How to Throw a Fabulous Party

Do you ever wonder how to throw a great party but not know where to start? I have been involved with throwing many common to extraordinary parties and with these helpful hints I give to you, you will be well on your way! The thing to remember is diversity and fun. Without those two factors, your party will be lacking a sort of appeal.

First you must determine the reason for having the party. For example, is it to celebrate a birthday or a holiday or a random event? Also, while determining the reason for having a party, you must decide on a theme. For birthdays you can keep a birthday type theme. Certain holidays give way to their own theme. For example: the Fourth of July has a patriotic theme already built into it. Random events are even more fun because you can pick any theme you would like. In the past, my themes included: 80's night, tropical luau, baseball or football parties, holiday cocktail hours, and plain old barbecues. Decorating can be simple or non-existent. For the tropical luau, I had a pool party complete with torches, grass skirts, leis, and an alcoholic tropical punch. My baseball or football parties were mainly about the food and the games. You get the idea - be creative!!

Step two is to pick your menu. Is this party going to be a finger snack and appetizer feast or an actual full meal? The time in which you have the party also clues in to what to serve. If you have a party at say 4pm, you will have to serve enough food to keep people full for the dinner hour. For sports parties, you would want to cater to the man side of things with burgers, hot dogs, wings, chips and dips, which all go great alongside some ice cold beer. For a cocktail hour you would want to focus on fun finger foods and appetizers such as veggie trays, dips, crackers and cheese platters, cookies and other baked goods, and maybe a home made beverage such as a Sangria punch. Whatever you decide always plan to have too much food that way you won't run out. Some groups of people will eat you out of house and home, while others will barely put a dent into your party supply.

Step three is to determine what day and time you have this party. Also at this point, decide whether or not you want people to come empty handed or with contributions to your food and/or beverage menu. A lot of people make their parties BYOB (Bring Your Own Beverage). When I throw a party the invite almost always says something about me supplying the food and the guests bringing their own beverages. A lot of times, I will buy beer and/or wine and let my guests know that if they want anything else to bring it on their own. Now, if you are going to have children at the party, you will have to buy some juice and/or soda. I like to have some of each just in case some parent doesn't want their kid(s) to have soda.

Now you are ready to invite some people to your fabulous gathering! There are a couple of things to keep in mind when inviting people to a party. First make sure there are no conflicts. For example my best friend has a child with a different guy than she ended up marrying and I am friends with all parties involved. So, when I throw a party I know it would make all three of the adults and possibly even the child uncomfortable to have them all there. So I will invite my best friend and her family or I will invite the ex but not both sides. Secondly, make sure you have a wide range of personalities. For example, invite the boring friends along with the exciting and in between friends because the chemistry at your party will be that much better. I have a bunch of small groups of friends such as the people I grew up with and went to high school with, the college buddies, the work crowd, and the friends I have to go bar hopping with. I invite all of them every time and everyone always has a great time! They don't always all know each other either which is even better because then you are expanding your friend circle by including everyone. And the last hint about invites is to always invite too many people. At a normal gathering (not a landmark type party), about half of the people you invite will actually come. Everyone has busy schedules and lives and sometimes they are already committed to something else. If you invite too many people, you are guaranteed to have a good turnout! For example: You want to have 25 people there and that is the max amount of people you can fit in your house comfortably at one time, invite 35 and see what results! Even if you are a little crammed because 30 people showed up, who cares, at least you will have enough people there!

Okay, the party time is approaching. You are all set in your food choices, themes, decorations, beverages, and guests. But what are you going to do with them when they get there? You haven't even thought about any activities to do at your party! At all adult parties you will want to have a card room set up for poker fanatics or get a list together of some fun drinking games. Make sure if there are kids at the party that you have a room with a DVD player set up so they can watch a movie or grab some cheap coloring books and crayons for them and have a coloring contest! Also for kids, any board games you have, they will be interested in as well! The point is people go to parties to eat, drink, and be merry! So keep your guests' bellies full with bottomless cups and lots of laughter! You are well on your way to throwing a great party! Don't forget the most important ingredients to throwing a fabulous party, you as the host or hostess and FUN! Good luck!!!