Tips for Hosting a Stress-Free Holiday Party at Home

When it comes to hosting, we’re all about making your experience as smooth and stress-free as possible. True to form, we’ve compiled some holiday-specific tips and tricks to streamline your hosting experience during this particularly demanding time of year.

Make a list

With so much going on during the holidays, it can be easy to forget things or be worried that you are going to forget things, which puts unnecessary stress on your subconscious. Compiling a list early on in your preparations will not only help you to get organized, but free up your mind a little bit, so you can focus more readily on your tasks at hand. We recommend keeping your list somewhere where it is visible to you everyday.

Rent a coatrack

Rather than having your guests toss their jackets in a bedroom, where it will be difficult to find individual coats afterwards, buy or rent a coatrack, either second hand online or from a party rental store.

Keep leftover boxes on hand

If you’re planning on giving out leftovers, be prepared with disposable boxes that your guests won’t have to worry about getting back to you.

Cook ahead and freeze

Things like soups, stews and deserts freeze well and will taste just as good once reheated than they will if you were to make and serve them fresh. If you don’t have enough freezer space, ask your guests to store dishes for you.

Set the mood

Your tree and decorations are important, but don’t feel the need to go overboard with decorations. Ultimately, your guests likely won’t mind if you take it easy on your decorations this year, and decorating simply, will not only save you time pre-Christmas, but also post, when it’s time to take all of your decorations down. Supplement a simple decorating scheme with music and candles.

Don’t worry so much about cleaning

Once your last guest has left, you may be tempted to clean everything before turning in for bed. You can, but you shouldn’t have to. After a long, tiring day, give yourself the gift of worrying about it tomorrow. In that same vein, if guests offer to help you clean up, take them up on their offer. For the most part, people are happy to help as a thank you for hosting them.