The Three Keys to Throwing a Smash Hit Party!
Do you want to throw a great party to wow your coworkers, friends, family or to show off to a special someone?
Is this your first party or are you a seasoned pro in search of some new ways of entertaining your guests?
Well.. you’ve stumbled upon the right blog, because I’ve been throwing house parties for many years and have learned a few tricks for keeping your guests happy and entertained!
Throwing a house party can be very intimidating. What if your party is a dud and someone travels from far away to your sparsely attended, boring party?
It can be so disheartening to drop the ball and disappoint so many people who you care about, who you are just trying to entertain. Even if your guests still have a good time, and even if they are still grateful for your efforts, you can’t help but feel bad when your party’s not as good as you would have hoped.
So What Makes a Good Party?
There are three main ingredients to throwing a good party. Getting them right can mean the difference between a dud and a night where everybody is laughing, dancing, and having a fantastic time.
And in no particular order here they are!
The number of and mix of your guests.
Entertainment options
Music
That’s it. Pretty simple isn’t it? Let’s dive a bit deeper shall we???
The Number and Mix of Your Guests
Size Matters
Generally the more guests the merrier though you have to keep things like the size of the space you have available and parking in mind.
My house is small, so any more than 25 people will overcrowd my space and make for a bad time.
At my house there is no street parking either, so I have to make parking spaces in my backyard. I literally measure out and paint parking lines so people know where to park.
This helps tremendously especially for those driving from a long distance. Just imagine driving an hour or more to your house party and having nowhere to park. That would really tick the guests off for sure.
The Much Vaunted Ratio
You also need to pay attention to the ratio of men and women. It always seems like there are more men going to a party than women.
I have no idea why this is. Maybe men just say yes to everything, but one thing I do know is that it's tough to rescue a party that has too much sausage in it.
If you have a party that has too many men then the guys will be disappointed that there aren’t more ladies, and the few women that show up may feel like they are being hunted or just bothered by all the guys who are trying to talk to the girls.
Generally speaking you want to invite more women than men just to ensure that the ratio is either close to even or there are slightly more girls there.
More on the Ratio
A little trick when it comes to the ratio is to not just focus on how many men vs women there are, but you also want to focus on the ages of your guests too.
I tend to throw mixer parties where the ages of my guests will span the early 20s all the way into the 80s.
Yeah I know some party animal 80 year olds. It is my dream to be this way some day!
If I happen to know that some of the people attending are single then I try to invite pairs that are likely to mingle during the party and perhaps even meetup afterwards.
If I have a single guy friend who is in his 50s then I’ll try to invite a single 50 year old woman for instance.
I'm not going to make any effort to pair them up, but after meeting each other at my party they just may.
Taking time to invite guests that will work well with each other goes a very long way in making your party more enjoyable. Imagine how forever grateful your guests will be if they meant their significant other at your party!
Entertainment Options
Entertainment can be tricky. You have to think of options that your guests will enjoy. You can have a great idea for entertainment but if nobody wants to engage with it then it will fall flat.
So How Do You Choose the Right Options?
The simple answer here is that you have to know your guests. Don’t throw a party where the primary source of entertainment is a great dancing setup and then invite a bunch of people that don’t like to dance.
This is why diversifying your entertainment methods is a good idea.
What Generally Works?
I’ve found that there are a couple things that people constantly like to do at parties.
People like to socialize.
They like to take selfies
They like to eat and drink
And they like music.
Socializing
Earlier, we discussed the number of guests. We decided that more is generally better. This is because the more guests you have the more people there are to socialize with and socializing is a form of entertainment in of itself.
So invite as many people as you have space for and encourage your guest to start the night by playing some party games like cards against humanity.
And party games aren't the only thing that can get your guests in the party mood. Some good old fashioned booze will help loosen people up too, so ensure that there will be enough booze for everybody and your guests will soon begin being their own entertainment!
Is Taking Selfies a Form of Entertainment?
If you provide a cool selfie experience then it certainly can be!
I used to videotape weddings for a living.
During the receptions we would set up a photo booth where people could don silly props and take goofy pictures with each other. And boy old boy let me tell you, the photo booth was always jam packed all night long.
People love to take pictures of themselves.
You can facilitate this in a more affordable way than buying or making a photo booth.
At my parties, particularly themed ones such as Halloween or NYE, I set up a big backdrop against a wall in one of the rooms. I have two umbrella lights illuminating it with nice soft lighting, and I have a tripod that people can use to hold their phones while they stand in front of the backdrop for pictures.
How Do I Set All of This Up?
I use a grommet tool for putting grommets in the backdrop, then I attach it with zip ties to a metal rod hanging from the ceiling with two pipe hangers. You can watch the whole process in this video.
This tool makes it much easier to install grommets in a myriad of materials.
Without the tool you have to hammer the grommets in place which means that you can’t do it on your floor or else you will dent and crack it.
This tool on the other hand will hold the two halves of the grommet with magnets, and you then simply squeeze the handle to set the grommets in place.
With this tool you can add grommets anywhere. You do not have to worry about damaging your floor so no need to lay the backdrop on the basement floor or outside.
So click the link and get it. You’ll love the thing!
There’s Just One More Thing You Need
To enable your guests to take the most outstanding pictures possible, you also need to set up some soft photography lights.
People Like to Eat and Drink
This one is rather easy. Maybe buy a few pizzas, have some soda, crackers and alcohol.
But the truth is, you do not even need to provide any of this.
You should make your party a potluck.
Tell your guests to bring food and or drinks to share.
Be sure to tell some guests what to bring or you may end up with nothing but beer at your party.
Tell some guests to bring some wine, others can bring beer. But you’ll also need somebody to bring chips, soda, pizza, fruit and whatever else you may want.
Do Not Forget Non-Alcoholic Drinks.
Everything being alcoholic is no good.
Some people don’t drink and you do not want everybody being a slobbering drunken mess anyway, so one of the only things that you should supply, even if you're doing a potluck, is water!
Yes! Water!
Be sure to have enough bottled water for everybody. It’s cheap and it’s the best form of hydration.
Otherwise, let your guests provide the food and drinks. And if you end up with subpar food and drinks at your party then it’s your guests fault, not yours.
You are providing the venue and are doing all the work with throwing a party so let your guests take some responsibility too.
Let There be Music!
A party is not a party without music.
The music does not have to be blaring loud either. You can set up some relaxing jazzy music to serve as background noise for when people are socializing for instance.
Some light, calm music, can help to break up dead spots by providing some relief for when the conversation dies down.
Music can also be the focus of your party too.
Few activities bring guests together, provide more entertainment, and will encourage more interaction than karaoke!
Karaoke is probably thee single most effective way to entertain your guests.
Those who are brave or drunk enough will delight in being on stage singing, and those who are too shy or sober to get up in front of everyone else will gladly sit to watch the other guests perform.
For my parties I use this wireless microphone system from Phenyx Pro.
Simply connect your phone to the speaker via bluetooth and find an instrumental version of the song you want to sing on youtube or you can even find a karaoke version of it that displays the lyrics on your phone’s screen.
Make it a Dance Party!
Music can be used in one more way to entertain your guests if karaoke isn’t your thing.
If you have enough space, a one car garage should suffice, then simply play some music, get some cool laser and or color changing lights, and let your guests get wild on your makeshift nightclub dance floor!
The Sony speaker mentioned above and here will provide the sort of outstanding sound quality to fill your room with rich tones and deep base to get your guests jumping and sliding in glee.
To really make your nightclub dance floor shine you’ll also need some awesome laser party lights such as the U’ King Mini Dj Lights or the Marygel Stage lights shown below.
These lights will create a light show to the rhythm of the music which will really help set an exciting, fun mood for your dance floor.
What Makes a Good Dance Floor?
Dancing puts a lot of stress on your floor since there will be a lot of people crammed onto it and they’ll be jumping up and down.
Ideally, if the ceiling is high enough, then you can set up your dance floor in the basement.
The concrete floor can not only sustain the weight and impact from many people jumping up and down on it but it also will not suffer any damage from, and is also easy to clean up, alcohol or anything that is split on it.
The temperature in the basement is typically mild year long, which will make for a more comfortable dance environment.
The Next Best Place?
The next best place for dancing will likely be the garage.
Once again the concrete floor can withstand the weight and impact of many people jumping up and down along with spills of all sorts. But unless the garage is climate controlled and insulated then it can be too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter for your guests.
Some method of controlling the temperature such as having a fan or a kerosene heater will likely be needed to make the climate more tolerable for your guests.
The worst spot
Unless your house is on a slab, then I would not recommend having people dance in any rooms that have floor joist.
The joist will likely withstand the weight and impact for a long time, but there is a point at which the weight is too much and the cumulative trauma of many people dancing at many parties over the course of many years can stress the joist to the point of one breaking which can lead to costly home repairs.
This is not to mention the damage that can be sustained to the flooring material itself, such as scratches, dents, and cracks that will accumulate over time.
This is why concrete, though not the best material for your joints, is the best material to have people dance on in terms of limiting damage to your house!
And That’s a Rap
Well there you have it! Congratulations on making it to the end of the article!
Remember the three keys to throwing a successful party!
The number and mix of your guests. Get this right to provide more socialization options.
Entertainment such as selfie setups and party games.
And finally, music. Even without karaoke and dancing the background noise provided by music can make your party seem more lively!
Now that you’ve made it to the end, click on the links provided above to purchase the supplies needed for throwing the best parry of your life.
The supplies shown here are tried and tested by yours truly and many others so click the links and check them out now!
And remember to share this article on social media so others can throw some really banging parties too!
Maybe you’ll be invited to them!
