DURING THE PARTY
All the pre-party work is done. Your guests are arriving, the DJ is starting to mix up some fresh tracks, the bartenders are handing out drinks, and the finger foods are disappearing faster than the waiters can bring them out. It might be enticing to just let loose and enjoy the party, but as the host you still have some duties to perform (unless you outsourced this part of the job). Follow these steps to make sure that the party goes off without a hitch, and that your guests remember it for years to come.
Pictures:
You’ve put so much work into planning this party. Don’t you want your guests to remember it? Most of all, don’t you want the bragging rights for such a crazy night?
Sure, you could walk around with your cell phone and take photos, then uploading them to twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. But your guests will be taking tons of selfies either way, so why waste your time on something so subpar? Instead, you could have a professional photographer roaming around and taking pictures of the room, the guests, the activities, and whatever else happens that’s worth remembering. These photos can be easily uploaded and shared with all your guests and friends, and they’ll look much better than something taken on a cellphone camera. Most importantly, you’ll actually be in the pictures, instead of being the one taking them.
If you want something even fancier, you can set up a photo area, the kind that you see on the red carpet during the Oscars. This ‘booth’ comes with a backdrop of your choice, and your guests can use props to spice up the photos. These too would be taken by a professional photographer, only improving the quality of memories that your special night yields.
Host:
At the end of the day, you’re still the one hosting the party, which makes it your responsibility to walk around and mingle. Your guests may not know each other that well, so why not introduce them, and help them all get involved in the activities together?
There’s tons of ways that you can make this easier, such as by giving an opening toast, playing some icebreaker games, or even having a meet and greet before the partying starts. The mood of the night will depend on the mood that you set, so make sure it’s a good one!
As a host, it’s also your job to ensure cleanliness during the event. If you hired a catering company, they’ll take care of cleaning up anything to do with the food, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t help out here and there. If you see garbage laying around, pick it up! If the party’s at your home, that’s even more incentive for you to maintain a clean environment.
The easiest way to do this is to get your guests involved. Before the partying begins, let them know where all the garbage and recycling bins are, so that they can clean up their garbage as they go.
Another important part of your job is a host is to care for the safety of your guests. If there’s going to be alcohol involved, try your best to stop people from drinking and driving. You can organize cabs, take away car keys, or even find sleeping accommodations if necessary. As the host of a party with alcohol, the actions of your guests can reflect on you. Make sure these are only positive actions.
Parting Gift:
You already spent all this time and money planning the party, so no one really expects you to provide loot bags on top of that! If you do decide to do loot bags, try and correlate them with the theme of the party. That might mean having different ones for both kids and adults, or perhaps having them just for the kids. With tons of toys and gifts to choose from, you can build any kind of loot bag that you like.
If you’re looking to give your guests gifts, but don’t want to drop a fortune, you can give them tokens of the party itself! Things such as centerpieces, decorations, leftover food, and leftover activity props usually won’t find much use around your home after the party, especially in bulk quantity. But by distributing it all amongst your guests, your friends all get a memorabilia of your party, and you don’t have to deal with any kind of heavy clean up. Now that’s what we call a win-win!
Planning the perfect party is easier than people think. With the right theme, preparation, booking, and work input, you can build the party of your dreams, and give your guests a night that they’ll be talking about for ages. Follow this comprehensive guide to learn how to build your party from the moment you envision it, till the moment that it ends. And for whatever you can’t do by yourself, Pop Events is always here to help!