One of the best ways to nurture current friendships and create new ones is to host a get together. Before you start calling everyone in your phone book and inviting them over for dessert tonight, there are a few things you need to do first:
- Double check the guest list- Several days before your planned get together you’ll want to double check your guest list and make sure that everyone you expect to be there is invited. If you accidently forget to invite someone to your party you could end up hurting their feeling unintentionally. Also, it is good to take a close look at your list and figure out whether or not all of your guests get along with each other. Sometimes we have friends who don’t get along very well with another set of friends. If this is the case then you may want to go ahead and plan two separate events so that you can avoid any hard feelings or confrontational moments.
- Get enough snacks- When you’re hosting a get together most people will probably expect some sort of snack. Before your party you need to make sure that you do a count of all the people you are expecting to attend and then figure out how many servings of snacks you’ll need. Plates and silverware are also potential problems areas, as smaller families may not own enough plates to serve everyone; paper plates and cups quickly solve this problem. It is always a good idea to plan for extra food so that you don’t end up with guests that are extra hungry and cabinets that are empty.
- Make a to-do list- There is nothing worse than last minute stress when you are trying to throw a nice get together. In order to avoid break downs in your planning and to keep you from going crazy, you’ll want to make a to-do list several days in advance. When you are putting your to-do list together you need to worry about food and supplies, but also all of the other little daily things that might come up. For example, if you have kids you need to make sure that they have rides wherever they need to go and that you make arrangements for any prior commitments that they have. It is also a good idea double check your calendar so that you don’t overlook any important events that may have slipped your mind. It is important, as well, to make sure that any special needs your guests might have will be covered.
Hosting a party really isn’t that tough of an event but it does take some planning so that things run smoothly. If you take your time to make sure that everything is in place you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.