Throwing a truly great party is the ultimate status and reputation builder; the party itself becomes the stuff of legend, as do you for hosting. In addition, throwing a party at your home affords you total control, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. You get to decide everything, but if you forget something, there is no one else to pick up the slack. This is why you need to plan carefully. So read on to learn more.

Come Up with a Guest List

Obviously, you cannot party alone; well, you could, but that’s often referred to as alcoholism. The first step to hosting any party is coming up with a guest list. You need to think about the numbers. What is your capacity? How many people can your house comfortably hold? You will want to invite all of your friends, but it may be best to start with people who already know and get on with each other. Think about groups of people that will mesh well with others. You should also be clear with your stance on plus ones. Are your guests allowed to bring anyone else or not? No one wants a party that’s taken over by randoms.

Choose Your Theme

Every great party has to have a theme; it is part of the fun for both you and the guests. Trying to find a costume helps to instill more excitement into your guests. Not to mention the fact that throwing a party with a theme also provides your guests with a conversation starter should they find themselves feeling a little awkward. You don’t have to go overboard with your theme; it could be relatively chill and easy. For example, decade parties are seeing a huge resurgence this year. Pick your favorite era or use the trends of the day. For example, both 70s and 90s fashion have made a comeback in recent years, meaning your guests won’t have to look too hard to find a costume. If a 90s party speaks to you, then check out these ideas from Greenenvelope. 

Lie About When It Starts

The truth is that some people are perennially late, despite their best efforts they couldn’t be on time to save their life. Then, on the other hand, you have those friends that always turn up on time or even early. If you want to ensure that your party has a good flow of arrivals, you should try to stagger the start times you tell people. Tell your late friends the party starts an hour – or a couple of hours, depending on the friend – earlier than it does to ensure that they are vaguely on time. Your on-time friends you can tell whenever, although if they have the propensity to be early, you might want to give yourself a buffer. 

Put Out Word

When you have worked out what times you need to tell everybody who you can be relied upon and who is a little flaky, it is time for the invites. Depending on the occasion, you could send out a fancy card or paper invites. These types of invites are more personal, and as such, they are better suited to special events like a birthday or graduation party, et cetera. For a more casual party, a text, email, or social media message would do. These invites are also more easily customized so that you can give your friends their unique party start times.

Curate the Perfect Party Playlist

Not everyone can hire entertainment or their party, and it isn’t really appropriate for some occasions. You should instead think about creating a playlist. No one wants to stay at a party with bad music. It can ruin the atmosphere. The first step is to work out how long the party is going to be. Your playlist needs to be about this length to avoid cycling through the same songs over and over again. The playlist can dictate the vibe; think about the atmosphere that you want at your party. Depending on the platform that you have decided to use to create the playlist, you could send it around to your friends and ask them if they want to add some songs to it too. Once you have created the playlist, all you need to do is set it to shuffle once your guests start arriving. 

The Refreshments

Depending on when your party is and what the occasion is, you might want to consider what refreshments you have to offer. If the party is for no other reason than you wanted to party, you can probably get away with a few bags of chips, dips, and the like. On the other hand, if it is for an event like a birthday or starts in the mid to late afternoon, your guests might expect to be fed; it is worth thinking about putting on more food. When it comes to drinks, you might want to get a few alcoholic options in, but mixers tend to be more important. Remember, if you want to save money, you can always ask your guests to contribute. Tell them it’s a BYOB party.

Remember to Host

As the person throwing the party, there are a few hostess duties that you must do. As your guests start to arrive, you have to circulate. Remember t0 show them around if they’ve never been there before. They need to know where the drinks are, where the party is and where the bathroom is. After that, as more of your guests arrive, you need to make introductions. Facilitate the socializing. Drinking games are great for breaking the ice.

Don’t Get Too Drunk

As the host, it can be tempting to have a drink with each guest as they arrive. However, before too long, you will be drunk, but this is fine, isn’t it? It’s your party after all. However, you really ought to avoid getting too drunk if you can help it. At the least, you run the risk of not remembering your party or committing social faux pas that you have to apologize for the next day. At the worst, you could ruin the entire party. So go slow and steady with the alcohol.

Have an Exit Strategy

Most people throw a party without really having an ending time in mind. Sometimes a party will wind down naturally with people leaving in dribs and drabs to go home because they have to get up in the morning or to go onto a bar or a club. This does not always happen. Sometimes, they just don’t get the message. Instead of finding yourself cursing the party as the sun comes up and none of your guests have got the message, you need to think about an exit strategy. You could simply turn the music off and turf them out. You could make an excuse like you have work in the morning or that your neighbor has asked you to turn the sound down. You need an exit strategy in your back pocket. 

Don’t Forget to Enjoy Yourself!

Finally, after putting so much into throwing a party, it is really easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed. You become so bothered about ensuring that everyone else has a good time that you forget to enjoy yourself. However, once the guests have arrived, everything should be done, so stop worrying and relax. Instead, throw yourself into the party, get chatting and join in with the games.