PARTY HOSTING TIPS YOU MAY NOT HAVE THOUGHT OF...

Everybody knows that when you host a party you need the basics: food, drink, and fun people. But have you thought of these things?

1. Candle in the Bathroom -- A scented candle in a safe place, like the far edge of the tub near the tile wall, will keep it smelling nice no matter how long a guest may be in there.

2. T.P. in Plain View -- If the roll on the wall runs out, you don't want guests reaching for your towels! Have a roll in plain sight where it can't be missed.

3. Remove the Valuables -- Unless you want red wine -- or worse -- staining your rare Persian carpet, roll it up and store it. Same thing for any breakables or fine art that could be damaged.

4. Ice in the Washing Machine -- Yes, washing machine. Put a few bags of ice in the washer and then fill the tub of it with beer and soda. You'll save room and it'll spare you the hassle of emptying a cooler when the party is over.

5. Lighting -- Get creative with your lighting to add atmosphere. Try replacing some bulbs with colored lamps or low wattage bulbs. Depending on what effect your going for, strobe lights and black lamps can add to the fun.

6. Spot Remover -- Get it and have it handy. Accidents happen at any party, so be ready. When -- not if, but when -- the inevitable spill occurs, you can fix it before it sets and stains, and your guest will be relieved he didn't ruin your sofa.

7. Locked Doors & Drawers -- Any place you don't want a guest, lock it. Secure all valuables, drugs (of course you'd only have prescription drugs, right?), computer, phones that could be used to call their cousins in Brazil, and any potentially embarrassing items and lock 'em up tight. They have no business getting into your business.

8. Pets -- If you have pets, create a quiet space where they can feel safe in a room that's not accessible to your guests.

10 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT A CHRISTMAS STORY

Yes, you've probably seen the classic 1984 holiday movie A Christmas Story 50 times thanks to its constant running on 24-hour Christmas Eve marathons on TBS. But if you think you know everything about it, you're wrong.

Here are 10 things you probably didn't know:

1. Jack Nicholson was very interested in playing Ralphie's dad. But casting (and paying) Jack would have meant doubling the budget, so he was removed from consideration. Director Bob Clark -- who didn't know Nicholson was interested at the time -- says Darrin McGavin was the perfect choice. After all, Jack would have been too much of a scene-stealer.

2. What does Porky's, the raunchy '80s teen sex movie, have to do with a wholesome film like A Christmas Story? Bob Clark directed both -- Porky's in 1982 and A Christmas Story in 1983. If Porky's hadn't given him the professional and financial success he needed, he wouldn't have been able to bring A Christmas Story to the big screen.

3. For those keeping count, Ralphie says he wants the Red Ryder BB Gun 28 times throughout the course of the movie. That's approximately once every three minutes and 20 seconds.

4. Peter Billingsley, who played Ralphie, has been good friends with Vince Vaughn since they both appeared in the CBS Schoolbreak Special (their version of the after-school special) in the early '90s. Peter doesn't do much acting these days, but he did make a surprise appearance on the "Vince Vaughn Wild West Comedy Show" in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2005. Peter's doing quite well for himself, though. He was the executive producer of Iron Man and had a brief bit as William Ginter Riva. Peter also executive produced Vince's latest movie, Four Christmases (which he also had a cameo in), as well as 2006's The Break-Up.

5. Mythbusters tested whether it was possible to get your tongue truly stuck on a piece of cold metal. Guess what? It is. So don't triple dog dare your best friend to try it.

6. Scott Schwartz, who played Flick (the kid who stuck his tongue to the frozen flagpole), was submerged in the adult film industry for a number of years. He got out in 2000 to try to become a mainstream actor again, but he really hasn't done much of note: Community College ("A love story between four dudes and their ability to get free drinks") and Skinwalker, which starred ex-MTV veejay Jesse Camp, if that tells you anything. Joey Buttafuoco is in it, too, and gets billing over our poor Flick. Sad.

7. Next time you're in Cleveland, you can visit the original house from the movie for only $7.50. It was sold on eBay in 2004 for $150,000. Collector Brian Jones bought the house and restored it to its movie glory and stocked it up with some of the original props from the film, including Randy's snowsuit.

8. Director Bob Clark got the idea for the movie when he was driving in the car with a date. He heard Jean Shepherd on the radio doing a reading of his short story collection, "In God We Trust ... All Others Pay Cash," which included some bits that eventually ended up in A Christmas Story. Clark said he drove around the block for an hour until the program ended, which his date was not too happy about.

9. The TV show The Wonder Years was inspired by A Christmas Story. In fact, in one of the last few episodes, Peter Billingsley appeared as one of Kevin Arnold's roommates.

10. The real Red Ryder BB Gun was first made in 1938 and was named after a comic strip cowboy. You can still buy it today for the low, low price of $44.99. But the original wasn't quite the same as the one in the movie -- it lacked the compass and sundial that both the Jean Shepard story and the movie call for. Special versions had to be made just for A Christmas Story.

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Don't shoot your eye out, kid!

For more on this story, click here.

STAYING TOGETHER FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Would you stay in a dead-end relationship just so you wouldn't have to spend the holidays alone?

Match.com surveyed more than a thousand single adults living in the U.S. and found that 51% of singles stayed in a bad relationship to avoid hurting the person they were dating during the holidays. Some 13% stayed because they didn't want to face the holidays alone, and 3% stayed because they wanted to receive gifts from the person they were dating.

Only 33% said they ended the relationship before the holiday season started.

And get this -- women were less likely to stay in the relationship during the holiday season and more likely to end the relationship than men. So much for women being extra sentimental about relationships... if she finds someone better, she's outta there!

Thirty-one percent of singles admitted they feel pressure about being single during the holidays, but singles were most likely to say they put themselves under the most pressure. The singles surveyed said that the women in their lives, including mothers, best friends, grandmothers, aunts and sisters, were more likely than men in their lives to pressure them about their solo status.