prize ideas are DVD’s, gift cards, candles, books etc… Wrap them up and put them under your tree. You could always go the gag gift route as well.

Best of luck with planning your next Tacky Christmas Sweater Party. Do you own a festive sweater that makes your friends laugh/cringe? Send it my way, and it may appear on our blog. (Please include your name, city and a brief description of the photo.)  

Recommended again from our very own ‘food expert’ at ForRent.com…..’Ok so this recipe isn’t healthy but I have to share it with you.  I straight up lied and told my family I came up with this recipe myself, sorry Tyler (Florence).  If you are doing a big family dinner and you want to impress everyone, this is the bird to do.  Do exactly what the recipe says and you will be a legend in the kitchen.  This recipe was so good I wanted to slap my mama!  Garnish with the extra sage, roasted baby carrots and whole cranberries and people will be begging you for the secret.’ Try it out and let us know if she’s right!!!

Ingredients

• 1 (12 to 14) pound fresh turkey
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Caramelized Onion and Cornbread Stuffing, recipe follows
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Sage Butter, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and remove the top rack of the oven.

Rinse the bird thoroughly inside and out with cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle the cavity and skin liberally with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with stuffing and, if required, truss the legs. Cover the turkey with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Push the sage butter under the skin of the turkey, being careful not to puncture the skin.

Put the turkey on a rack in a large roasting pan, and into the oven. Continue cooking until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the meaty part of the thigh registers 170 degrees F. The thigh juices will run clear when pricked with a knife, about 3 hours total (15 minutes per pound). If the legs or breast brown too quickly during roasting, cover them with foil.

Sage Butter:

2 sticks butter, softened
1/4 cup chopped sage
Salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients.
Caramelized Onion and Cornbread Stuffing:
2 tablespoons butter
2 onions, chopped
6 large cornmeal muffins, cubed
Handful fresh sage leaves, chopped
1 egg
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes, or until soft and caramelized. Add sage and scrape into a large mixing bowl. Add the cornbread pieces, season well with salt and pepper, and give it a good toss until it’s well combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, cream, and stock, and pour that over the cornbread. Stir the stuffing together and stuff the cavity of the turkey. You could also spoon it into a buttered baking dish and put it in the oven along with the turkey. Bake until hot and crusty on top, about 30 minutes.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Taken from the Food Network

This was a recipe recommended by one of our own at ForRent.com. “Junior mints and brownies how can you go wrong?  The candy makes them moist and chewy and it’s a special surprise for your guests who just thought they were plain brownies.  Bring them to your next family event and I can’t guarantee they’ll let you take on the turkey next year but they might trust you with an apple pie or some Mac n’ Cheese.  I give them 2 snaps up!”

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 1/4  cup  butter or stick margarine
• 32  (about 3 ounces) creamy, small-size mints in pure chocolate (such as Junior Mints)
• 1  cup  all-purpose flour
• 1/4  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 2/3  cup  sugar
• 1/3  cup  unsweetened cocoa
• 1  large egg
• 1  large egg white

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

Combine butter and mints in a 2-cup glass measure; microwave at high 30 seconds or until soft. Stir until smooth, and set aside.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Combine flour, soda, and salt in a bowl. Combine sugar, cocoa, egg, and egg white in a large bowl; beat at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended. Add mint mixture; beat well. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean; cool completely on a wire rack.

Taken from MyRecipes.com

Finally, our last bit of tips in our Part III Make Your Apartment Energy Efficient blog. As promised, ways to conserve energy using your appliances!
Appliances:

• Okay, so this tip is actually REALLY COOL! Did you know that if you thaw frozen food in the refrigerator (instead of the countertop-which I am ashamed to say I do all the time) that you actually help the refrigerator cut down the energy it uses to control the cool temperature? The frozen food helps with that while it’s defrosting. All you have to do is think about it the night before.
• And if you’ve been paying attention to any of our posts regarding energy efficiency, you know that you need to turn off and/or unplug appliances when you are not using them (this includes computers, cell phone chargers and small appliances in the kitchen)
• Whenever possible use the range top instead of the oven as it uses far less energy.
• When cooking or baking make sure you also don’t open the door any more than absolutely necessary. The oven loses about 20% of its heat every time you open the door! Every time! WOW!! So if you need to peek in and see how that turkey is doing, just flip on the light.

Well that’s pretty much what I retained from the article called ‘Tips for an Energy-Efficient Apartment’ located at Healthgoods.com. I hope you have learned as much as I did. Being energy efficient is very important; not only for the environment, but it will also save you a bundle in the long run! You can always check out our other tips on our Apartments Going Green section of our blog as we strive to put more information out there for everyone. Also, feel free to add any thing that we haven’t yet spoken about. The more information the better!

Impress your family at the dinner table this Thanksgiving by sharing a bit of knowledge from the ‘Did You Know’ category.

For example, did you know that the most popular Thanksgiving dinner includes a menu of turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie? (yum….pumpkin pie is my favorite!) Or, did you know that there are at least three American towns named after Thanksgiving dinner’s main course? There’s Turkey, Texas; Turkey Creek, Louisiana; and Turkey, North Carolina.  And finally, did you know that as many as 107 million American homes will celebrate Thanksgiving this year?

And a ‘did you know’ just for all you crazy shoppers out there (kudos for fighting the Day-After Thanksgiving-Day crowds). Did you know that ‘Black Friday’ (which is widely touted as the biggest shopping day in America) is actually not the biggest shopping day!?! In fact, the Saturday before Christmas has historically been the largest volume shopping day. Neat, huh?

So there you go! Some fun facts to share with your family and friends today! For more ‘Did You Know’ facts, check out Holidays.net.

 From all of us at ForRent.com, we wish you a happy & safe Thanksgiving! Gobble, Gobble!

 Football equals Thanksgiving, right?  Now I would consider myself every inch of the word “fanatic” when it comes to sports, but I would have to put food over football when equating one or the other to Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving, by the way, is my favorite holiday!  Now that that’s out of the way, I would say one of our country’s greatest pastimes is to eat turkey and watch football on Thanksgiving Day.  Thanksgiving is a time for families to get together and just spend quality time.  Now for those of you who live in apartments, don’t feel left out.

I am also a renter who is having house guests for the holiday.  I live in a one-bedroom apartment, but it’s pretty roomy.  Roomy enough for my three younger sisters to crash.  It works because the atmosphere becomes more intimate and you get that closeness with your fam.  Granted they’re not rabid sports fans like me, they suffer through it to spend time with me!  Don’t let apartment living stop you from really enjoying your sports.  I know I certainly don’t let it stop me! 

The Thanksgiving Day Classic is one that carries rich tradition.  This American football custom began in 1920 showcasing five teams, all of whom are now defunct.  This year Thanksgiving Day gives way to 3 games on Thursday, November 27^th.  The Detroit Lions play host to the Tennessee Titans, fresh from their first loss of the season with a kickoff time of 12:30 PM.  The Titans will definitely be taking out some frustration.  Poor Lions, the Titans are going to whip them like some potatoes!  Next, the Dallas Cowboys play host to the Seattle Seahawks with kickoff scheduled for 4:15 PM on Fox.  Even without Tony Romo, Dallas should have no problem brushing the Seahawks to the side.  And last but not least, we have the Arizona Cardinals visiting the Philadelphia Eagles with kickoff scheduled for 8:15 PM on the NFL network.  I’m a little hesitant to give a prediction on this game because the Eagles are streaky, but Arizona, better yet, Kurt Warner, has definitely been showing more than shades of his former self. 

You can turn your apartment into a Thanksgiving Day Classic haven for your family and friends by visiting ForRent.com or our Holiday Guide on our blog.  Now don’t choke on turkey while screaming for you teams!  Gobble, Gobble!!  Happy Thanksgiving.