How do I organize an open house party?

Question

Or a warming house party.
My husband and I are going to have our first house! witht he blessing of God!

And I want to throw an open house party to all our church members
What advice can you give me
Goign from the food to the refreshments to the games, etc, etc.

Ive never attended one so I want some input!

Thanks


Yolie

Answer 1

This is going to be hard, because I ADORE fussing over special party touches and have some great ideas. But if this is your first go at it, I'd put each of those suggestions on the back shelf until you get a little hostess experience under your belt.

So given your sitution my concept could be summed up in one word....CHEAT! If you don't belong to BJ's or Costco see if a friend does and if not use a day pass. I'd go and look for assorted appetizers and easy to heat and eat food that you can buy in bulk, heat up, and serve. I'd put it all out as a buffet and let folks serve themselves. I know they have all sorts of appetizers from regular, to oriental, to fish etc. I'd say go to one soon just to walk through and get an idea of what might work. For example there are trays of food you can heat and serve but do you want to bother with that? There are bags of pre-made meatballs. There are many super easy sauces you could make and put in and serve as appetizers. Only you can decide what would work for you.

Then go over to the cake section. You can get sheet cakes that are quite good or tons of other things. Not to mention paper plates, plastic silver etc.

Now that said, I don't know your relationship with the folks coming. You could always do it as a pot luck and ask folks to bring one dish. But do you want them to do that? And likely they would do that vs a homewarming gift.

If folks drink I would suggest still keeping it simple. Get a good selection of soft drinks, and maybe make an alcoholic punch and or one or two specialty drinks. A full bar would be too much work at this point.

As for games, not sure you really need any for a house warming, but I'm not a huge game person. And if you want to get into it, you could come up with a theme, ie Hawaiian party, 70's party, scavenger hunt, etc etc. Remmeber the more you do the less time to relax. So you have to decide if you want to really throw yourself in to it, or if you want to go as simple as possible and enjoy being there.

I still think since you are new to this, unless you have some good help it would be best to keep it simple, maybe do some fun decorations, come up with a few surprises, and build up to more elaborate parties as time goes by. I would spread it over a few hours so folks come and go and aren't there the whole time. But if you are going to do it, I would give it enough time to be fun!

Hope some of that helps! Have fun with it....always remember to enjoy your own party! And congrats on the home!!!

Answer 2

Congratulations on your new home! Housewarming parties generally do not include games and such, just good food and drink for people to gather round with. Expect your guests to bring gifts to help you celebrate though! Open houses generally run for about 4 hours and guests usually come and go during that time. Some will arrive on time and stay until you kick them out, and others will come late and leave early. Plan on foods that you can replenish easily, such as chips and dip, salsa and chips,
pinwheel sandwiches and such. Cupcakes, cookies, and bars are good options for dessert and you might also want to consider a sheet cake. If you want to go with more substantial foods other than an appetizer medley, then consider spaghetti, a great stew or soup, salad, lasagne, and so on. Make punch to drink and have plenty of water on hand too!

Answer 3

The fish bowl for the keys should be placed near the front door. Do not serve asparagus, broccoli, garlic or bean dishes. Light servings so the guests aren't too full to enjoy each others' company after the real festivities begin when the keys are pulled from the fish bowl and everyone is matched up.

Answer 4

ambitious undertaking!! first--if this is your first party start small, have a timed party and invite guests for an hour or two at a time..that way not everyone will be there at once and you will not be so overwhelmed.

serve easy fingerfoods--tiny sandwiches and dips with veggies , crackers, cheese and fruit.

make it non-alcoholic! punch and sparkling waters

if you want dessert serve cookies of all kinds

Answer 5

I dont know but here is a good online invitation site

evite.com