Planning a Great Gathering: Conclusion

The day is finally here. I have around 15 people confirmed, and another 7 or so still on the fence. My food is prepped, and my drinks are planned.

When decorating for a small gathering, you want to keep it simple. Your beautiful home is probably pretty close to enough. You may want to add some seasonal touches to your tables or shelves, but don’t go overboard. Big crazy centerpieces and extreme decorations just get in the way, especially if you, like me, have a smaller home or an apartment. You want your guests to feel comfortable, and not have to maneuver around centerpieces or whatnot.

I created a simple centerpiece for my cocktail table, changed out the throw pillows on my bench to from the regular solid color ones I usually have, to some with festive fall prints on them, and wrapped some fall leaf garland around a jar candle for the buffet. Done. Now, my home definitely has a fall vibe, but I haven’t overpowered my normal decor, nor put things around that may make this space seem even smaller when there are people here.

Take care that you have many seating options. This being a smaller home, our sofa and chair are about all I have. I have made sure that all the dining chairs are accessible, and I have moved an ottoman out to create another seat in the living room. Now with the bench, I can seat up to 11 people at once, in a room where I can normally seat only 4 and I haven’t sacrificed any space at all really. I always try to avoid strewing a ton of folding chairs and the like around. It looks tacky and they get in the way. People will just naturally mingle around, moving from seat to seat, standing here, sitting there, and of course, I am usually on my feet anyway, making sure everyone is taken care of. You don’t have to have a separate seat for each person. In casual gatherings like this as well, you probably won’t have your entire guest list there from start to finish, people will filter in and out, so if you have 20 people coming, you will probably only see around 10 or so at any given time throughout the evening. This of course only applies if you are having a cocktail party or similar. You will need to plan your seating differently if you are hosting a sit-down meal or a party with some sort of focal point, like a birthday, or holiday celebration.

Unfortunately, it is looking like the weather is going to be a bit cold so I will be limiting this gathering to the house, and dropping my firepit idea. This took some pressure off of me as far as outdoor decorations go, but I am a little sad we aren’t having a fire in the pit.

When picking music for your get together, make sure you pick something that is neutral, so everyone can enjoy, and keep the volume down so as not to discourage conversation. You know best what you and your friends will enjoy listening to.

This series didn’t really have the participation that I was hoping, but I hope you got something out of it none-the-less. That’s ok though, I still had a great time planning my little party, and I hope that you got some good ideas from me as I was going through the process!

Check out the previous posts in this series for tips on Food and Drinks for your party!

Til Next Time!