I’ve just been through on one of my busiest party weeks, the birthday week! A time to celebrate becoming older, wiser and even hotter (wine is not the only thing that gets better with age you know.) I have to admit though that planning a house party for a select bunch of party crazy people can be overwhelming and even a little scary! So I thought I’d put together 5 steps to throwing a successful house party. Making your parties the chicest events to go to!

1. Please Don’t Stop the Music

Music sets the tone of your party, so whether you and your friends like house, jazz, funk, dubstep etc. plan on making a playlist full of music you’ll want to listen to. I always like to do a mix of genres because I have a lot of music-loving friends who are very difficult to please. Make sure to have a lot of music you can dance to, like the song above (long video I know, but I love it) it makes you want to dance immediately! Now here is the trick to keeping your party fresh, play music that’s new and offbeat. I always have a few of these songs playing in the background, it’s usually a conversation starter.

Playlist

Oh Land – Sun of a Gun
Katy B – On a Mission
Four Tet – She Likes to Fight
Reporter – Click Saw
Mumford and Sons – Little Lion Man

2. The Perfect Mix

Deceptively easy is the key to making easy drinks look like you’ve spent hours on them. I like to have one cocktail options and a wine/ beer bucket. If you have a large tub bucket fill it with ice and shove your wine or beer in there. To make it look a little bit more appealing, cover the bucket with ribbon or a scarf and add some fresh flower buds in the ice. The flowers add that bit of decoration but also give out a sweet aroma. Here is my easy-peasy cocktail option:

Chilly Bacardi (per glass)

1 Part Soda
1 Part Sprite
1 Peg Bacardi (large or small your choice)
1 Green Chilly
Pour over lots of ice the soda, Sprite and Barcardi in a tall glass. Take a whole chilly make a slit through it and put it in the glass. Add a stirrer. DONE. Your guests will love that spicy kick with the sweetness of the sprite.

3. It’s All About Atmosphere

First, it goes without saying that you should clean up. It’s a big buzz kill if your dirty laundry is all over the floor and a strange green monster (which was once a sandwich) is in the kitchen. Once your pad is spick & span up, make a clear area for your bar (if you don’t have one). This is where people will pour their drinks and your glasses, cocktails and ice bucket will be kept. It saves you the trouble of having to make their drinks and shuttling glasses, giving you time to enjoy your party. Lighting is also very important, so have a few candles around the corners of the room. My trick is to take all my old scarves and hang them over the lampshades (make sure you use energy saver bulbs, or it could be a fire hazard :-p). If all else fails, fairy lights around door ways and curtain rails look just as nice and festive.

4. Dress to Impress

Lets face it, we’ve spent time and effort in planning and decorating, and you want people to dress a tad bit better than their usual. You don’t want your friends turning up in dirty jeans and slippers now do you? My favourite suggestion is white shirt/tee and jeans. It’s something everyone has in their closet and chances are people will actually do it. Think P.Diddy’s white party – but easier to do. You can be more adventurous and suggest maybe a gold and black colour theme or safari, Hawaiian theme or even sports (tennis skirts and foot ball jerseys, cute) just have fun with it!

5. Happy Tummies

I would skip the whole main course meal, unless it’s a sit down dinner party (obviously). Bite size munchies are your best options, order in some starters that are not messy and do not require cutlery, finger food basically. This is important, unless you want to be handing out napkins and forks and trying to organise all this while trying to have fun (not possible). If you are a bit more savvy in the kitchen and like to cook then do what I do. This is my recipe for a little fun with food.

The porcupine

Cheese
Pineapple
Ham or Paneer
Tooth picks
Watermelon

Take a watermelon and cut it in half, place it on a plate/tray, flat side down. This will act as your porcupine base. Cut your ingredients into cubes and stick them onto the toothpicks. Once you’ve made a whole lot of them, start to poke the toothpicks (with the cheese, ham/paneer and pineapple) into the surface of the watermelon. It’ll start to look like a porcupine and people can just pick off it. Saves you the trouble of having to serve it, giving you time to chat up that German hottie you’ve been eyeing.