How to Plan an Excellent Tastefully Simple Party

Your party doesn't have to be elaborate or expensive.

Not all parties have to be elaborate, time-consuming and expensive to plan. It's possible to have a party at home that's simple but fun for everyone. Before you plan the party, it helps to write an outline of what kind of party you want to have, whom you'll invite, how long the party will last, what foods and entertainment you'll provide, and how much you want to spend in planning the party. If you're stumped for ideas, read articles in magazines oriented toward lifestyle and home and garden.

Instructions

1. Choose a party theme that you can work with. If you're a huge jazz fan and you have a large collection of jazz vinyl albums from the 1940s or 1950s, build your party on a vintage jazz theme. Visit your local party supply store and pick up music-decorated items such as tablecloths, glasses, plates, napkins, fake trumpets and drumsticks. Also purchase some sheet music from a music store for decoration of your living room walls or coffee table.

2. Delegate tasks to save time. If you want to have a dinner menu that's inspired by Spain and you know a good friend who can cook well, meet with him and ask if he can prepare the meals for your party. Show him your menu and give additional pointers on how you would like certain meals to be served. Or if you plan to decorate your back yard with a Super Bowl theme but you don't have a lot of sports-related items at home and you're busy with cooking dinner, talk to a relative who enjoys sports and ask her to decorate the yard with football-related decorations.

3. Create unique and entertaining activities for guests. For example, if you're planning an engagement party for your niece, hold a contest in which each guest will write down two unusual ideas for the couple's wedding, reception and honeymoon in order to get a prize. Then let each guest present her ideas to the couple and let the couple vote on the winner with the most unusual ideas. Finally, give the winner a gift bag filled with edible party favors such as candy, cookies or gourmet popcorn.

4. Provide music and food that everyone will like. If most of your guests listen primarily to 1970s R&B and classic rock, purchase CDs from artists who represent these genres but throw in other genres to have variety for guests who don't like rock and R&B. Or if most of your guests are vegetarian, prepare meals for both those who enjoy meat dishes and those who are vegetarian in order to have a compromise.

References

• Real Simple: Throw a Party, Keep Your Cool
• Real Simple: How to Host a Laid Back Game Night

Resources

• Real Simple Magazine
• Better Homes and Gardens