Last Updated on March 9, 2024 by Kimberly Crawford
Holiday music is heard in stores as early as Nov. 1st, adding an additional layer to the shopping experience. Christmas music classics at your party can do the same thing.
By adding Christmas music classics to your holiday party, you can multiply your guests’ festive experience in a very subconscious manner.
So what type of holiday music is the best type for your party? Should you use classic Christmas music, pop or radio-styled Christmas music, or orchestral Christmas music?
The best answer to this question is to match your style of event with a similar type of holiday music, so that the resulting effect is one of Christmas music that is classic, enjoyable, and festive.
Elegant Christmas Dinner
Create a soundtrack that includes variations during the different parts of the event.
For instance, the cocktail hour soundtrack could include light jazz versions of popular Christmas songs. Try “A Smooth Jazz Christmas” by Dave Koz for a good start to your evening.
As your guests sit down for dinner, switch your musical choices to symphonic versions or traditional choral versions of Christmas music classics. Create a second soundtrack that includes songs from the album “Christmas Music: Relaxing Instrumental Music” or Phil Keaggy’s “Majesty & Wonder: An Instrumental Christmas.”
Finally, for the after dinner drinks and mingling time, finish the soundtrack with stylized vocal versions of your favorite holiday music. Some great tracks include anything from David Archuleta’s “Christmas from the Heart” album.
Festive Open House or Casual Christmas Party
Create one soundtrack for this type of event, but include enough songs that you will not have to worry about repeats during the event.
This is the easiest type of holiday mix that you can create. In a nutshell, include a variety of fun, festive and upbeat songs. Alternate songs between different genres: country, oldies, pop, singer standards, rock, etc.
There is a multitude of great classic Christmas music available for free, for download, or on CD, and your biggest challenge will be to limit yourself and not include everything!
Where to Find Christmas Music Classics
- Satellite radio provides the easiest and most cost-efficient way to add the perfect music to your event. With XM and Sirius radio offering many different stations that play only holiday music in November and December, you can choose your desired genre, (country, symphonic, choral, pop, etc.), set the station and know that your music will be wonderful for the event’s duration!
- Online, internet and web-based radio stations can also provide a similar experience, without the cost charged by satellite radio. However, you may need to be a little creative and technical to set up the live streaming over your sound system. For a good start, try radio-directory.com/Christmas.
- Amazon, Walmart Music, and iTunes provide an entire library of the finest Christmas and holiday music available for a modest per song fee.
- If your budget is totally non-existent for adding holiday music to your playlist, use your local library as a resource. You can either borrow a handful of holiday CDs and bring them home to add to your mp3 player, or bring your laptop to the library and add the songs there. Don’t forget to use your friends as resources too, and borrow their favorite CDs.
