Holiday Party 101: Give your soiree that Tucson touch

The stage is set.

You are double vaxxed and boostered. Your mask that reads “Put eggnog here” finally came in from Amazon and your favorite Christmas movies, “Die Hard,” “Gremlins” and “Love Actually,” are queued up and ready for streaming.

It’s time for one rocking holiday party.

Now all you need, besides an invite list of like-minded friends who are equally ready to get down and preferably vaccinated, is that Tucson touch.

There are several ways to achieve that goal.

Food

Christmas Day is for tamales and ham and robust meals that make you want to loosen your belt and take a big nap.

Holiday parties are for grazing, quick bites before it’s your turn to sing Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” during living-room karaoke.

For that, we recommend the charcuterie board, those heavenly platters of meats, cheeses, fruits and veggies that really took hold of our taste buds during the early days of the pandemic and have yet to let go.

Lisa Golembiewski and Dennis Davila, co-owners of Board + Brie, started their charcuterie board business in September 2020 and have been growing ever since, Golembiewski said.

The business has upped its game, moving from date nights and small gatherings to corporate events and weddings.

“One of our boards went on a private jet,” Golembiewski said. “We actually had to deliver it to the tarmac. (Dennis) was so excited. He said, ‘That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.’”

For the holidays, Board + Brie is offering specialty charcuterie boards, that come with frosted cranberries, rosemary and high-end chocolates, amid a seasonal mix of meats, cheeses and produce, some of which has been sourced locally.

For example, “We use local mesquite honey on all of our boards now,” Golembiewski said. “We bought several gallons from a local beekeeper in Marana.”

Grazing boxes start at $45. If you plan on having a large guest list, opt for the grazing table, a full table jampacked with an array of eats, including eight types of meats and 10 types of cheeses. Those run $650 and up.

Golembiewski said Board + Brie can whip up a board with 48 hours’ notice. For more information, visit boardbrietucson.com.

Fig + Feta, a second charcuterie board business that popped up during the pandemic, is another option.

Owner Jill O’Leary, a professional chef who trained at Le Cordon Bleu London and had catering businesses in Santa Barbara, California, and Fort Worth, Texas, before moving to Tucson, has charcuterie boxes starting at $23 and boards running up to $140.

Like Board + Brie, she includes locally sourced items, like cheeses, honey and toffee from Tucson Toffee Co., when she can.

For more information, visit figfeta.com.

If charcuterie isn’t your thing, keep it simple.

Serve up a big bowl of tortilla chips with Chilttepica’s chiltepin spices (chilttepica.com), made right here in Tucson, sprinkled on top. Then crack open a nice bottle of mesquite-smoked Dorado whiskey from local distiller Whiskey Del Bac (shop.whiskeydelbac.com), and let the booze-fueled karaoke begin.

Music

If you are looking for traditional holiday melodies to serve as the soundtrack to your soiree — your Burl Ives, Dean Martins and Mariah Careys — look no further than 97.1-FM and 94.9-FM on your radio dial. Both stations will be playing seasonal tunes through December.

If you want your Christmas music with a Tucson twist, you’ll have to dig a little deeper.

An easy find, and an even easier purchase through amazon.com, is Calexico‘s “Seasonal Shift,” which founding members Joey Burns and John Convertino released in December 2020 on Anti- Records.

The band’s first Christmas album, “Seasonal Shift” mixes original tunes with covers of songs, well-known ditties like John Lennon and Yoko Ono's “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” and more obscure tracks, like the Venezuelan tune, “Mi Burrito Sabanero” or “My Little Donkey from the Savannah,” featuring vocals from singer-songwriter Gaby Moreno.

The album brings in an eclectic mix of musicians. Portuguese singer Gisela João, and producer and DJ Camilo Lara also make appearances. The album is available to stream, in CD form and in vinyl form through Amazon.com.

Turn to YouTube for your playlist needs and pull up a 30-minute holiday recording made in 2020 by the Tucson Boys Chorus; an acoustic tune dubbed “Old Pueblo Christmas,” performed by Brian Lopez; and the festive song, “Shovelin’ Sunshine“ by Tucson native Billy Shaw Jr. playing guitar on his couch with a University of Arizona Santa hat on his head.

For a true blast from the past, look up Lalo Guerrero’s track, “Pancho Claus,” a parody of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” from Tucson-born Guerrero, known far and wide as the father of Chicano music.

Guerrero, who was known for his extensive repertoire that included pachuco tunes, activist songs and parodies, sings about Pancho Claus, Santa’s cousin from Mexico, who is picking up the slack during the holiday season.

Gifts

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While gifts aren’t a requirement at every holiday party, it is still a thoughtful gesture to offer small tokens of appreciation to your guests and, if those guests are equally as thoughtful, for you to expect a gift or two in return.

As long as you aren’t playing the White Elephant game, a sadistic holiday tradition that allows partygoers to steal the presents of others (when does that get fun?), you still have plenty of opportunity to partake in artisan markets and fairs across the city that will provide interesting and original gifts beyond the traditional fare found in malls and big-box stores.

One great resource is the Fourth Avenue Street Fair, which will make its triumphant return this Friday, Dec. 10, through Sunday, Dec. 12.

The Fourth Avenue Merchants Association was forced to cancel its last three fairs, starting with its spring fair, which coincided with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

With the fair making up about 90% of the association’s revenue stream, organizers weren’t sure this fair would be happening either.

Casey Anderson, the association’s chief operating officer, said that thanks to private donations, the city helping to mitigate some costs, several major sponsors and the recent approval of a small business loan, things will be moving ahead as scheduled.

“There is such a huge expense that goes into putting together the fair before anything even starts,” Anderson said. “The community has stepped up and come together.”

Anderson said more than 350 vendors, from right here in Tucson and all over the country, will be set up on Fourth Avenue from East University Boulevard south to East Eighth Street.

The fair gives gift shoppers plenty of options. Pick up an abstract oil painting or a cactus magnet, wind chimes, sculptures and shirts.

Masks will not be required, but they will be available to anyone who wants one. Sanitation stations will be set up throughout the event. Visit fourthavenue.org for more information.

Take a break from the dealers in tents and step inside some of the shops that line North Fourth Avenue, offering gifts that scream Old Pueblo.

Pick up a license plate wall hanger that spells out “Tucson” at Pop Cycle, 422 N. Fourth Ave.; some Tucson-centric stickers, coffee mugs and other tchotchkes at Tanline Printing’s storefront, Tiny Town Surplus, 408 N. Fourth Ave; then grab a bite and a beer at one of the local eateries, maybe Ermanos, 220 N. Fourth Ave.; Drunken Chicken, 429 N. Fourth Ave.; or Chef Lindon Reilly’s latest venture, Thunder Bacon Burger Co. in the old B-line restaurant space at 621 N. Fourth Ave.

Decorations

You’ve got the food, the music and the gifts all set. Now, all you need is to make your home as visually pleasing as possible.

If you celebrate Christmas, then a festive tree shedding pine needles all over your living room is a must.

Buckelew Farms (buckelewchristmastrees.com) and Brian and Kelly’s (info: 520-409-0608), both well-established local companies, have Christmas tree tents set up across the Tucson area.

Or you could give the brand new Santa Marana Christmas Tree Ranch a shot.

Located on 11 acres on the north end of Marana, 13645 W. Sagebrush Road, the ranch’s goal is to offer trees that are grown on-site that you can cut down yourself.

Owners Troy and Jodi Yahraes currently have about 500 Eldarica pines growing on the property that should be ready to go in a couple year’s time.

“Eldarica pine loves the Sonoran Desert,” Troy Yahraes said. “They grow from here to San Antonio, Texas. They love the soil and are drought-tolerant.”

In the meantime, the ranch is offering pre-cut firs from the Pacific Northwest. Pick up a 6-foot tall Douglas fir for about $100.

Santa Marana is also offering 300 smaller, living Eldarica pines in pots that you can take home and plant on your property.

Troy Yahraes grew up in Northern California. His family worked a Christmas tree farm each year when he was a kid.

His goal with Santa Marana is to make it as entertaining as possible for families.

Besides the trees, the ranch has a petting zoo, a Christmas store and live music. Santa will be making periodic visits through December.

“There is no pressure to buy a tree,” he said. “You can come out here, kill two hours with your family and walk home with a tree or not. We are trying to build an experience out here.”

For more information, visit facebook.com/Maranaxmastreefarm

After you’re done with the tree, pick up some Tucson-themed ornaments, created by local artists like Audrey De La Cruz, otherwise known as Annotated Audrey, at Why I Love Where I Live in the shops at the MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida del Convento. Info: whyilovewhereilive.com

Another spot for some truly cool Christmas decorations with Southwest/south of the border flair: Arte de la Vida, a shop that specializes all things Mexico, past and present, at 37 N. Tucson Blvd.

Stop in and pick up some handcarved Lady of Guadalupe statues, Nativity scenes, luchador ornaments and tin Christmas trees. More info at artedelavidatucson.com.