The Ultimate Guide To Hosting A House Party (Because We Know You’ll Forget Something)
Whether you’re attending a house party or hosting one, take one to-do off your list and have Tipple deliver your slab of beers.
So, you’ve decided to throw a house party. Congratulations! Your social circle thanks you.
But… what now? Cultivating that perfect “we tried, but not too hard” atmosphere takes a few essential steps. Follow these golden rules and your party will go down as one of the greats.
First Things First: Let’s Talk Invites
Event invitations are the only reason we all still need Facebook in the year 2019. You might think that shooting off a text is a sufficient way to organise a house party, but no. You gotta put it on Facebook, preferably a few weeks in advance, to build a little anticipation. But not too far in advance! As with dating, you don’t want to seem desperate.
Now, who to invite? Here’s a little piece of advice from — *deep, world-weary sigh* — my time working in events. The general rule of thumb is that, of the people who confirmed they’ll be attending your event, only about half will actually show up. So, basically, you want to invite a lot more people than you actually think you need. Not like, Corey Worthington levels of “a lot”. But still, a lot.
And if more than the 50 percent show up? Then you’ve got yourself an extra sick party, my friend.
Start It Early
No one except your very best friends are going to get to the party at the time you put on the invite. All your second tier-and-beyond mates won’t arrive until around two hours after that, because otherwise they’d look desperate. In my opinion, that makes 8pm the perfect time to kick off a house party, but you do you.
Forewarn The Neighbours, Maybe
Look, I don’t know the exact geopolitical situation between you and your neighbours. Maybe they’re cool. Maybe they’re not. If you’re on good terms, giving them a heads up about the party and slipping them your number so they can text you if the music is too loud seems like the polite thing to do. (Or, you know, invite them?)
If relations are already frosty, you might want to opt for the ask-forgiveness-not-permission approach.
Sort Out The Music Situation
Again, it’s 2019, so half your friends are probably DJs. Get someone to bring over some decks and proper speakers and every bro with a USB in his back pocket will be champing at the bit to have a crack at mixing.
Don’t know any DJs? Lucky you, that must be wonderful. Instead, prepare a suitable playlist. It needs to be several hours long so the same tracks don’t end up repeating. It needs to be fun and not-super-obscure and have lots of songs people can dance to. It needs to feature a Lizzo track at least once.
Yes, you need real speakers. No, a little bluetooth boomboxes won’t cut it.
Get Some Booze
Unless your friends are total savages, people generally bring their own drinks to house parties. But they never — and I mean never – bring enough.
The house should always supply a bit of booze to keep the dancefloor burning; a case of beer and a big bowl of punch should do it. Pro tip: order it online and have it delivered so you don’t get all sweaty trying to carry everything home from the bottle shop.
Get Some Food
Nothing crazy. Just some chips. Everyone loves chips.
Zone It Out
Now you need to do a little domestic planning to make sure your house is ready for a party. First, stock up on plastic cups, toilet paper (people pee a lot at parties; you’ll need extra), and ping pong balls, because beer pong.
You’ll obviously need space for a dancefloor, which means clearing furniture out of one room and ensuring the light level is suitably dim. String some fairy lights up, switch that blindingly fluorescent ceiling light off, and if in doubt, refer to the immortal words of Tom Haverford: “Turn off every light that doesn’t have a coloured bulb”.
Elsewhere – ideally your backyard, if you’ve got one – you’ll need ample seating and room for people to hang out. And if you don’t want people in your bedrooms (you don’t), lock those doors.
And then there’s the matter of where people should put their drinks. If you live in a share house, odds are your fridge is already overflowing and simply cannot accommodate any more bottles. Instead, get a bunch of eskies and ice buckets for people to put their bottles in.
Relax, Baby
You’ve done the invites. You’ve acquired the booze, laid out the chips, and put on the music. Now, you’ve just gotta enjoy it.
Stressing about whether people are having fun or if drinks are being spilled is a vibe-killer. Cleaning it all up is future-you’s problem. Current-you’s job is to have fun. Yee-haw!
This article originally appeared on Junkee.
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Whether you’re attending a house party or hosting one, take one to-do off your list and have Tipple deliver your slab of beers. Even better, you’ve got free delivery on us for orders over $30 – just use code JUNKEEBEERS.
Drink responsibly.
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(Lead image: Samantha Gades / Unsplash)