‘Tis the Season for parties! Do you love hosting or would you rather always be the guest? For some of us the thought of hosting a party in your home can be a little overwhelming, especially when there are so many other things going on during the holiday season. But, when you take things in stride & focus on the big picture, hosting a party can be what they’re made out to be, fun & enjoyable for your guests AND for you! Today I’m sharing 5 tips for hosting a holiday gathering.
1. Set the Theme with Invitations // An invitation is the guests first impression of the party. Whether you’re hosting an ugly sweater party, a fancier cocktail party or a casual get together, the overall theme or feel of the party can be portrayed through your invite. Once you’ve picked your invite you’ve picked your color palette & theme and all party planning can go from there. For our holiday party I chose these casual & fun floral wreath invites from Walmart. My holiday decor is neutral with pops of green and for the party I knew I would bring in more reds, so this was a perfect fit.
2. Have a Focal Point // Have a focal point that is easy to spot so when your guests come in there is not that awkward moment of where do we go, what do we do. For our party I wanted for everyone to gather in our conjoining dining & living room, so I set up my food table & bar cart in there. I decorated them and had all of our food, drinks & glassware there. A bar & food table are pretty obvious gathering places, so those were my focal points. The rest of my house was clean, but not decorated more than our normal holiday decor.
3. Make a Festive Drink // I shared some of my favorite holiday drinks recently and had a hard time narrowing down which one to make for the party! There are so many delicious options I’ve been pinning on Pinterest, and as mentioned in the blog post, cocktails can be so pretty & smell delicious too. I grabbed this punch bowl at Walmart and it was a perfect piece to add to my bar cart with our chosen signature drink. The simplicity, size & shape were exactly what I was looking for. It came with 8 glasses, but I also picked up these gold rimmed ones to play off of the golds in my home & holiday decor. Ultimately I picked a holiday punch that sounded yummy & was rich in reds to bring in color to my bar cart & decor.
4. Order Take Out // Menu planning & food prep can be very time consuming and something I tend to get stressed about. So, for this party I didn’t hesitate to call one of our favorite places and order take out. I knew Pig & Finch made beautiful cheese & charcuterie boards as well as yummy pizzas, which I thought were perfect & easy to serve options. The Pig & Finch boards have a great variety and it was so nice not to have to worry about getting enough items to build the board myself. Also, I don’t think we could have bought all the meat, cheese, honey, mustards, peppers, etc. for $22. Saving money & time was a no-brainer. I then added in some additional fruits & nuts as well as some fresh veggies to complete our food table. I was so happy we picked up the food so I could focus on the decor & drinks and not worry about being in the kitchen.
5. Make it Warm & Cozy // You know I’m all about cozy in my clothing & decor, so of course I want to bring that feel in to my parties as well. I got my candles & string lights at Walmart to create a sense of warmth on my food table & bar cart. It makes your guests feel more at home & at ease when you’ve created a welcoming environment with candles & soft lighting.
This time of year can be so busy, so I hope these tips can help make planning a bit easier! Being with family and friends is what matters most!
SHOP THE POST
Sponsored by Walmart.
Previous
Leave a Comment!