Holiday get-together suggestions

With Thanksgiving and winter vacation quickly approaching, we're left frenetically wondering what we will do during our time at home and — what we will wear while we're doing it. For your planning pleasure, we've dreamed up four holiday get-togethers complete with outfit suggestions.

Do: Get into the holiday spirit with a day of decorating and cookie baking.

Invite your friends over for a day of holiday cheer and treats. Be sure to prep the dough for gingerbread cookies the night before and take your cookie-cutters out of storage. When your friends arrive, have them each cut their own gingerbread men. While the little guys bake, pour some champagne, crank up the holiday tunes, and get ready to enter into a decorating frenzy (tinsel wars optional). Once your tree has been trimmed, your lights hung and your giant Santas inflated, everyone can decorate their cookies.

Wear: An occasion such as this is the perfect time to embrace the holidays in all their cheesiness, and that means — you guessed it — Christmas sweaters. But this isn't your Grandma's Christmas outfit. Take it up a notch with festive sparkly leggings or skinny leather pants and sparkly chandelier earrings. Who says that holiday decorating can't be glamorous?

Do: Revive your inner child with a slumber party.

Even though throwing a slumber party became passé after about the fifth grade, coming home for the holidays is the perfect opportunity to rekindle this childhood pastime. Reunite with all your friends elementary school-style. Serve milk, cookies and mini PB-and-J, and breathe new life into the classic sleepover games like Truth or Dare and Spin the Bottle. (Co-ed sleepovers happen to be one of the perks of the post-primary school years.) Fill your living room with all the blankets and pillows you have access to, and if you're feeling particularly nostalgic for days gone by, you can even build a fort for (or with) your party guests.

Wear: A sleepover is the perfect opportunity to don your cute holiday PJs. We recommend long-john bottoms, fuzzy-booties, a chic chiffon babydoll and a cozy cashmere cardigan. Warm your ears with a knit headband or toque.

Do: Sit down for food with the people who raised you.

Whether you're celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa or Hanukkah (or nothing at all), nothing beats a delicious meal of turkey and all the trimmings eaten with the people you love. Instead of the usual holiday crackers that contain mere crepe-paper crowns, dull jokes, and plastic key chains, select your own party hats and knickknacks for your dinner guests. You can err on the more wild side of things, adding to meal-time conversation. Be sure to slip whoever is doing the cooking a recipe or two from this issue to infuse something exciting into this classic meal.

Wear: In order to look nice, yet allow plenty of room for turkey, don a woolly wrap dress that has plenty of room for adjustment. Accessorize with more hard-edge details, such as over-the-knee boots, a woven leather headband and a clunky brass cuff.

Do: Get classy with cocktails.

Orchestrate a night of glamor and suavity. Handwrite invitations calligraphy-style and ask friends to come in their most dapper duds. Serve martinis, a spread of soft cheeses, pâté and gourmet crackers. Play soft jazz, dim the lights and prepare for a night of classy comportment — no beer pong allowed.

Wear: Embrace your glamorous side with a luxuriant kimono dress in a striking jewel tone. Make the look more modern with sheer stockings, sky-high wedges and a multi-finger statement ring.