Party Decorating Ideas For Success

Party decorating ideas for success. Your party should reflect you, so choose a festive theme that makes you feel bright and alive. These decorating ideas can help.

Exaggerate a single element—for example, if pink is your theme color, scatter pink balloons about 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 every room; serve drinks in margarita glasses.

Remember to look at the whole picture - lighting, texture, scale, and progression (such as pots of flowers lining the front walk). These party decorating ideas for success can help get the festivities started.

Party Decorating Ideas for Success - Create A Party Friendly Home

Party decorating ideas for success. What makes a home party friendly? Decorations are essential to setting the mood, but how your home is arranged and where you place the food and drinks also play a crucial role.

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

Parties offer a chance to launch new friendships, and 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. 

Creating A Festive Party Space

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

If necessary, roll them up and move them out: Remove an area rug from your living room to clear out space for dancing; haul the big furnishings, like the couch and ottoman, out of the living room and place them behind closed doors in another room. 

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

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

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

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

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

For small groups, limit the party to one or two rooms in your house and direct guests to the bathroom they want 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.

Party Decorating Ideas For Success - Tickle Guests Senses

Remember to look at the whole picture - lighting, texture, scale, and progression (such as pots of flowers lining the front walk).

Fill your home with background music appropriate for the party theme: classical music for sit-down dinner parties and salsa tunes for spirited celebrations.

Imaginative surprises should tickle the senses: a centerpiece that soars above the buffet table, glitter scattered along a walkway, and gardenias floating in glass bowls.

Tickle guests' senses with imaginative surprises, such as a soaring centerpiece, glitter scattered on a walkway, or floating gardenias.

Welcome Guests Festively At The Door

Simple touches like these can add a festive note that guests detect before you open the door to welcome them into the festivities inside:

• Door Wreath: Whatever the season, make guests feel welcome with a door wreath featuring flowers, leaves, herbs, or fruit tied with a ribbon. You can buy ready-made wreaths or create 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 that you set in your front window as a welcoming beacon for guests.

• Votive Candles: Invite 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.

And remember—you'll enjoy yourself and your guests more if you incorporate these party decorating ideas into your home well in advance of their arrival.