One fun way to spend your weekend is to entertain guests by throwing a dinner party at your house. There doesn’t even need to be a reason why or a special occasion to do so. It’ll be a good excuse to get everyone together and unwind after a long week of work. What you can’t do is stress out and fail to plan ahead; clean your house at first.
Educate yourself on all you need to know about hosting a successful get together where your visitors leave satisfied with the experience. If you try your best and follow the recommended best practices, then you’ll have nothing to worry about as your party date quickly approaches.
Save the Date
You want to make sure people are actually going to show up at your party. The only way to do this is to make a guest list early and send out save the dates. It can be as fancy as an invitation in the mail or as casual as an email, as long as you include the most important details. Ask for guests to reply back to you in plenty of time for you to get organized and know how many people you have to plan for. Sending out an announcement is a critical step in the party planning process because it makes the get together official and allows you to start working on your timeline.
Create A Plan
Even if you’re not a planner, you need to have an approach to how you’re going to pull this party off, along with house cleaning tips. It’s not advised you leave it up to chance or wing it and hope for the best. Create lists, come up with dates for when you need each task completed by and start delegating to your family members about what they can help out with. Use a plan to help you stay on track and make sure you’re getting done what’s most important first. Be specific in your plan and make notes about how you’re going to tackle each individual project.
Food & Beverages
Where you can’t be lazy or cheap is with your food and beverages. Make it clear on your invitation whether you’ll be providing a meal. Decide what you want to supply for the main dish and figure out the rest from there. Regarding drinks, one unique idea is to serve alcohol from a barrel. This is the sort of personal touch that goes a long way in making you look good and ensuring the party is fun. In addition to a main course and drinks, remember to dish up dessert and serve coffee to wrap up the evening.
A Clean Home
Unfortunately, when people come to your house, they observe and judge whether you like it or not. Make sure guests are pleased with what they see and aren’t turned off by a big mess and dirt. Either you should decide to hire a service to help you clean your home ahead of the party or set aside plenty of time to tidy up days in advance of your guests arriving. Your goal is to have your home spotless, especially in the areas where you’ll be entertaining. Think of this as your chance to perform a deep clean you’ve always wanted to do but never got around to completing. While cleaning isn’t always a fun project, it’s necessary if you’re going to have people over and spending time in your home.
Music & Conversation
Come up with a playlist for the occasion in advance and have it on as guests arrive. Consider what type of vibe and theme your party has and have the music set the tone for your vision. What you don’t want is it to be awkward and silent when your guests arrive because not everyone may know each other. The background noise will help alleviate any tension your company is feeling as they work their way around the room. Also, be good about welcoming guests and going around and starting conversations where people could use help thinking of what to say next.
Be A Good Host
Part of your responsibility as organizer of the party is to be a good host. This includes greeting guests as they enter, mingling and keeping the energy up and thanking everyone for coming. What you don’t want to do is disappear for an extended period of time and leave your guests wondering where you are. You also don’t want to start complaining about the mess and cleaning up before your visitors leave your home. Make sure everyone’s happy and has a drink in their hand and is aware of when it’s time to eat. Read up on etiquette and what it means to be a good host ahead of time, so you’re prepared and know what to expect at your party.
Relax & Have fun
Most importantly, you want to be able to relax and have fun even though it’s your own gathering. If you work hard ahead of time, you won’t have anything left to do but sit back and enjoy yourself on the day of your party. Have fun talking to your guests and eating the delicious food you’re serving. Choose to be a part of the group, as opposed to being absent in order to take care of any last details. The entire reason you want to plan ahead is so you can also take pleasure in your event and not have to work too hard the night of.
Conclusion
Your party will be a hit if you follow these steps and take the planning process seriously. Don’t assume you can approach this project nonchalantly and presume it’ll all play out fine without any preparations. Get excited about the joys that come from hosting a party at your home and remember to have fun, but not overdo it on the day of your get together. Be proud of yourself when it’s all over and look forward to organizing your next gathering.