We Can Throw A Party

The first time we had people over at our house was my uncle's 50th birthday party. We had been in our house for about a week. It went alright but we did not use our space well at all. People kept getting in traffic jams and it was hard to get to the food. Just not a smooth flow for the party.

Since then we have had smaller get togethers where everyone can fit in one room and that has worked really well.

Last night for New Year's Eve we had 26 people in our house. And it went fantastic! We learned a couple things from our first gathering and we had the advantage of getting to use our whole house (the basement was previously occupied and not available for people to hang out) and some new furniture.

First improvement: The Kitchen Island. It really gave us more space to put out food.

Then we put all the sweet/desserts on the buffet in the dining room. This set up worked really well since there was room for people to be in the kitchen, room for all the food and two places to mix the two different martinis we had. By putting some food, specifically one type/category of food, in the dining room, people were able to go to one spot or the other depending on what they wanted. We had the games in the dining room so it game people some stuff to snack on in there too.

Second Improvement: Space to Eat and Places to Sit. We borrowed two tables and 7 chairs from my uncle (and are "storing"/ long term borrowing 4 chairs from one of my aunts) so we had a lot more seating available. The set up worked well overall. Since it was such a long table it was a little hard to hear what people said all the way at the opposite end of you when we played Catch Phrase, but everyone who wanted to play at a place to sit and you could hear everyone if they spoke even just a little loud. It definitely means we can do Thanksgiving at our house sometime! 

Third Improvement: The basement. We have our basement back and in preparation for the party we finally set up the foosball table. We also moved my office back into the office area by putting down the new rug set I bought ($40 for a 6'6" x 9'6" rug, a runner and a door mat!).

It was so nice to have the foosball table! A LOT of people made great use of it so people were never all squished into one room (except for the ball drop). We also kept most of the alcohol downstairs (besides the peppermint martinis I was making for myself and others and the toasted marshmallow amore martinis Dylan and my mom were making for themselves and others). This helped keep less people in the kitchen, which was helpful as well.

Everyone had a ton of fun! It was pretty much a family party that we decided to host as of Wednesday, so everyone brought food, we provided the alcohol, we had two people get noisemakers and it went off so well. It wasn't too stressful for Dylan and I and there was enough stuff going on for everyone. I really felt like Midnight came fast!

Happy New Years!