Hosting a party can be a lot of fun, but it’s much less fun when your party feels dead. Especially when you’ve put in plenty of effort, the last thing you want is for your party to flop. And, sometimes, that can happen no matter what you do – because we aren’t immune to circumstances outside of our control. But there are things you can do to give your party a much better chance at being pretty awesome. And that’s what we’re going to cover here. There are some key components that make a good party, some of which are foundational and others which are extra fun. Let’s dig in and learn how you can go forward with confidence to host a good party!
What Makes a Good Party: The Essentials
1. Decent People
Not everyone is a stereotypical ‘party animal.’ And of course, not all parties are suited for that particular party archetype, either! You can have a wide variety of parties with different energy levels, plus so many other variables. When it comes to guests, the important thing is simply to invite people who have good basic social skills and know how to appropriately converse and interact with one another. You can learn more about what that means specifically and how to recognize those traits in the Choosing Your Party Guests post, but basically you want to invite respectful people who are open to conversation and fun-loving.
Pass over unsavory sorts
It should go without saying but don’t invite anyone who makes your skin crawl or who you have to second guess whether inviting them is a good idea. It’s probably not a good idea if you even have to mull that over. There are times, places, and seasons for certain people in everyone’s life. If you have any sort of relationship with someone whose behaviour can be challenging, a party isn’t the best time or place to include them. If appropriate, another avenue may better serve you both. Hosting a party is your space and your event; guard it well.
Prioritize your best pals
The most important thing when inviting guests is, naturally, to invite those you genuinely enjoy being around. It’s a simple as that. Second to that, prioritize those who you know would most enjoy a party. Some people prefer smaller gatherings and would be happy to sit out a huge bash. You can still invite them, but if you have a limited number of people you can invite, first prioritize those who would most enjoy the event. It also helps to consider everyone’s personalities and preferences and who you think would most enjoy one another. Don’t overthink this – sometimes very different people meet and spark a delightful bond you’d never imagined! But if you have different friends with sure commonalities, capitalize on that!
2. Plenty of Good Food and Beverage Options
Coming from someone with starvation anxiety who also projects it onto others, I declare you can never have too many refreshments – only too few! When hosting a party, always have good food and drink so nobody is hungry or thirsty. You can find more helpful tips in the post on how to be a good host, but the main idea is to make sure people have enough to eat and drink. And that doesn’t mean a Sunday-school snack like pretzels and water. That means tasty and satisfying refreshments that people would enjoy eating.
Plan your party with mealtimes in mind
If you plan your party during a time of day when people typically eat a meal, then you should expect hungry guests and plan accordingly. Maybe you’ve planned a potluck or a meal-centric party already. But if not, and if you haven’t requested that guests bring a dish to share, then you’ll need to provide a meal. This doesn’t necessarily mean a multi-course sit-down meal at a table, but it does mean substantial food that’s more filling than just snacks. If people don’t have enough to satiate their hunger during a mealtime, you can expect more to either leave early or arrive late in order to go get their own food before or after they go to your place.
If you plan your party during odd hours when it’s expected that people have already eaten (such as after supper or in the middle of the afternoon), then people shouldn’t expect a meal. It’s still polite (and generally expected) to provide some party snacks, though, so people have something to graze if hungry. You don’t need to worry about how substantial or filling these snacks are, but you do want to make sure you have enough so that you don’t run out (and, of course, you want them to be tasty).
Offer a good variety
Include a variety of food and drinks to not only accommodate various dietary needs and restrictions, but also to keep it interesting and balanced. Think of opposites like wet and dry or soft and crunchy. Good combos like pita chips and hummus or tortilla chips and salsa are always hits. Consider raw veggies and dip, fruit and nuts, or pimiento cheese and crackers. Depending on your budget and how much effort you can put into food prep, canapés like mini baguette slices with lox, chive cream cheese and dill sprigs provide both flavour and a good protein/carb combo. Think about what snacks you would enjoy at a party, but also what most other people (and, particularly, your own guests) would most enjoy.
If you and your guests plan to enjoy alcoholic beverages, make sure you clarify in the initial invite whether or not your party is BYOB. Or maybe you provide a basic low-cost beer for everyone but invite them to BYOB any other beverage of their choice. Whether there will be alcohol or not, always provide at least a few tasty and healthy hydrating (i.e. non-alcoholic) beverages as well. If your tap water isn’t great or tastes funny, make sure guests have access to either filtered water or water bottles. Sparkling waters or sparkling juices are healthy alternatives to soda. Hot bevvies like tea, tisane and coffee (including decaf) are classic options. Juices, lemonade, and iced tea/sweet tea are great for warm-weather parties.
3. Environment Where People Feel Physically Comfortable
There’s nothing worse than going to an event where you feel cold, hungry, or physically uncomfortable. Things like stifling heat, relentless chill, the glare of harsh fluorescent lights, or sun in the eyes can all add to the discomfort of guests when unaccounted for. So analyzing your space and creating an environment where people feel welcome is a basic component of hosting a party.
Comfortable seating
Not everyone has the most plush seating arrangements, but do your best to provide as many comfortable seating options as possible when hosting a party. Friends who are more limber may not mind standing or sitting on a rug, but plan to accommodate for friends with differing abilities or those who aren’t as limber and may need more support.
If your seating options or scattered, you may want to do a quick rearrange of your furniture to group chairs or cushions together so that people can easily sit and chat in groups. If you’re having a dance party, though, you need not worry about this! Plan your accommodations according to the type of party you host. Regardless, a comfortable environment is always an inviting element for guests.
Heating and cooling
Consider the air flow and temperature of your space as well. When indoors, keep the thermostat at a comfortable temperature. If you’re in a space without central air, make sure there are fans and/or space heaters as needed. When outside (such as a patio party), provide some sort of shade in sunnier climates. Outdoor fires are a great heat source in cooler climates, and provide an excellent ambiance and focal point.
So long as the weather isn’t severely hot or cold (or smog-ridden), opening the windows is always ideal when hosting a party indoors with a home full of people! This is not only healthy for indoor air quality, but it can provide a fresh breeze which everyone will welcome.
4. Promote a Relaxed and Optimistic Atmosphere
This factor isn’t something tangible that you can absolutely control for, but it has a huge impact on how people experience a party. What you want is an atmosphere that’s open and relaxed enough to welcome spontaneity, discovery, and fun. A non-judgmental vibe allows more spontaneous and diverse discussions as well as fun (and stress-relieving!) playfulness. Though this is a more subtle component of a hosting a party, atmosphere has a powerful effect on how a party plays out and there are a couple of ways you can foster such an environment.
Cultivate a joyful and carefree attitude
The more relaxed and good-natured you feel while hosting, the easier it is for others to relax enough to enjoy themselves as well. Some people will already feel fantastic, which is great for everyone! Others are more susceptible to the mood of a space and others around them and so will find it easier to feed off of a host’s happy attitude. You can learn more ways to cultivate this in the post on how to be a good host, but the main idea is to keep a flexible mindset and simply enjoy yourself.
You first set the stage (i.e. good party planning and preparation) for everyone to have a great time, and then you invite others to join you in enjoying the party. It’s that simple! But not if you have a habit of overplanning and micro-organizing and fretting over details. That shows that you care tremendously and are an excellent worker – all good traits – but it does not serve you or anyone else if it keeps you wound up and anxious over how a party is going or what could go wrong. It’s important to firstly fill your own cup and relax. That makes it much easier to have fun at your own party!
Keep things interesting
You don’t have to rent out Cirque du Soleil or have a wall-climbing contest to keep adults entertained (though those would certainly shake things up). All you really need is conversation skills and an open attitude to engage with others about topics that you all find interesting. What this means is that while some friends may enjoy a forty-minute conversation about their tomato gardens, other friends may love to discuss different hobbies, ideas, jobs, challenges, or places they’ve been. Nobody knows everything, but everybody has something they can share, and everybody has something they can learn. Stimulate guests’ interests by encouraging engaging conversation!
You can often more easily engage people with interesting things to see or do. And that’s exactly what we’ll cover in the next section below.
What Makes an Even Better Party: The Extras
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As long as you cover the essentials of decent people, good food and beverages, a comfortable environment, and a cheerful atmosphere, you can have a great party. But hosting a party gets even better when you include any of these best practices to really maximize fun!
1. Good Music
Music is the backbone for any good party. While not absolutely essential, it definitely helps set the mood. That’s why every themed party post includes music suggestions to suit whatever topic your party centers on. But even without a theme, simply playing fun music livens up a party in a subtle but powerful way.
Keep it positive
Generally speaking, it won’t do your party well to play music that’s depressing, angry, or sleepy. The mood of your music is the mood you’ll impart to your guests. This doesn’t mean all party music has to be chipper or overtly optimistic. There are many great tunes with less-than-happy lyrics (which usually makes the music more heart-felt and compelling!). But try to avoid anything with overt rage or moody tunes saturated in despair. Maybe you enjoy it, but it may be preoccupying for guests. And it should go without saying, but it’s best to avoid playing anything with offensive or otherwise antisocial lyrics.
Play what you and your guests most enjoy
Naturally, you should play music that both you and your guests enjoy! And while that isn’t always the same thing, you can mix up a playlist with some of both. Throw in a little bit of your favourites with a little bit of their favourites and you have a fun and eclectic party playlist. If you have no idea what any of your guests would enjoy music-wise, just play what you love (so long as you keep it generally positive as mentioned in the point above).
2. Games or Activities
Everyone loves a fun game! The key is making sure it’s actually a fun game. Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey is a classic kids game, but only the most hopelessly drunk adults will meet any challenge with that. The most important thing when hosting a party with games for adults is to know your guests and think about which games they would enjoy. Do they love active games that require moving their bodies? Do they enjoy board games? Challenging games that require critical thinking? Silly games like Mad Gab or Apples to Apples? Is trivia up their ally? You can often find digital trivia games related to your party’s theme to download and print out for your guests. Hosting a party can be a lot of fun when you watch how fun/theme-relevant activities bring out the hilarity (or inner genius) in your guests!
Prepare any activities that relate to your party’s theme
As mentioned above and depending on the theme, you can often find many fun printable games that are theme-related. Sometimes you can find physical board games or card games related to your theme as well. Not all party themes are as easily transferable to a game (colour parties, for example, are based on a visual aesthetic rather than a topic) while other themes are easy to transfer to a game (such as a Twister themed party). Activity-focused parties like a jazz and jigsaw puzzle party will automatically engage guests in the theme’s activity.
Or just opt for generally fun games
When there aren’t any specific games or activities that fit a given theme, you can always have a few games of your choice on hand just for fun. Maybe everyone will already be having such a good time chatting, noshing or dancing that they don’t want to play a game. Or maybe they are up for whatever challenge the available games entail. Do they like drinking games (or this funny card game)? Chess? Classic card games? Have some options up your sleeve!
3. Fun Décor
Nothing quite spruces up an environment like an intentionally-decorated scene. Decorating may be my favourite party of hosting a party. If you also love the visual appeal of festive décor, you will enjoy putting up party decorations! Naturally, your theme will direct what type of decorations you use and how you display them. But even if you don’t have a theme or if it’s a very open concept without much visual direction, you can find plenty of generic party decorations.
Prepare decorations related to the theme
Every themed party post has a slew of decorations and ideas to bring your theme to life. And that can look very different depending on the specific theme! Some of the things to consider are what sort of feel your theme has, what sort of environment it engenders, and how you can create that in your own home. It isn’t always feasible (or practical) to create a cinema-grade set in your home for a party. But small efforts make a difference and there are always ways to incorporate your theme into your décor!
Prepare general party decorations
Even if you don’t have a theme or other guidelines to steer how you decorate, you can still liven up your space with basic props like paper streamers or confetti. You don’t need to get extravagant, either. Hosting on a budget may be easier than you think. Get creative with tissue paper: bunch it up to stick out of decorative glasses (much like you would in a gift bag) on a tablescape; cover your window panes for a ‘stained glass’ look; wrap it over hard furniture or other objects for a colour bath. And while I’m personally not a huge fan of balloons, they’re probably the easiest and most popular party decoration that are both inexpensive and helpful for filling a space with a large colour pop!
4. Agreeable Aromas
We rely most heavily on our everyday senses of sight and sound (hence the benefits of decorations and good music), but don’t underestimate the power of an enticingly amazing scent. Burning scented candles is the easiest way to welcome guests with a comforting or inspiring aroma, but if you’re concerned about fire safety, you can just as easily burn wax melts or run an essential oil diffuser. Baked goods also provide a mouth-watering smell, so whipping up a fresh batch of cookies or brownies right before guests arrive will lure them in to your party like nothing else.
Add theme-inspired scents
Many themes inspire specific type of scents. Some are obvious (a tea party with strawberries is the perfect occasion for strawberry-scented candles, and a gingerbread themed party suits wafting smells of freshly-baked gingerbread). Other themes elicit a little more creativity, such as a pirate theme party where freshly-baked spiced rum cake or ocean-scented candles make the best sirens for your party. As with decorations, think about the mood of your theme and how a related environment would smell.
Or add any good scents
Even if your theme doesn’t specifically inform one type of scent over another (as is often the case), you can still freshen up your party space with any delightful scent of your choice. If you love the smell of freshly-cut flowers, this is another great option and also adds visual appeal when hosting a party. Or simply choose your favourite candle or oil to diffuse.
5. Illustrated Books or Tactile Visuals
Having theme-relevant books or other tactile visuals is a great way to engage guests when they aren’t otherwise engrossed in conversation or another activity, or when they’re more introverted and just need a relaxing break (these also serve as conversation fodder for shyer guests).
Cocktail table books
Cocktail/coffee table books are interesting books with engaging photos that most people will enjoy perusing. They’re informative without feeling like textbooks, and they’re illustrative without being children’s books. Perfect party fodder! You can alternatively showcase magazines, but be careful here. You don’t want your living room to feel too much like a medical office lobby.
Fidgets and puzzles
Any type of puzzle – whether a jigsaw puzzle or a Rubik’s cube – can offer a little brain break for those who are always looking for something to touch or solve. Magnet tiles aren’t just for kids but offer the same sort of fun diversion for adults who can’t sit still. Whatever objects you have that are interesting to observe or handle can provide some level of entertainment!
Hosting a Party with Success
There you have it! With the first few essential ‘ingredients’ as well as the remaining ones to add extra fun ‘flavour’, you have the recipe for a good party. There is no secret sauce, so to speak, that will make or break a party. The concepts we covered here are really basic yet crucial. Here’s an overview:
- Good people (the people make the party)
- Good food and beverages (tasty refreshments = happy people)
- Comfortable environment (make it easy for people to want to physically be there)
- Relaxed atmosphere (make it easy for people to let loose and have a good time)
- Good/theme-relevant music (the music sets the mood for the party)
- Games/activities (if people aren’t busy chatting, eating, or dancing, they need fun things to do)
- Decorations (party décor creates a visual backdrop that makes your space look more fun)
- Pleasant scents (good aromas stimulate people’s sense of smell and enhance the environment)
- Tactile visuals (these are great for people who like having tangible objects to focus on)
Hosting a party is most successful when you intentionally incorporate all these elements, but the first four are truly necessary. The rest make a party even better and are especially important for themed parties. But whether you plan a party with a fantastic theme or whether you simply need to throw something together at the last minute, remember to incorporate these components to make your party a success!