Now that you’re moved in and settled into your new home, people are probably asking you when you’re throwing your housewarming party. While you might not want to think about planning a party right after finishing your big move, look at this as an opportunity for you to show off your new space.
New home parties not only give your friends and family the chance to see your new home, but also an opportunity to get to know your new neighbors and make friends in the neighborhood.
Follow our step-by-step housewarming party guide to ensure that your party is successful and stress-free without breaking the bank.
Determine Your Budget
The first step to planning your housewarming party is to decide how much you want to spend on the festivities. Right after moving in, you might not be comfortable investing too much money in the party; you did just sign a lease, after all.
You can set your budget as low as $50 or $100 and still have an incredibly fun party. Of course, you could also up the extravagance by throwing hundreds, or even thousands of dollars on the party. Either way, determining your budget will help you effectively plan the party.
Set a Guest List
You can’t have a party without guests, so you’ll want to start thinking about who, and how many people, you want to come to your housewarming extravaganza. Take into consideration how many people can comfortably fit in your space.
While this is a great time to celebrate with your friends and show off your new home, it’s also a fantastic opportunity to get to know some of your new neighbors. Consider inviting some of your new neighbors to mix old friends with new.
Pick a Theme
While your house warming party doesn’t necessarily need a theme, it’s a fun way to get people excited about the upcoming party. Think about what kind of party you want to have. Some strong theme ideas include wine tasting, blast from the past, and game night.
Ideally, by the time your party arrives, you’ll be fully moved in and unpacked, however,time could get the best of you. But that’s okay! Your housewarming party can also double as an unpacking party or a paint the walls party. As long as the people on your guest list are fun and willing to help, this would be a great way to get people feeling involved while getting some much needed assistance. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Send Out E-Vites
You could certainly go the traditional route by purchasing invitations and mailing each housewarming invite. If you’re on a tight budget, you probably won’t want to spend extra money on physical invitations and postage, so think about sending out e-vites instead.
There are plenty of websites that can design beautiful e-vites for you, but you can also make your own by embedding fun gifs, pictures, and videos in a regular email.
Additionally, you can also create a Facebook group that can easily house all of your party’s information. With the ability for guests to accept or decline your invitation, Facebook groups are another great way to invite your friends to your housewarming party.
Don’t spend too much time stressing over your e-vites. There’s no party without guests, so invitations are obviously important, but even if yours aren’t anything groundbreaking, your guests won’t think any less of you.
Whether you choose physical invitations or e-vites, you’ll want to make sure they’re sent out at least two weeks in advance, so your guests have plenty of time to plan accordingly.
Plan Finger Foods or Make It a Potluck Party
The majority of your budget should go towards providing food and drink. While you could through a conventional dinner party, more and more people are taking the finger foods route.
An assortment of appetizers are less of a commitment than a sit down dinner and give people more variety. Think about taking a trip to your local bulk store to buy various hors d’oeuvres.
On the other hand, you could make your housewarming a potluck. Ask each guest to bring something with them. It doesn’t need to be anything huge. People could bring things like charcuterie boards, shrimp cocktail, mozzarella sticks, nachos, or any other appetizer they’d like.
Throwing a potluck is an easy way to make sure there’s something everyone can eat, but it might limit your housewarming gifts, since people are already bringing food.
Make a Signature Cocktail
As the host, you’ll want to make sure that everyone has a drink in hand. While you could spend a good portion of your party mixing different drinks, you could save time and energy by choosing one signature cocktail and preparing it in bulk. This way, you’ll have more time to interact with your guests.
You can make pitchers of practically any drink before the party starts and leave them in the refrigerator for when it’s party time. Sangrias, margaritas, rum punch, mojitos, and mimosas are just some of the drinks that can be prepped in advance. Feel free to get creative with your cocktails!
Strategically Place Food Trays
Whether it’s a potluck or you’ve supplied the snacks, you’ll want to strategically place the food trays to highlight your home. If you have a beautiful view, place a food tray overlooking the window, so guests will see your breathtaking view without you having to point it out.
Conversely, if there are any parts of your house that you aren’t happy with yet, try to block them and don’t draw attention to them. Maybe there’s one corner in your living room you haven’t fully finished yet. You could obscure it with a house plant of place trays directly opposite it, so people’s backs are to the parts of your home where you don’t want attention drawn.
Make a playlist
All good parties need music, and as host it’s your job to supply the jams, so think about making a playlist in advance. That way, you can simply set it to shuffle and forget about it.
If you decided to pick a theme for your housewarming party, your playlist is a great opportunity to complement that theme with your playlist. If you went with a wine tasting theme, go for classy, ambiance music. If you’re throwing a paint or unpacking party, go for upbeat, fun songs to get the crowd energized and ready to work. If you decided to skip the theme, you can curate the playlist to your specific musical tastes, since this is your party, after all.
Get ready to give tours
Sure, your guests are at your housewarming party to support you in this new phase of your life, but they also want to see your new home.
You’ll want to be prepared to give tours of your new space to all of your guests. If you’ve moved into an apartment, this won’t be any huge feat, but if you’re in a large house, you might want to consider scheduling one large group tour of your new home. This way, everyone will have the chance to see it without you having to repeat the same information countless times.
That’s everything you’ll need to do in order for your housewarming party to be a huge success!
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