9 Cold Weather Winter Party Themes
Winter party themes often revolve around Christmas…but they don’t have to! In reality, winter parties can feature a whole hots of wintery items and colors. Think wolves, mountains, buffalo plaid, and more!
If you are planning a cold weather party and you’re looking for ideas, you’re in the right place. I’ve created a list of winter party themes along with color palettes, decor ideas, and shopping lists.
So let’s get right into it!
Disclosure: this post uses affiliate links. As an amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Winter Party Theme Ideas
1. Arctic Wolf Theme
The first theme is very wintery: arctic wolves! Think light blues, whites, and greys, with wolf decorations. A tablescape with blue plates and candles, plus a white wolf as the focal point would be beautiful. See the following photos and color palette for inspo!
Here is a fun tablescape:
In addition, faux fur would be an excellent decoration for this type of party. Faux fur blankets draped over chairs would make everything feel extra cozy.
Decoration Shopping List:
2. Nordic Night Theme
For a darker, cozier theme, a “Nordic Night” party can be a great option! Dark tones of blue and brown mixed with Scandinavian patterns make for very pretty decor. See the following color palette and photos for inspiration for your event!
Wood slices, dark blue tablecloth, white candles, and a cozy fireplace make a great ambiance:
You can also go more simple, letting the patterns in a nordic tablecloth take the forefront, with wood and spruce accents:
Sample Shopping List:
3. Alpine Mountain Theme
Up next is a unique one: an Alpine Mountain themed party! For this one we stay in the blue family, but start to move out with some dark greens and teal colors too. There are so many fun decorations you can make for an Alpine party – wreaths and trees, rustic wood, teal balloons, etc. The fun thing is that the trees don’t have to make it a Christmas themed party, but instead they showcase the alpine forest!
Use miniature snow covered trees, pinecones, wood accents, and teal decorations to create fun decorations on tables:
A mountain cake is also a great dessert idea:
Sample Shopping List:
4. Buffalo Plaid Theme
A classic wintery party theme is Buffalo Plaid! I always find it funny each year the amount of people I see wearing the same red and black plaid flannels. Might as well jump on the popularity and create a party out of it, right? The colors for this party would be deep red, brown, black, and some hints of grey and green.
Here’s a decor idea: create a stunning centerpiece using wood slices, candles, pinecones, and mini trees!
You could also make your party favors a surprise. Wrap them in buffalo plaid and secure them with ribbon for the perfect favors!
Sample Shopping List:
5. Ice Skating Theme
If you’re planning a girl’s birthday party in winter, a great option is to do an ice skating party! Of course, you could do this for a boy’s party as well, but the color palette I created is perfect for girls. Light turquoise, light pinks, lilacs, and that sort of theme!
An adorable idea for an ice skating party is sugar cookies. You’ll just need an ice skate cookie cutter like this one, and you can decorate them in your desired colors with royal icing!
In addition, make use of turquoise and purple plastic table covers, banners, balloons, and other trinkets you can find for decoration:
Sample Shopping List:
6. Land of Sweets Theme
Here’s another one that’s pretty “sweet”: a Chocolate Themed Party! You could call it that or a “Land of Sweets” Theme, whichever you prefer. All I know is that this sounds like my kind of party! It would be so fun to plan all the delicious chocolate desserts. While I went with a pink and brown color palette for this, you could also do a mint green, red, or yellow if you wanted it to be for boys!
For this kind of party, think DECADENT. Load on that frosting when making cupcakes!
Here’s another scene with a decadent cake, pieces of chocolate strewn about, and pink banners in the background for inspiration:
Sample Shopping List:
7. Winter Fairy Tale Theme
Here’s a theme that would be amazing for a girl’s winter birthday party ages 4-10 or so: a fairy tale party, but with a winter twist! While most girls have a standard princess or fairy party, adding a snowy winter twist takes it up a notch. I went with a light blue, yellow, purple, and pink color palette for this one.
If you go with this theme, really make use of simple decorations and also candlelight for an awing mystical effect. You can go simple or complex with the cake, but make sure the frosting color matches the theme!
Have the guests dress up like fairies with dresses and wings (what little girl doesn’t love that idea?!)
Sample Shopping List:
8. Winter Adventure Theme
Last, but definitely not least, one for the boys! A winter adventure or winter camping themed party might just be a little boy’s dream. Burnt orange, olive green, and tan make the perfect colors for this type of party. Set up a real tent or a fort made from blankets, and you’ll have some little boys in heaven.
If you want to stick to a color scheme, you can always form the scheme around the color tent you have. Wooden accents on the table make great decorations, as do classic tin camping dishes. Candlelight or even a fake fire add to the decor even more.
Outside the door, or right as you walk in, you can have an “adventure awaits” sign! It is fairly easy to recreate the following on a wooden chalk board sign:
Sample Shopping List:
9. Sweater Weather Party
For a fun teenage or adult party in the winter, try a sweater weather party! This would be great for incorporating fun activities like decorating an ugly (or not ugly) Christmas sweater. Everyone can come dressed in their coziest clothing and enjoy winter comfort food like hot chocolate or for a fancier event, wine. Maybe this is even the type of party where you make it a movie night!
Sample Shopping List:
Activities as a Winter Party
All the winter party themes we’ve talked about so far have been indoor household-type parties. But there is also the possibility of going out and doing activities as a party instead of throwing a bash at home! Here are some ideas if that is the event you are looking to plan:
1. Shopping Party
Around the holidays, everyone is looking to shop! A shopping extravaganza would be easy to plan and fun to carry out. If its a kids party, you could give each one a spending budget. Or if its an adult party, this would be a great laid back party idea where everyone can accomplish some holiday shopping.
2. Winter Sports Party
Instead of planning a sports “themed” party, you could actually go and do the sport! I’ve attended several parties at an ice skating rink and it was a blast. Other options would be snow boarding, skiing, or sledding. There’s something that’s just extra fun about parties like these.
3. Go Camping
If you really love the outdoors in the wintertime, camping is yet another option! Some of my favorite bonding moments with friends have been on camping trips. This can be a great way to build friendship and celebrate a special occasion at the same time.
4. Window Shopping Scavenger Hunt
People always talk about window shopping, but one way to make it way more fun would be to do a scavenger hunt! This would be a great adult winter party idea. Everyone has a list of things they need to find around town, and its a race to see who can finish first!
5. Baking Bash
While you don’t have to go outdoors to do a baking bash, it would still be more of an activity – and a fun one at that! Have some friends over and have a variety of fun baking recipes to make together. Or, have each friend bring their favorite baking recipe and the ingredients to make it!
Conclusion
There are so many wonderful winter party themes and ideas you can use to plan your event! You can choose to go with a bright and cheery theme or a dark and cozy theme. Don’t forget to make use of the color palettes to help plan out all your decorations!
