Throwing a party is stressful enough, from planning to inviting and then to actually setting up the party and making sure everything is set beautifully and ready for the guest to arrive and indulge.
Planning the party:
It all starts when you decide you want to host a party for any particular reason, whether it's for any upcoming holiday and you're going to invite your friends and/or family, or your having a gala event, bridal party, wedding party, birthday party or any of the like, heck you don't even need a reason to throw a party. The first thing you need to set is 1. how many people you're going invite. (take in consideration that this number will always be higher at the end) 2. if you have a specific theme you want to showcase at the party.
Inviting your guests:
Whether you are the formal people or classy type, an invite is always appropriate and appreciated. There are many different and really interesting ways you can invite your friends and family over to your party. The typical paper invitation can work well, depending on the occasion, linen paper with burned edges are very nice, but you can get funky and make something different depending on the occasion. P.S. Email is not the finest way, although the quickest and perhaps easiest way, one would much rather appreciate a more personal approach.
Preparing the menu:
As with everything else, this all depends on the type of occasion you are hosting. If this is going to be a meal type of event then you'd probably want to plan a full 5 course meal, starting with cocktails and continuing with entrees, appetizer, salad, soup and main course. Don't forget the main course for some is the dessert, who doesn't like a great dessert after a nice meal with a nice glass of wine or champagne. However if you're throwing the fun and casual party, things probably need to run a bit different in the food section. You can start off with cocktails which always are a great way to bring everyone up to date in all the conversations etc. plus it gives you some time to make the final touches in the kitchen if you're not ready to serve yet. Then you would want to have a buffet style of entrees and finger food coming out on a constant basis, varying from different meats, chicken, fish of all sorts and veggies. One very important note, make sure you know of any specific diets or special food requirements before making your menu, it can be very counterproductive and hurtful to find out of someone allergies or special diet in middle of the party.
Setting up:
This is where it get to the fun part. Your menu is done, the food was bought or going to be ordered, now you can start dreaming of the table setting and theme you want to go with. All this depends again what type of party or event this will be, indoors or outdoors, standing or sitting, casual or formal. Age type is also key to know how to set your tables. The one most important thing of all is to try to purchase plastic and disposable products for props and for food serving as well. In today's day ad age there are so many great products that are not made of real expensive china thus giving you the opportunity to be different and spend less on setup, it also gives you a greater variety of products to chose from and a whole different color option.
Fineline Settingsis a great resource and we are the leading manufacturer of fine upscale disposable dinnerware. The great part of using disposable products is that when all is done and the event and party is over, there is nothing left to do, just throw everything in the trash or recycling where available and you're done for the night, rather than having to go and wash or pay your caterer to wash them for you.
During the Party:
Now is your time to shine, stay calm and make sure everyone has what they need at all times. Being a host is not an easy job, being a great host in even harder. Your guest will remember this party or event for a very long time if everything is nice and calm, get some extra help with serving the hot food and making sure the serving dishes are always full. Keep on switching stations so everyone gets a chance to have a bit of everything. The only thing left for you now is to enjoy the aftermath, whether it's with your kids or with your loved you, breath in the moment and start planning the next party, don't have an occasion? That's not a problem, you don't need an occasion to party! Happy Holidays - Cheers!
