By Holiday parties are fun and entertaining, but not always, particularly if you’re the host. When you’re hosting a holiday party, you run the risk of not enjoying it due to all the work you have to undertake to plan and set everything up – and if you can’t enjoy it, there really is no point organizing it in the first place.
I’m about to reveal to you the exact things you need to know in order to organize a successful and memorable party without draining all of your energy and stressing yourself out.
Stress-Free Holiday Party Tips
1. Focus on meals that are easy to prepare: Of course, this doesn’t mean you should prepare bland meals for your guests. They’re not going to appreciate that if you do, and you won’t exactly look smart telling them you ruined their experience because you wanted to minimize stress.
There are meals that are easy to prepare, yet impressive and delicious.
Examples of these meals include chocolate peppermint shortbread, mini crab cake, and goodies like pistachios and pickled vegetables that you can easily get from a store.
2. Get a coat rack: A coat rack is really useful for hanging jackets and coats. Instead of letting your guests mess up your bed piling their jackets on it, they can use the coat rack instead. If you do not wish to buy one, you can rent one. Make sure it comes with hangers too and set it close to the door so they can hang their jackets as soon as they get in.
3. Keep the windows open: No one likes a hot room – you don’t and your guests won’t like it either. Your guests will trickle in on party day, and as the number of guests in your home increases, the temperature will as well. To ensure that you and your guests remain comfortable, keep a window open and open more when the need arises.
4. Don’t make custom cocktails for each guest: Making custom cocktails for each guest is an easy way to tire yourself out as a host. Instead of doing that, make a large batch of cocktails and let everyone have that. You don’t even need to serve them – they can help themselves to it.
A good example of big-batch cocktails your guests will most likely enjoy is the Holiday Punch, which is a mixture of pineapple juice, dark rum, Campari, fresh lime juice, and Prosecco, along with a few other ingredients to round it out. It’s not just the cocktail you should make available, though. Provide napkins, garnishes, and most importantly, a bucket of ice so your guests can
enjoy the experience to the maximum.
5. Soak the dishes as they pile up: Remember, when everyone’s gone, you’ll be left alone doing the dishes. You can make the task easier by soaking the dirty dishes as they pile up to reduce the amount of scrubbing you’ll have to do later. I recommend soaking them in warm, soapy water inside a large plastic bin.
6. Create a party atmosphere: Yes, you’ll need good lighting and music to help you and your guest unwind and have a great time. Play some traditional holiday music and modern ones to put some spirit into the party. As for lighting, you want to light candles to give your home that warm glow that puts everyone in the mood. Candles also infuse your home with a cozy scent.
You’ll need to turn off all the bright lights to make the most of the candles.
7. End the party smoothly: There’s always a group of people in every party that never get tired and want the party to keep going much longer than you planned. This is why you have to start indicating with subtle signals that the party’s over when it’s almost time to conclude it. Blow out some of the candles, lower the music, and start preparing to tidy up your home. If your guests are having such a great time that they don’t even notice what you’re doing, begin to clean up your home. That should bring them back to reality!
It’s a good idea to make it easy for guests to take leftovers home by making some to-go boxes available for the party. When they’re gone, do a bit of cleaning to get rid of all the trash in order to avoid waking up to a foul-smelling home. Get rid of furniture stains as well so they don’t harden and become difficult to remove later.
Time to Go to Bed
When you’re done with the light cleaning tasks, relax, and have a good night’s rest. You can do the rest of the cleaning and tidying up on the following day. I usually start the next day by grinding some coffee beans in my burr grinder, brewing a nice, hot cup of espresso, and sipping it occasionally as I bring my home back to pristine condition.
If you follow these 7 tips, you’ll be able to prepare for, organize, and host a holiday party without any stress while still offering your guests a wonderful party experience.
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