How to be the Ultimate DIY Hostess

Throwing a party is no easy task, although many seem to think that it’s a breeze. Sure, maybe a “Bring Your Own” style student ramble in the garden doesn’t take too much effort (other than the clearing up post-debauchery) but to throw a show that will have your friends talking for ages, especially on a budget, can be quite the challenge. However, who ever said that challenges can’t be fun?

Image:flickr.com/photos/nomadic_lass

The first ports of call are the following: guest list, invitations and theme. The latter can be almost anything, but it’s important to remember to stick with it. You can’t go for a theme of “An Evening in Paris” only to send out a load of invites with palm trees and stretching beaches to your guests. Think carefully about your resources, you personal style, and your friends’ tastes. Are you all massive movie nuts? Or is it a love of baking that brings you all together? Do your research and form a theme around that. Next, think realistically about how many people you can invite. Remember, three is no party, but 80 might be a little excessive if you’re doing all the work yourself. Once you’ve budgeted and gauged how many people you want to invite, the real fun begins.

Handmaking invitations is really great fun, can be super easy, and adds a personal touch to your event. Arts and crafts can be purchased for very little brand new on eBay. It works out a lot cheaper than buying invitations, but it retains the formality of organising an party far better than just posting an event on Facebook, which people may or may not bother replying to. For example, if you were going to have a floral themed garden party you could buy a little rose rubber stamp and a few feet of pink ribbon to produce something like this:

Image:flickr.com/photos/ninoca

If, for example, you were to do a floral themed garden party, you could come up with a lot of suitable decorations, food and drinks for your party guests. You could do bite sized finger foods adorned with various edible flowers, and you could even pull out all the stops by learning a little bit of bartending and offering some beautiful and delicious floral cocktails made from scratch! For decoration, either real or fake flower garlands wrapped around fairy lights make a perfect setting for a garden party. For a finale dessert, try this incredible Flower Power Cake. These are just examples of how creative you can get with just one simple party theme, so get your imagination going!

Image: flickr.com/photos/adc

Depending on your friendship group, the costume aspect of many themed party might feel a little stale, but by all means encourage people to add to your theme. In the case of a garden party, you could say “floral dresses and ties welcome!” on your invites, or for an animal theme “animal accessories encouraged!”. Even if not everyone joins in, it’ll be nice to see some people make an effort and coming together in the process. You yourself should be the belle of the ball, making sure to talk to everyone, to fill everybody’s glass and to keep everybody well fed. Maybe you could even offer a spot of entertainment, perhaps karaoke or a cocktail making lesson! Get everybody involved, and your picture perfect event will go down a treat!