hennahippie is lounging
Good chi
3 months ago
I think hosting a party at my house would really make it feel like a home, more than just a place I go to hang out after work with my cats!
How to have a party
It made me
It was a fun time! 
"I decided that I wanted to have a party and, after getting my girlfriend's blessings and soliciting her help, I planned the party."
How I did it: After deciding to have a party, the first thing I did was to pick a date well in advance and decide whom to invite and send out invitations. I also knew I wanted the party to be a game night, and I found cool invitations with the game night theme on evite.com. I liked using evite because it simplified the invitations process, and I received email updates when someone rsvp'd, using the web form provided. I could also see that people had viewed the invitations even if they hadn't entered a response. The site also sent out reminders a day or two before the party and sent me an email showing rsvp's. Seven people attended, with my girlfriend and me making nine.
After sending the invitations, I started to think about the menu. once I had fixed on chicken enchiladas, the rest of the meal fell into place: chips with salsa and cheese dips and nuts for starters; dirty rice and corn on the cob; brownies and/or my girlfriend's leftover birthday cake and ice cream for dessert; and mexican punch. The punch was a big hit and having a punch bowl made the whole affair seem extra festive.
The week before the party I put together a game night playlist, an ecclectic sampling of my itunes library and started gathering things I would need. I was able to borrow a punch bowl from my neighbor as well as four folding chairs. I also began getting the things I would need from the grocery store.
As far as the menu was concerned, the most time-consuming part was shredding the chicken for the chicken enchildas. On Saturday, we did as much ahead of time as we could - - for example, the enchiladas were already assempled and ready to go into the oven as our guests were arriving - - but it was still a litle tricky getting all of the last minute dishes coordinated.
Everyone talked and ate and after dinner we played musical catch-phrase which was really fun once everyone got the hang of it.
It was really fun having friends in my home and entertaining them with my girlfriend. I think game nights will be one of our traditions. Yesterday, the day after the party, we started casually planning our next one: instead of a full meal, we're going to serve two or three different kinds of homemade ice cream and toppings. I can hardly wait!
Lessons & tips: If I could give only one piece of advice I'd say: whether a significant other, family member, or best friend, you should enlist someone you can really count on to help you with the party. On the day of the party, between cooking and cleaning and last minutes trips to the grocery store, I would have felt totally overwhelmed had I not had the help of my girlfriend. It's also good to have someone with whom you can switch off on kitchen and hosting duties during the course of the evening. I think it would have been harder and less fun to have given the party by myself.
Other than that, I'd just say: don't stress; it's a party! have fun!
Resources: http://www.evite.com/
http://www.platesandnapkins.com/index.asp
People doing this are also doing these things:
Entries
Constance Merritt is beginning
It's Going To Happen
10 months ago
So far, we have six guests. I’ve ordered some paper products, some of them made from recylced paper, yay! We are going to serve chicken and veggie enchiladas, chips with salsa, guacamole, and cheese dip, corn on the cob, and then sweet and salty snacks to gnosh on while playing games. I’m going to work on a playlish this weekend. I’m also going to start getting my place into shape, a little at a time, next week.
Constance Merritt is beginning
Wohooo!!!
10 months ago
I don’t think I’ve ever really hosted a party. Occasionally I’ve had one or two people over for lunch or tea, but never a party. So I sent out evites last Sunday for a game night on Jan 31st, and some people have said they are coming, and I’m starting to think about the food. I want to keep things simple, not too much effort, not too much expense. Just food, friends, and fun.
Untitled
14 months ago
My boyfriend and a lot of our friends are DJ’s, and we used to live in a house with a huge basement with wood floors designed to be a dance studio. Once a month we’d bring in a huge sound system and have crazy awesome parties with a couple hundred people over the course of the night.
squirrella admits life is full of surprises.
It went okay.
16 months ago
Not many people came, which made me a little sad, but we had fun anyway.
squirrella admits life is full of surprises.
Woohoo! It's in the works.
16 months ago
Gonna have a tea party! Already started buying the supplies.
annbid is putting wooden floor on the balcony
Happy birthday!
17 months ago
I decided to invite the people I like best to a party. A wild mix of coworkers, my brother, parents to my childens’ friends and people from the knitting club.
I was a bit scared that people wouldn’t want to come, and in fact quite a lot of invited couldn’t make it. One thing that I might do differently next time is not to invite through Facebook. Several people said that they didn’t think the invite was serious because it came from there. Strange.
Anyway, this time, I planned better than I used to, bought decorations, wine and good food. After the first hectic half-hour, I actually relaxed and had a really nice time!
pixelgirl is learning to live in the present moment
had a poker party- not once but thrice!
18 months ago
I never got the kitchen table and it actually worked to my advantage on space. I hosted three poker parties since the end of December 2007. Or maybe it was two parties in January? The most recent one being in March. March was the one I made a little fun and had a quesadilla dinner where everyone brought an ingredient. I was exhausted afterwards. I love having people over. About 7- 8 guests each time. I ended up sitting on the floor each time for lack of seating. It’s going to be awhile before I have another party.
squirrella admits life is full of surprises.
Birthday in T-minus 3 months...
18 months ago
I am thinking: pinata, Tinkerbell plastic tablecloth, tiny cupcakes, face painting, robot dance contest, water balloons, Pixy stix snorting…
