Hostess With The Mostess 101

The social season is officially here and it’s time to clean up the BBQ, polish up on your Pimm’s mixing, and set the scene for a summer of fun. Everyone wants to entertain when the sunshine arrives, but the trick to doing it well doesn’t come easy. And with so many parties dominating your calendar, you really need to pull out the stops to ensure your party is the highlight of the year. After all, we’ve all experienced both good and bad parties, so don’t let yours be the latter. We’ve rounded up what we think makes the perfect summer party so that you can be the hostess with the mostess. 

It’s all in the invite

Depending on your social circle, who you invite to the party is going to be the key to ensuring it runs smoothly with everyone getting along as they should. A good party is when everyone can take part in the mayhem and nobody feels left out, or shocked by any shenanigans. If you’ve got different groups of friends, ask yourself whether they’ll get along if they were all put together in a room? You need people that are going to be similar in their outlook in life and their behaviour. So choose your guest list well and it will be a ball.

Create an atmosphere

Before you even consider the food, think about the room and the layout of the party. Will there be plenty of space for everyone to sit together? Ensuring that people don’t segregate off into their own groups is essential to encouraging people to talk and socialise if they’ve never met before. Providing plenty of comfortable spaces for people to relax can make everyone feel more at ease and therefore more inclined to talk to strangers. If you haven’t got enough garden furniture, big cushions and picnic blankets will work wonders. Once you’ve got your seating arrangement flowing nicely, then add lots of light such as candles and fairy lights, so that your guests don’t feel limited to the time they spend in your company. There’s nothing more beautiful about a summer evening than a dusky sunset with twinkling lights to see you into the night.

Feed them well

We believe that nobody should leave a party hungry. In fact it should be a crime. So feed them well and offer up more food than is necessary. Better to have too much than too little in our eyes, so although you may look like you’re trying to fatten everyone up, secretly your guests will love you for it. We all know that you should go to a BBQ on an empty stomach, so give them something to look forward to and tantalise their taste buds. Snacks should be on hand for any drunken nibblers, and a sweet treat should always be available to satisfy those with a sweet tooth.

Be different

When you go to more than one party in the summer they can soon start to merge into one distant memory. But don’t let this happen to your party! If you’ve been to a few already, learn from them and think about how you can improve your own. Making it different could be the making or breaking of being known as a great host. Whether you offer up giant garden games, have a cocktail making competition, or turn your garden into a Moroccan bedouin, just make sure it has the wow-factor!

We know we may sound a little competitive when it comes to parties, but we believe that you should treat your friends like you would wish to be treated, so as special as they are to you, make it a special evening where they feel as though they’ve been really taken care of.

And of course, don’t forget to enjoy yourself!