Vanessa Hudgens: ‘If I Wasn’t an Actress, I Would Be a Party Planner’

Vanessa Hudgens is, for all intents and purposes, a self-proclaimed holiday junkie. In fact, there is nothing more the actress enjoys than celebrating a festive occasion in a very big way.

“If I wasn’t an actress, I would be a party planner,” she tells Yahoo Celebrity about her knack for throwing themed soirees. “I’m so fricking good at planning events!”

Take, for instance, Halloween, which the starlet deems her absolute favorite holiday. This year Hudgens, 27, went all-out and transformed her home into an authentic Louisiana swamp.

“Me and my sister [Stella] went to New Orleans to learn all about voodoo and we fell in love,” she says. “We had a seven-piece brass band and a woman making fresh beignets.” She adds, “Anything kitschy and cheesy, I’m into! For me, it’s about creating really memorable environments. I just love making people walk into a space and have their jaw be on the floor.”

Thanksgiving for the Hudgens clan, however, has traditionally been more understated.

“It was always just me, my mom, my dad, and my sister,” she explains.

But in light of the recent loss of her father, Greg, the Grease Live! star says that the family is going to merge their holiday with her grandma’s side of the family and do it up in a big way. Though she admits this time of the year will be extra challenging, Hudgens is getting through it by sticking close to her family and honoring her dad’s spirit.

“Just knowing that he’ll always be in our hearts is all we can do,” she says. “And just trying to celebrate him over choosing to suffer.”

Hudgens, who has been working with the Just Dance franchise to help them perfect the look of the characters for the upcoming Just Dance 2017, says she will lighten the mood around the holidays by challenging her family to video game dance-offs.

“It’s a great way to get everybody moving and is such a fun thing to do with your family!” she exclaims. “We’ll do it before we eat as a fun activity, give it a few hours after the meal, and then start working it off so you don’t feel guilty about eating your Thanksgiving dinner.”

While she loves a good meal, the star says she isn’t exactly the best cook and is happy to leave the meal preparation to the experts in her family. She does, however, have one signature dish, which just happens to coincide with Turkey Day.

“My go-to is definitely not my claim to fame, but it’s sweet potatoes with marshmallows and brown sugar on top baked in the oven,” she reveals. “It’s so good. It’s like heaven.”

Hudgens’s love of the holiday season makes her a perfect candidate for a December birthday. She will turn 28 on Dec. 14.

“I love Christmastime in general, so the fact I get to celebrate being born when the Christmas tree is up is really romantic to me,” she smiles, noting that she has vowed to keep her next few birthday soirees low-key until she hits the big 3-0.

“This year, waking up at 27, it was definitely the first time that I was like, ‘Oh. I’m getting old and not a girl anymore. I’m definitely an adult!” she laughs.

But the actress is slowly warming up to the idea of entering her Dirty Thirties.

“I think that as the year has gone on, I’ve realized that the older you get, the more you know who you are and that’s a really empowering, beautiful thing,” she says. “So I’ve embraced my aging and I’m looking forward to getting to know myself better.”