CWCE 6.0

Another year of Christmas With Cousin Eddie is under our belts!

CWCE 6.0 was this past weekend and it was fab. Price and I have been saying it’s been our favorite year yet! So many wonderful guests, a few more party details added to the ever-growing repertoire, and lots and lots of laughs!

(( If you aren’t familiar with our National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation themed party, check out these past posts to give you and idea of what this shindig is all about! We HEART this movie! 2019 // 2016 // 2015 // skipped 2014 due to a newborn // 2013 // 2012 // ))

I’ll go ahead and dive into the new things we added this year plus a few things we changed up from previous years! One new thing is, FOOD & DRINK PRINTABLE LABELS ARE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE after like a thousand requests!

First off, we had to have a new invitation! So here she is!

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

I bought these little marquis light boxes for Wilson’s birthday party (which I cannot wait to share more about once I have the photos back from the photographer!!!) and they came in handy on this party too! They’re so cute and fun! Naturally, we picked a couple of quotes (that would actually fit on the boards and that we had the letters for) and lit ’em up!

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

My brother and my husband did give me a hard time about the absence of apostrophes and commas on these boards, but in my defense, I did not realize I even had those as options until post party when I was cleaning up. There’s always next year!

We also added a few new quotes to the quote bubble collection. (Fun fact: Our original 14 quote bubbles are for sale on etsy as very inexpensive printables! I’m sure I’ll add more for next Christmas so be on the lookout!)

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

This next detail was a little out there I guess, but I still think it’s funny… I labeled the pitcher of water as “melted icicle” (like the one that shot through the window and got Todd and Margo’s carpet all wet!) One guy at the party was like, “Hey Laurel, where can I find some water?” and I was like, “Right there” and pointed to the pitcher with the label. He had a confused look on his face for like 4 solid seconds and then realized that a melted icicle IS water! I also froze a longish triangle of water to serve as the icicle! As you may guess, this detail melted within the first hour or so, but was still fun while it lasted!

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

My costume was the same as last year, only I got the official dinosaur pajamas this year! I’m six feet tall and got a size medium and they fit perfectly, except for the fact that they could’ve stood to be maybe 2 inches longer in the legs. Hopefully that’s helpful for anyone thinking of buying some for yourself! You can get the official ones here. Also, these PJs are SO comfortable! I’ve seriously been sleeping in them. They’re the softest ever! (Also, shout out to Price’s friend Ryan for gifting us the Chevy Chase cardboard cutout!)

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

// pink satin gloves // turquoise turban // pretty good looking + affordable faux fur

Price brought his Eddie gear back out and transformed into Randy Quiad right before my eyes! He bought his costume as a set several years ago but I can’t find where the set is sold anymore! So here are all the necessary components :: black dickie // white sweater // green pants // white shoes // hair gel //

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

This next detail is one I was kind of excited about! I made a tree to resemble the burned up one that happened because of Uncle Lewis and his stogie! “It was an ugly tree anyway!”

I made this with a couple of small pieces of plywood, a wooden dowel, some pipe cleaners, and some sticks I found in my yard. I then added a little garland, some tiny tree cuttings, and some ornaments that I put a match or two to to give them the burned up effect! The garland actually didn’t respond too well to matches, so I just got a bowl full of ashes from our fire pit outside and tossed them in it to make them look a tad charred!

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Sweet Ringo was sport enough to let me put a Snots collar on him so he could act as a live prop throughout the evening! The collar kept falling off, but it was cute while it lasted! 🙂

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

So back to the old tried and true elements…

The sea of moose mugs is always a jolly touch. Who doesn’t love a moose mug?! The store where we got our plastic ones is sadly closed now, and I’m finding it almost impossible to find any plastic ones to recommend to you! The glass ones can be found pretty much anywhere (like here and here) but, to my super-fan self, they are a bit too small and they are not authentic. Eddie and Clark drink out of plastic ones. Not glass ones! I do, however, still like the glass ones! 🙂

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Back to our cardboard Chevy Chase cutout that I mentioned earlier– We put him over by the sectional this year and it was great! I think he ended up in a lot of pictures!

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

The Old Fashioned bar is one of my favorite touches that we added last year. It serves a dual purpose because it just fits SO perfectly with two of my favorite quotes!

We use Wild Turkey in honor of Eddie’s daughter. “Yeah, I got the daughter in the clinic, getting cured off the Wild Turkey.”

And the whole idea of Old Fashioned comes from Clark! “Nobody’s walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We’re all in this together.”

I did screw up and forget to buy more bitters before the party so we just used Bittermilk instead, since we had it on hand! 🙂 It worked in a pinch!

I do now have a bundle of food and drink signage for sale on my etsy shop if you want to check that out! This old-fashioned family christmas sign is included!

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

This autographed photo of Nicolette Scorsese, who plays Mary in the movie, was a gift from one of our favorite couples at CWCE 2.0 and it’s been a prime detail ever since! You can get one for yourself (or your Christmas Vacation loving friend) here!

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Our “little full, lotta sap” sign has miraculously lasted us for seven years. The same one! So it was on display this year alongside a new squirrel, since our old one (which was a real dead stuffed squirrel) literally fell apart on us last year… It was so gross. From here on out, I’m happy to have a slightly less authentic, MUCH less disgusting squirrel as part of our party 🙂

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

The fried cat has been in action for probably four or five years now and is still going strong! This was a little DIY I did with black felt and some inexpensive white fuzzy fabric I bought at JoAnn. This year, we put the cat by a string of lights on the floor, since pawing at a string of lights, knocking them down, then chewing on them was the demise of this blessed cat! ha!

“If that thing had nine lives, he just spent ’em all!”

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

One of my favorite moments in the entire movie is during the “eggnog scene,” as I like to call it, where Eddie touches one of the top of the spinning dutch-candle-carousel-thingy (not entirely sure what to call it?) and the whole thing just falls apart. (Fast forward to 1:19 in this video to see!) Price and I both laugh out loud EVERY time! So last year we added this one to the lineup. I LOVE IT!

This one is slightly closer in likeness to the one in the movie because of its shape, if you want to keep this little detail a little truer to the movie!

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

The food this year was very similar to years past, and it’s always a hit! 🙂 Somehow I managed to let the entire night pass without getting a single picture of the Jelly of the Month Club tray or Aunt Bethany’s jell-o! You can see those in this post, though! And don’t forget, you can purchase printables of all the food/drink labels here!

We had Snots’s Ol’ Roy dog food…

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

… Trailer Trash…

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

… Garbage Can Cookies (which were formerly called “everything but the kitchen sink” cookies, but I started thinking… Garbage Can Cookies is way more appropriate, since Ellen and Clark had to clean up that big mess of garbage that Snots made!)

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

… The white MnMs serving as Tylenol for Clark…

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

… The “real nice surprise” of salsa with — surprise! — pineapple in it… Pretty sure you can get this at most major grocery stores!

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

… and lastly, Mele Kaliki-Vodka made a second appearance. It’s just so easy and so good! Get the recipe here!

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Aaaand I think that about does it for the details! To end, here are a few snaps of some of our friends! 🙂 Lots more on Facebook! 🙂

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Christmas With Cousin Eddie 6.0 // www.thehiveblog.com

Ok that’s all we got! Thank you bunches for stopping by today. Y’all are awesome!!

“Hip, hip, hooray for Christmas Vacation!”

>> See recap of CHRISTMAS WITH COUSIN EDDIE 2019 here <<
>> See recap of CHRISTMAS WITH COUSIN EDDIE 2017 here <<
>> See recap of CHRISTMAS WITH COUSIN EDDIE 2016 here <<
>> See recap of CHRISTMAS WITH COUSIN EDDIE 2015 here <<
>> See recap of CHRISTMAS WITH COUSIN EDDIE 2013 here <<
>> See recap of CHRISTMAS WITH COUSIN EDDIE 2012 here <<

22 Comments

  1. Nikki December 12, 2017 / 12:50 pm

    You know what is so funny? Last year I designed a Vacation Christmas party invitation and they apparently do it every year as well. Such a fun idea. I love all of your decorations, but I am really glad you went with the stuffed not real squirrel!!

    Nikki
    thefashionablewife.com

    • thelovelybee December 15, 2017 / 7:19 am

      That is super fun! I bet the invitation was killer!!! And YES! I, too, am so glad to have a fake squirrel now 😉 XO!

  2. Laurie February 17, 2018 / 10:41 pm

    Such fun ideas! Can’t wait to host one. Thank you for sharing!

    • thelovelybee February 20, 2018 / 10:53 am

      Thank you for checking out my blog, Laurie!! I hope you have as much fun with yours as we do with ours! 🙂

  3. Faith November 15, 2018 / 6:33 pm

    Hey Laural could you tell me where you got your invites for the 2017 CWCE party?

    • Laurel at THE HIVE November 16, 2018 / 9:55 pm

      Hey Faith! I actually made them! I would offer to make some for you, but I just had a baby and I’m giving myself the holiday season off from design work this year! I made the invite in Photoshop if you have a friend who is handy with that platform? 🙂

  4. Ashley November 24, 2018 / 9:11 pm

    Do you (and if you don’t, will you) sell the printables for the food in this post? We have a Griswold party (3rd Annual) and I would love to use those amazing signs for the food, etc for our party next weekend! 🤗

  5. Becky December 2, 2018 / 12:35 am

    Where did your friend get the white Helen keyhole blouse? I’ve looked everywhere!

  6. Katie December 3, 2019 / 11:24 pm

    Do you know where the woman dressed as Ellen found that blouse? It’s the closest one I’ve seen but can’t seem to find anything else similar for sale.

  7. Kelly November 26, 2021 / 7:03 pm

    Laurel, can you tell me where you found the pajamas?
    Thank You!!

  8. Erin November 26, 2022 / 10:29 pm

    Hi-I can’t get to your Etsy site, can you link again please?

    • Laurel at THE HIVE December 5, 2022 / 3:54 pm

      I am SO upset with Etsy! They disabled ALL of my listings without reason! I’m working on trying to get them back up. In the meantime, if you want to email me what you want, I can send you the files and you can Venmo or PP me! 🙂 laurel@thehiveblog.com

  9. Jennifer December 6, 2022 / 9:25 pm

    Im doing my first Christmas vacation party this year and would love to purchase the printable!! I can’t find your Etsy account, is there anyway to still purchase? Thanks!!!

    • Laurel at THE HIVE December 8, 2022 / 12:33 pm

      Etsy shut me down for NO reason!!! I’m so upset with them!! Please email me – laurel@thehiveblog.com – and let me know what you want and I’ll tell you how much to Venmo me!! So sorry for the inconvenience!

    • Laurel at THE HIVE December 8, 2022 / 12:34 pm

      Please email me – laurel@thehiveblog.com – and let me know what you want and I’ll tell you how much to Venmo me!! So sorry for the inconvenience! Etsy decided to deactivate every single one of my listings without any reason or warning. SO upsetting!!!

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