How to throw an awesome party


Whether you're inviting the entire neighborhood for cocktails, celebrating your child's birthday or planning a fete for 50, throwing a great party requires a lot of planning. As host, your task is to create a mood--relaxed, elegant, festive or wild--that carries through every aspect of the party.


Follow these steps and you can't go wrong


1 Mark a date that allows enough time to prepare. Consider catering, decoration and entertaining etc. when choosing the date.

2 Buy some colorful silk or other bright, textured fabric like streamers. Use it as a table runner or wrap it around the middle of the table for a splash of color.

3 Decide on a guest list. Take into account the size of your dining table, party area or rented venue or Living room. Cocktail parties, take 4 to 5 sq ft of space per person. Expect 70 to 80 percent of invited guests to show up for a large event.

4 Spread the announcement with flair: and specify the dress code (if there is one).

5 Determine the party's tone and style (celebratory, elegant, or theme). Keep in mind the season, what you're celebrating and how formal or casual you'd like it to be.

6 Plan your menu in advance (at least a week). Consider flavors and combinations that reinforce your ideas. What you serve is almost always determined by what's in season.

7 Consider serving beer and wine, plus one cocktail you can premix in small batches, such as margaritas. Hire a bartender if your group is larger than 30 and you're serving cocktails, wine and beer. (Three to four drinks per person for a two to threehour party is standard.)

8 Label dishes so that guests with food allergies or on restricted diets will know what's in them.

9 Spread out the food and drinks so there's a smooth flow to your party. If you don't want people in the kitchen, direct the traffic to other rooms-an outdoor food table, for example, or put most of the food in the living room. Hire servers or get family members to volunteer to pass appetizers.

10 Have fun, relax, pour yourself a drink, eat, enjoy yourself with your guests.-and have a good time.

11 Give neighbors a head's up several days in advance. If your guests stayed late, the party got noisy or street parking became a nightmare, stop by your neighbors' house the following morning with extra dessert, flowers or a bottle of wine.

12 If guests are bringing food, ask them to cook their dishes ahead of time. You won't have time or space for a gaggle of chefs to finish off their contributions in your kitchen.