Across much of America, sunshine, blue skies and balmy temperatures are not the expected weather forecast for the winter holidays of Christmas and Hanukkah. In Sarasota, however, these conditions are the mainstay of our December weather. Thus, while the rest of the country is busy dreaming of a white Christmas—if not actually digging out from one—here we’re still happily applying sunscreen, playing golf and lounging by the pool.

My wife and I love the Florida winters. After all, they’re the main reason we migrated here from Upstate New York some 20 years ago. Still, each year when the holidays roll around, you will likely hear us grumble that spending them in Sarasota feels weird and vaguely disorienting. Indeed, there’s absolutely no trace of the gray leaden skies and snowy landscapes we long ago learned to associate with Christmas. Moreover, our everyday attire during the holidays now consists mainly of t-shirts, shorts and flip-flops. Very strange.

Last year, however, we finally resolved to make the best of our warm December days by hosting our first annual holiday pool party.
When my wife first pitched the thought of throwing a Yule pool party, I was immediately captivated by the idea of both entertaining our friends and family while simultaneously showing off the new caged pool and lanai we had installed earlier that spring. Complete novices at hosting such pool parties, we began our planning by simply asking ourselves: How would Martha do it?

Martha Stewart, we reasoned, could surely coach us on how to throw a memorable holiday pool party.
We were only half right. Nowhere does Martha offer specific tips for hosting a holiday pool party, no doubt because she lives in Connecticut, where pools have long since been covered up and put to bed by the time the holidays roll around. But she does offer wisdom on how to host a mid-summer pool party. So, we did our best to adapt her summertime ideas to our holiday needs.

Here’s the basic blueprint of how it came together for us, as well as few thoughts on how to organize your own poolside gathering.

Party Decor
Right off the bat, it being the holidays, we reckoned Martha would encourage us to decorate to the max.

No problem there. Like all good Floridians, we have our garage (and at least one guest bedroom) piled high with holiday lights and tinsel just begging to be strung up. Why so much?

Because each holiday season, what Sarasota lacks in snow, its residents more than make up for by stringing zillions of miniature lights and miles of reflective tinsel over everything in sight. Indeed, if your home can’t be seen from the International Space Station, it doesn’t have enough lights and tinsel.

Planned for an early evening in mid-December, we figured the guests would arrive not expecting to swim so much as enjoy a festive poolside gathering. This freed us to float additional decorations on the pool surface.

Right away I began surfing the net in search of inflatable pool décor. Being a home lighting enthusiast, I was especially keen on finding decorative pool lights that could be set adrift on the pool surface. Be advised that Amazon is a good place to start such a search.

Party Invitations
Martha, we guessed, would be a stickler for issuing party invitations well in advance of the scheduled date.

These days with everyone constantly glued to their phones, digital invitations are the most practical way to invite your guests and have them respond quickly. Moreover, since you are not likely to find holiday pool party invitations unless you create them yourself, going digital allows you to do just that.

There are many online sources that enable you to create paperless party invitations and monitor their response. These include Punchbowl, Evite, Paperless Post, Green Envelope and Minted, but there are many more.

Food and Beverage Choices

For adult beverages, we made sure to take the high road (pun intended) and entertain responsibly. We liked Martha’s idea of serving rum-based cocktails at her summertime pool parties, so decided to make a tropical rum punch that could also be concocted minus the alcohol for the designated drivers and non-drinkers on our guest list. Even in the alcohol version, we went very easy on the rum, heard no complaints and snagged a lot of compliments. Of course, we also provided plenty of food to keep everyone’s belly full and brain un-fogged.

Foodwise, our first thought was to grill poolside. But we nixed that idea once we realized that one of us would be hopelessly chained to the grill for most of the party. At the end of the day, we opted to have the food catered-in by a local gourmet food market, thus sparing us the time, stress and inconvenience of doing it ourselves. (Best of all party decisions we made!)

Some of the hot and cold choices included an artisan cheese platter, cilantro lime shrimp, bacon-wrapped scallops, Korean meatballs with Thai chili sauce, and a vegetable Jambalaya. For extra measure we threw in both a vegetarian and a meat-lovers pizza. For dessert, we included an assortment of Christmas cookies and a tray of mini pastries, all of which I couldn’t wait to be alone with once the guests were gone.

Party Favors
Make yours an even more memorable event by presenting each guest with a souvenir gift bag on their way out the door. Our lovely parting gift included a bar of gourmet chocolate, an inflatable drink coaster and a ticket for the next Powerball Lottery (under the proviso, of course, that any winnings must be shared with the original ticket purchaser!)

Guest safety
Naturally, there are risks associated with any swimming pool, the most serious being accidental drowning. Needless-to-say, you have enough to do as host without doubling as a lifeguard. Be sure to advise anyone who plans to bring a child (or children) that they must be supervised at all times—whether near the pool or not.

Other pool safety tips include

• Keep an even closer eye on the pool once the party begins to wind down.
• If the party moves indoors, secure all the doors and gates leading back out to the pool.
• Keep glass or ceramic items away from the pool area. Use plastic cups and plates instead.
• Wet pool decks also pose a safety hazard. In view of this, your invitation might want to encourage partygoers to wear tennis or deck shoes. (Or even flip-flops!)

Meanwhile if your pool is heated—or you hold your holiday pool party on a day warm enough that your guests actually feel like swimming—it is incumbent on you as the perfect host to furnish sunscreen, towels and a place to change. If your pool is open air rather than caged, it is also prudent to keep insect repellent at the ready.It is also prudent to keep ready the contact information for a reliable taxi, car service or Uber driver, just in case someone resists all you best efforts to keep them sober.Meanwhile if your pool is heated—or you hold your holiday pool party on a day warm enough that your guests actually feel like swimming—it is incumbent on you as the perfect host to furnish sunscreen, towels and a place to change. If your pool is open air rather than caged, it is also prudent to keep insect repellent at the ready.

It is also prudent to keep ready the contact information for a reliable taxi, car service or Uber driver, just in case someone resists all you best efforts to keep them sober.