Tis The Season......Tips on throwing your first Holiday party....

The holidays are time of celebration, when you can gather your friends and family together to reflect on the past year and look forward to the future.

Here are some tips on planning a fun and successful holiday party!

1- Timing is everything.... Like you many people are planning a holiday party as well. Pick a date and send out invites ASAP and request all guest RSVP, so that you have a head count. Weekends are popular, so if possible a weekday would be better.
Invitations set the tone. Send an invitation that captures the mood of your party, and email them to your guests

2-Deck the halls....Chances are you will be decorating your home for the holidays anyway, and those decorations can become an extension of your party decorations,

Take some ornaments from the tree, and arrange them along the middle of the table, interspersed with different-sized candles. This idea can help to keep you on budget as it will likely be less expensive than buying fresh flowers. Decide if you want to be traditional or trendy.. DO NOT MIX BOTH

3-Set the tone... Rather than a intimate sit down dinner, set up your home/location as a cocktail party, where  all guest will be able to mingle. Have a bar set up, and a view stations of appetizers spread across the room so guest have to walk around and not stay in a corner.

Don’t scrimp on the food. Food and drink are not the place to cut your budget. For cocktail parties, have a number of appetizers.

4-Prep in advance... I have seen this become a major issue for alot of host, you want to be able to enjoy your party and mingle with all of your guest. In order to do this, you  MUST prep in advance...

-Decorate the day before..

-Bring out all your glasses, serving dishes

-If you are having a larger party, have one or two people give you some help, or perhaps hire a bartender.

-The best and easiest way to make your guests feel welcome is to make sure that you are not running around in a panic. 

-Having the food stations out and prepped, and the candles lit before the guests arrive is one way to make sure you can socialize with your guests, and not spend the entire evening in the kitchen.

Drinks can be prepped too. if you have a signature drink for you party, have pitchers made in advance..

5-Entertainment.... Since you can not entertain all of your guest at the same time, make sure you have a DJ or an IPOD set up playing music.. This should also be set before your guest arrive.

6-A parting touch.... Have your guests leave with a little parting gift. It doesn’t need to be big and expensive. Wrap up one fabulous cookie or a holiday ornament.