First, decide that, yes, I can throw a party in my apartment. Surprisingly, that is a deterrent to many would be hosts. A party doesn't have to be a big blow out with dozens of guests. It can be a small intimate gathering of four or five people, an open house where a couple of dozen people show up at staggered times, or with some creativity, you may be surprised at just how many people you can accommodate in your apartment. Don't be afraid to rearrange the furniture, or remove it from your living space for the evening. Play around with what will give you the best flow for a group of people, and how many you can seat for a dinner party, or how many places people can sit for other types of party. Be creative with seating. A Pinterest search for creative or extra seating yielded hundreds of pins. If you have a patio or balcony, weather permitting, use it as a food station, perhaps a dessert bar could be set up there. (Or if the weather is bad, use it to store furniture for the evening, and throw a tarp over it.) Keep the menu simple. If you're doing a dinner, consider food that choices that can be prepared ahead of time as individual servings, or simply picked up from the deli on your way home. Food itself can be the theme of the party. For example, have a bread party, invite guests to bring a loaf of their favorite artisan bread, and you provide flavored butters, jams, jellies, artichoke/spinach dip, etc. to go with the breads, and ice cold milk of course; and you can provide a variety of sweet breads (which can be made ahead of time) for dessert. Have some activities in mind, but don't become militant about doing every single activity in a regimented timeframe. Stimulating conversation in and of itself is greatly rewarding for many people. And simply relaxing with friends and good food is a nice break from the everyday grind. If you do have activities, don't choose something that takes longer to explain than to do. (Although complicated games that everyone present already knows how to play could be fine.) If games are the focus of the evening, setting up a couple of different game tables with either the same or different games provides an opportunity for people to get to know one another, and generally cuts down on the time it takes to play a round or hand. So play Yahtzee at one table, Scrabble at another, and Clue at a third. Or make it a card game theme, and have several groups of people playing the same game. The Game of Mao is a crazy fun game to play at a party, but it's best if several members of the group have played before. And this link to the game has one of the better explanations of how to play. So pull together some friends, food, and have some fun! Please feel free to post a comment about how you entertain at your apartment. Entertaining in Your Apartment
First, decide that, yes, I can throw a party in my apartment. Surprisingly, that is a deterrent to many would be hosts. A party doesn't have to be a big blow out with dozens of guests. It can be a small intimate gathering of four or five people, an open house where a couple of dozen people show up at staggered times, or with some creativity, you may be surprised at just how many people you can accommodate in your apartment. Don't be afraid to rearrange the furniture, or remove it from your living space for the evening. Play around with what will give you the best flow for a group of people, and how many you can seat for a dinner party, or how many places people can sit for other types of party. Be creative with seating. A Pinterest search for creative or extra seating yielded hundreds of pins. If you have a patio or balcony, weather permitting, use it as a food station, perhaps a dessert bar could be set up there. (Or if the weather is bad, use it to store furniture for the evening, and throw a tarp over it.) Keep the menu simple. If you're doing a dinner, consider food that choices that can be prepared ahead of time as individual servings, or simply picked up from the deli on your way home. Food itself can be the theme of the party. For example, have a bread party, invite guests to bring a loaf of their favorite artisan bread, and you provide flavored butters, jams, jellies, artichoke/spinach dip, etc. to go with the breads, and ice cold milk of course; and you can provide a variety of sweet breads (which can be made ahead of time) for dessert. Have some activities in mind, but don't become militant about doing every single activity in a regimented timeframe. Stimulating conversation in and of itself is greatly rewarding for many people. And simply relaxing with friends and good food is a nice break from the everyday grind. If you do have activities, don't choose something that takes longer to explain than to do. (Although complicated games that everyone present already knows how to play could be fine.) If games are the focus of the evening, setting up a couple of different game tables with either the same or different games provides an opportunity for people to get to know one another, and generally cuts down on the time it takes to play a round or hand. So play Yahtzee at one table, Scrabble at another, and Clue at a third. Or make it a card game theme, and have several groups of people playing the same game. The Game of Mao is a crazy fun game to play at a party, but it's best if several members of the group have played before. And this link to the game has one of the better explanations of how to play. So pull together some friends, food, and have some fun! Please feel free to post a comment about how you entertain at your apartment.