Holiday Guests: Party Time (OR Why Parties Are More Awesome at Downton Abbey)

If parties at your house look like the photo above, chances are you stumbled upon this blog by accident, and that you are fancy and awesome and probably wear velvet to the post office and have a chauffeur.

I do not fit that description in the slightest (although I once wore an evening gown to the grocery store after a performance because I was out of coffee...I got lots of sideways glances).  In fact, if this blog is anything, it's a consistent record of my unsuccessful attempts to do stuff in an awesome way...like actually having a series of posts on anything.  This is the third and last post in my "Holiday Guests" series, by the way.  Were you dying of anticipation?

Anyway, over the years, I've thrown (or co-thrown) a lot of parties, everything from birthday parties to informal gatherings to dinners to baby showers to bachelorette parties.  In those years, I learned a lot about what works and what doesn't, in terms of hosting a successful gathering.

If I had a full staff of servants, like the Crawleys, things would be much easier; for example I'd have Carson to direct people to the proper rooms, and a team of footmen to serve brandy after dinner.  And also, we'd all be wearing fur and gloves and life would be so much more elegant.

Anyway, here are my suggestions for those without Downton Abbey's house staff.  While these may be intuitive to some of you, they're all strategies I had to learn the hard way, so I'd like to share them.

More after the jump...


Aside from a clean home and great food and drink, the key to an awesome party is planning ahead (unless you have a butler or housekeeper, in which case, they've got this covered).  I envision the event from start to finish.  As I do this, I mentally map out the sequence and location of events and the flow of foot traffic.  I also consider my guest list and try to anticipate the needs of my specific guests. This mental map determines where I set up food, drinks, what I put away, what I leave out, etc., while prioritizing the goal of the comfort and enjoyment of my guests...and since none of my guests is Lady Grantham, it's an attainable goal.

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Direct Traffic with Food and Drink
Since the living room is where I prefer for people to congregate, this is where I put the drinks and appetizers.  It helps that I have a "bar" area set up here, but you can do this on a card table or on a cart that temporarily exists in that space.  This keeps my guests from wandering into the kitchen while I'm finishing up the meal.

I don't have a lot of sit-down dinners in my small house, so most events are buffet-style.  I set up the food in the dining room, and move the dining chairs into the living room.  This encourages guests to get their food and head back to the living room without creating a traffic jam in the dining room.

My kitchen is small, and since I'm usually preparing or replenishing food throughout the event, my goal is to keep people out of the kitchen, so they can enjoy the party without being drawn into the insanity of behind-the-scenes prep.  In fact, the kitchen has a door that I just keep shut during parties.  Or I try to.

If I had a downstairs kitchen, and Mrs. Patmore yelling orders to Daisy, this would not be an issue.

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Everyone's house is different, so this particular map may not work for you. For example, you may have a large home with an open floor plan, so you may not have the traffic jam issues I have with my home's layout. The point is to figure out where you want people to congregate, and to use food and drink to get them there. This also helps your guests to know where you want them, so they feel at ease and can settle in to enjoy the festivities.

Anticipate Needs
It's important to plan ahead for your guests' needs.  For example:

• This time of year, you'll want to figure out where everyone's coats and belongings are going to go, whether it's in a closet, on a bed (in a clean room), etc.  
• Do your friends have babies they're bringing?  They may need a place to nurse or change diapers.
• Are your friends bringing little ones who grab everything, and do you have an abundance of bright, colorful tchotchkes, like I do?  Hide or elevate as many of your doodads as possible.  This saves your guests the headache of making sure their kids aren't destroying them, so they can just enjoy the party.
• Is your bathroom ready?  Get it ready!
• Do you have pets?  It may be wise to lock them up in a room away from the gathering, for their protection.  Just don't lock your host's dog in a shed so you can play the hero later.  I'm looking at you, Thomas.

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Other things to Consider

• Temperature - if you keep your house at a cozy warm temperature, you may want to consider turning down the thermostat a few degrees, if you're expecting a lot of people.  Extra bodies mean more heat.
• Music - it's highly unlikely that all your guests will like the same music, so I usually choose something somewhat neutral, like jazzy/swingy Christmas classics like Ella Fitzgerald's "Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas" or Michael Buble's "Christmas."  Although the Crawleys would probably have a string quartet, or some old timey tunes on the gramophone, which would be much fancier.

And finally, as has become a popular (and excessively, obnoxiously, over-parodied) saying from pre-WW2 Britain, "keep calm and carry on."  You can't anticipate everything.  Expect the unexpected, so you don't freak out when it happens. I've freaked out more than once when something "goes wrong," but the fact is, your guests probably won't notice.

What are your tips for getting ready for holiday guests?  And are you excited for the premiere of Downton Abbey season 4 next month?  I sure as heck am!