It’s that time of year again. The holidays are just around the corner, which means that back to back family parties are coming up. I absolutely adore my family, but I’m sure as most of you know, family parties tend to be slightly overwhelming at times.

Here are some of the key things that you need in order to survive your family parties this year. I think I’ll call this “Danielle’s Declassified Family Party Survival Guide.”

First and foremost, do not, I repeat, do not show weakness. As far as your Great Aunt Tessie knows everything is fine and dandy, so even if it’s not, try to pretend like it is. (Unless you feel like having a 45-minute conversation about why you’re still single.) The holidays are all fun and games until Great Aunt Tessie starts questioning you about your love life and your morals.

Secondly, rehearse what you are going to say about school.

(Side note: if any non-college students are reading this please be mindful and considerate of your college student family members because odds are they are probably really stressed out about school right now and don’t want to spend three hours talking about their major.)

But let’s be real here, the subject of school is bound to come up sooner or later and you will need to have some kind of legitimate answer to ensure your family members that you’re not completely wasting your life away. My go to response in this situation is usually “School is great! I love my classes even though they get to be stressful at times. But overall everything is good!” I usually top that off with a nice smile and hope that I don’t get asked any more questions. If I do, I suck it up and answer them (and pray to God that the conversation doesn’t go on for too long.) Make up your own go to response to the inevitable questions about school.

Another thing that I strongly suggest is wine. Or beer. Or whatever alcohol you prefer. Nothing says “Happy Holidays” like telling your mom that you’re still on your first glass when you’re really on your third. (Hey, give me a break. Being in college is stressful and wine is good.)

Two words: Kids Table.

I don’t care how old I get, until I have my own kids I will be sitting at the kids table. Of course now in my family the “kids table” doesn’t consist of anyone under the age of 17, but who cares? Us kids have to stick together. No adults allowed.

Come prepared to family parties. Bring food, gifts, and plenty of embarrassing stories about your other family members. Food is equivalent to happiness so why not add your favorite dish to the table?

Gifts are great to receive, but they’re even better to give. Nothing makes me happier than to watch someone’s face light up when they open a gift and see that it’s something that they’ve been wanting for a while. Family is everything, show them how much you appreciate everything that they do. A cute little gift is the perfect way to do that. Even if they don't like it, it's the thought that counts right?

My favorite part of my family parties is definitely when we all sit down for dessert and start telling stories. We laugh about the old funny stories that we’ve heard a million times and we share new ones. Bring a story to your family party and share it over coffee and cookies.

The holidays are a time for giving thanks and for celebrating the people around us. The best way to survive a family party is to embrace it all. Embrace the loudness, embrace the endless questions about school and your love life, embrace the enormous amounts of pictures that are taken and embrace the people that are around you. When you look back on your life, these crazy family parties are going to be some of your most precious memories.