So, you’ve decided to host your birthday party at your home. Chances are, you think you’ll be able to save on the expenses if you do it in your place with food cooked in bundles for everyone. Your guests could even pitch in and bring their own in place of gifts for you. But what you didn’t account for is the actual planning that you need to do for the party. Look no further as this short guide will go through the basics of hosting a successful home-based event.
Get a headcount
There’s nothing worse than underestimating or overestimating your guest count. Getting an initial count of your guests allows you to prepare your home appropriately. First and foremost, have your guests invited through an event page where they can confirm whether they’re attending or not. It can also be helpful to figure out if people will be coming in groups and when they’ll arrive, so you know if you have some leeway in ordering dessert or setting up tables for them.
Preparing your event space
Once you have an estimate of your attendees, it’s time to prepare your event space. Preparation includes sectioning off areas in the house that you don’t want them to enter; this might consist of your bedroom, kitchen, or your attic and basement. Keep your valuables such as work documents or fragile souvenirs kept in those rooms so that you won’t run into the trouble of guests mistakenly taking them home or breaking them during their visit to your property. Next, you have to make sure if you have enough floor space for the number of guests that you’ll be anticipating. Always keep a few seats open for latecomers or last-minute confirmations.
Monitoring the event proper
Handling the party itself can be a stressful task to do on your own. A smart way of going through the night is orienting a few people about the essentials of the party, mainly where to eat, where to sit, and where to go to the bathroom. Once a few people know this, they can always pass on and share the information around without the need for you to be bothered by every new guest that comes along. Make sure that you welcome your guests and see them off when they leave as a proper courtesy of being the host.
Handling the clean-up
Once the party is done, and the last guest has left, your work is still cut out for you in dealing with the clean-up. Spills and stains are relatively standard when it comes to dinner parties, especially if you’re dealing with either toddlers, pets, or drunk guests at your party. If you don’t attend to these issues right away, the stains could stick and seep into your curtains, table cloths, and even your floorboards.
Waterproof flooring can solve most of your problems with regards to unruly guests. Though it’s not something that happens at every party, it’s something that you need to be on the lookout for, especially if you’ll be serving alcoholic drinks.
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