Parties can be tricky. Will your work friends get along with your uni mates and mingle with your sporting team? Will the cocktails sit well with the canapés? How can you make sure your party draws a crowd? Do you even have time to plan a party? Oh, the party anxieties sink in.
Rest easy, we’ve put together a simple list of the ‘dos’ to help you host the party of the season.
Have a theme and make sure to send invites that will be received
Not everyone likes themes. This is just a human truth. To avoid alienating anyone, go small. A discreet theme, like a flavour (smokey?), a colour (black and white?), or a touch of a decade (Motown party!) gives people talking points, while still not making the party difficult to attend. Invites are the same. Make sure you don’t just invite your facebook friends, forgetting half of them don’t have it, or don’t check it.
You should be dressed first
Someone will be early. You probably already know who it is. Plan out your dress to impress threads well in advance and make sure you’re ready before they are.
Who doesn’t love to eat?
Go well beyond the dips and crackers and make the food interesting. Turn a big table into a ‘pick and choose’ spread filled with goodies that won’t keep you away from the crowd for too long. Themes help here too; Mexican fiesta, Make your own sliders, or spit roast BBQ. Or you can rely on some seriously good catering from MissChu (think fresh Vietnamese rice paper rolls filled with Sashimi tuna, herbs and wasabi mayonnaise, Roast duck and banana flower salad or Traditional Roast Suckling Pork).
Bring the action
Everyone loves activities, these are especially helpful if you’re worried about the crowd running out of things to say. For those smaller gatherings, pick something new and interesting like Cards Against Humanity (not for the politically correct among us). For the larger parties, giant Jenga, ping-pong, or charades never goes down badly. If you can splurge, invest in a human velcro wall or sumo suits.
Drinks, drinks, drinks
It wouldn’t be a party without a few drinks. If you’ve specified BYO, it’s still nice to offer a signature drink to get the party rolling. So you can spend more time conversing with your guests, hire a bar man via Airtasker (ask him or her to come appropriately dressed). Entice guests with a drink on arrival – The *Jack Honey & Dry is an easy and refreshing drink of choice – simply mix 30ml of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey with ginger ale over ice in a short glass, and top with a squeeze of lime. As always, the best party peeps drink responsibly.
DJ set
This is important – for general party momentum and to avoid any faux pas involving classical tunes in the middle of a serious dance floor session. Go for two playlists, start out with a bit of Lana del Ray, Chet Faker, The National or London Grammar as people warm up. You can move to the more eclectic mash-up Electro playlist when the party really kicks in. See below for a sweet JD competition that will set you up for all potential music needs as well as quenching your party thirst.
The Crowd
Think about your invitees. Not all of your different groups will mesh well together, unless you’re a very lucky person. Often you’ll have to go with a chosen mix eg the work friends plus the easy-going high school crew. This kind of thing avoids that weird guy from the office chatting to your single gym bestie and everyone feeling awkward. Make sure the crowd is a mix of males and females as well. No one wants to be the only girl at a party full of guys, and vice versa.
Sweet endings
After a few drinks, guests love nothing more than something sweet. This is a nice touch and can be done really easily (Tip: Jack Daniel’s Honey popsicles will get the crowd talking). It can also signal it’s close to closing time.
The clean up
Have glass and can recycle bins in handy places, makes it much easier on you and your cleanup crew at party’s end.
Enjoy yourself
No one likes it when the host spends the entire night in the kitchen, or fixing the playlist. The key to a great party is to have as much fun as your guests.
To get you started on the road to a perfect party Jack Daniels Honey are running a competition where you can win a prize pack that not only includes a bottle of JD Honey and all you might need to make a perfect drink, they’ll also set you up with a three month Spotify premium subscription so you can cherry pick the perfect playlist for your next ultimate house party.
Prize pack includes (and we’ve got 8 to give away): Bottle of Jack Daniels Honey, limes, glasses, swizzles and a 3 month subscription to Spotify Premium.
We love a Jack Honey and Dry. To enter tell us in 25 words or less how you would serve Jack Honey and draw your crowd. Enter here.
This is a sponsored message championed by Jack Daniel’s Honey. Don’t get stung – please drink responsibly.
