Making Your Home Party Friendly

Making a home party friendy. What makes a home party friendly? Decorations are essential for setting the mood, but how your home is arranged and where you place the food and drinks also play crucial roles. 

These ingredients can mean the difference between a get-together that's a fabulous whirl of sparkling conversation and activity and a less-than-lively, staid affair.

If you make it easy for people to talk to each other by creating space for the festivities ahead, everything else will fall into place. And that is the definition of a party friendly home.

Making Your Home Party Friendly

Whether your home is spacious or small, if you're hosting a large party, you'll want to make room for your guests in your home's main areas—the living room, dining room, and family room.

If needed, roll up and move out furniture: Remove an area rug from your living room to create space for dancing; move large furnishings, like the sofa and ottoman, out of the living room and store them behind closed doors in another room.

Or, you can push the furniture against the walls to open up more floor space and ease of circulation. 

After all, a lively gathering encourages people to meet new friends, and with more space to wander, your guests will feel more relaxed. 

One key strategy for keeping everyone active is to have fewer chairs than people. Except for dinner parties, a party stops being festive as soon as everyone is seated.

Remove the dining room table and let it serve as a hors d'oeuvres station.

Making Your Home Party Friendly - Keep Guests Circulating

To keep guests circulating through your home, place the refreshments in one room, the buffet in another, and the desserts and coffee in a third.

For small groups, limit the party to just one or two rooms in your house and direct guests to the bathroom you want them to use. Avoid opening your den or upstairs rooms to guests. 

Once the group disperses into your home's outer reaches, cliques will form, leaving some of your guests feeling left out. 

Focus on the Big Party Picture

Your party should reflect you, so pick a theme that makes you feel vibrant and energized.

Highlight one key element—if pink is your main color, decorate with pink balloons or fill vases with pink roses. Welcome guests with a rosy drink.

Exaggerate a single element—if pink is your theme color, scatter pink balloons around the house or fill vases with pink roses. Greet arrivals with a rosy drink.

For a Mexican fiesta, place a different piñata on the food table in each room and serve drinks in margarita glasses.

Remember to consider the entire setting—lighting, texture, scale, and progression (such as pots of flowers lining the front walk). Fill your home with background music that fits the party's theme: classical for sit-down dinners and salsa for lively celebrations. 

Dim the lights to create a more intimate atmosphere. Imaginative surprises should delight the senses: a centerpiece that rises above the buffet, glitter scattered along a pathway, and gardenias floating in glass bowls.

Making Your Home Party Friendly Starts on the Outside

Welcome guests at the door with festive decor such as a wreath. Simple touches like these can add a happy note that guests notice even before you open the door to welcome them into the party.

• Door wreath. Whatever the season, set the festive mood with a door wreath incorporating flowers, leaves, herbs, or fruits tied with a ribbon. You can buy ready-made wreaths or make your own by adding a few inexpensive seasonal touches to a base of artificial greenery or dried vines.

• Festoons. For a shower or holiday party, hang swags of plant materials or indoor-outdoor ribbon from the handrail of your porch or front steps.

• Tree lights. Entwine strings of tiny lights around outdoor shrubs or small trees to brighten your entryway on a dark winter night. Or twist lights around twigs in a large vase set in your front window as a welcoming beacon for guests.

• Votive candles. Beckon guests into your home by placing a trail of votive candles - in glass holders or weighted paper bags - on the walkway to your front door.