Everybody enjoys going to an excellently executed party, but when you know that you threw an excellently executed party, it feels even better.

Many of us have friends that fall under a plethora of categories – childhood friends, college friends, family friends and everything in between. All of these people know you (the host) in different ways, and you know all of them in different ways, including all of the certain characteristics you get to cater to as a party host.

1. Introduce by Making Connections

When you get friends together from different times and places in your life, it often means that many of these people haven’t been acquainted with one another. As your friends arrive, it is important to welcome them as you would any other time you see them, and then introduce them to the others. It’s always awkward not knowing anything about the person sitting next to you, other than their name, so as a host, it is your privilege to connect them in one way or another. Perhaps something like, “Sam, this is Emily. Emily loves coffee, and Sam works at Starbucks.” Simple, right? It provides a conversation starter for them as you go greet your other friends.

2. Destination: Food and Drinks

With all of the current food knowledge and availability of particular foods and drinks, it’s easy to cater to your friends’ favorites. If your friends are anything like mine, you experience the variety of vegans, gluten-free, vegetarians, meat lovers, alcohol drinkers, water chuggers, or soda fiends. It’s important for your friends to be comfortable and happy with the food and drink choices, and happier, full-bellied friends means a happier host. S’mores are always a good addition to a party, for the s’mores creation process bonds people over technique, creative additions to a s’more, and just getting cozy with one another by a campfire.

3. The More Personal, the Better

Tagging onto the previous tip, the more personal you make the whole environment, the more comfortable and happy your guests will be. For example, if one of your friend’s favorite foods is Oreos, have Oreos (its very likely that most people will enjoy that, too). If the friend who gave you that really cute sweater is coming, wear that sweater. They’ll love seeing that you love it. If you know a friend is bringing their child, have some kid-friendly snacks and entertainment (a ball or coloring pages, perhaps). Another wonderfully personal thing to do is make the food, rather than just putting all of the packages on the table. If your guests know that you put time, effort, and love into preparation, they will appreciate what you provided all the more. Even if you do buy a package of Oreos or s’mores items, placing them nicely on a dish is aesthetic and easily eatable. The point is, the more you display that you know and love your friends on a personal level, the more impressed and delighted they will be.

4. Introverts and Extroverts

Not everyone is ecstatic about going to a party. Sometimes, you have friends that would rather hide and talk to one or two people at most, and that’s okay! Provide indoor and outdoor activities that could keep an introvert entertained while you are entertaining others. Guitars, the TV, coloring pages, or just an available quiet room to get away in are all good ways to keep the introvert happy between conversations with you. Extroverts tend to occupy themselves better in a party atmosphere. Set up a bonfire to get a group around, kicking off crazy stories and getting to know each other. Perhaps this just caused you to create a new friendship between people that were strangers to one another beforehand.

5. Music as Happiness

There are two ways to please everyone’s music tastes:

• Having the TV stream a music channel, but including a note that leaves whoever is inside able to change the channel however they please. There’s nothing more awkward than being stuck in a room with a few people who all hate the music. You know what your guests like; there is bound to be a music channel that hits most of their tastes.
• Providing the means to play live music. Many of my friends are musicians, so it’s always great to have a couple guitars on hand for those who want to play everyone else a song or two. Music really does bring people together.

6. Make Your Rounds

This might be obvious, but the worst thing a host(ess) can do is only hang out with a certain person/people more than others. Everyone is there for you, so the least you can do is make sure everyone gets valuable time with you. At first, it may be hard, because not everyone is immediately comfortable with everyone, but by the end of this celebration, you are all hopefully circling the campfire laughing and simply enjoying one another’s company.