In This Post:
– Planning for the party
– Preparing for your home
– On the party day
– After the party
Constructing and shifting to your dream home can be downright stressful. But don’t let this dampen your spirit of throwing a party for your family and friends. After all, everyone is excited to celebrate this success of yours. Also, it is an excellent opportunity to meet new neighbours and develop meaningful relationships. In this blog, we will help you organise a memorable housewarming party that your family and friends will remember for a lifetime!
Let’s take a look at these easy party ideas for your new home.
Hosting a Memorable Housewarming Party
Once you are done with the difficult task of constructing your home, you not only want to enjoy every day in your new house, but also share this success with your loved ones. The perfect way of celebrating a new home is throwing a party and inviting everyone over.
There are four parts of organising a party at your new home.
- Planning for the party
- Preparing your new home
- What to do on the party day?
- Managing the house after the party
Let us discuss the above-mentioned steps of hosting a housewarming party in more detail.
Planning for the party
Arranging a party for your new home can be fun and stress-free only if you plan it well.
Choose a date
Don’t rush into it. Hosting a party right after you have moved in is not a wise decision. You need some time to unpack, settle down and decorate your house. Give yourself ample time to do it.
However, it is important to choose a date for your housewarming party. Pick up a calendar and sit with your family members to select a date that is convenient to all. You can choose any date, however, throwing a party two weeks or a month after you have moved in is ideal. This will not only give you ample time to settle down, but it will also give you an incentive to decorate your house.
Make a guest list
Take out your notebook and list down the names of the people you want to invite. It is best to ask each member of your family if they want to invite any of their guests so that you don’t miss out on anyone. Include your new neighbours in the list.
Remember, invite only a number of guests that you can easily accommodate in your new home. You don’t want it to be a crowded affair. If you have a large number of guests but your house is small, it is better to invite family and friends separately and have 2 or 3 housewarming parties instead of 1.
Plan on the food items you will serve
You can take off the pressure of cooking food by hiring a good caterer. But if you are excited to show your guests your cooking skills, then prepare the menu beforehand to avoid last-minute distress. It is recommended to pick and choose easy recipes as you already have too much on the plate.
You can either go for a hi-tea menu or a simple dinner. Don’t be extravagant. The main purpose of a housewarming party is to know your neighbours and to celebrate it with your loved ones.
Serving only biryani for dinner will be equally appreciated by your guests. You can serve kheer in dessert or if you are planning to go the unconventional way then host a hi-tea at your home. It would be a 2-hour get together and the guests can easily munch away some snacks and mingle with you.
It is less chaotic and more manageable. Even your kids would love to help you out in preparing the snacks. Once you have planned out every bit for the housewarming party, now is the time to prepare and decorate your home for a fun-filled and memorable event.
Preparing your new home
A housewarming party is quite different from other get-togethers. It is meant to celebrate your new home and also to make lasting memories that you would cherish later. The fun part of organising a housewarming party is to decorate your dream home the way you have always wanted it.
Unpack the boxes
To prepare your home for the housewarming party, you must first unpack the boxes. But, don’t unpack all boxes at once. Go room wise and set up the living room or drawing room first where you plan to host the party.
Use a room for storage purposes
The boxes that remain unpacked can be easily kept in a room specifically meant for storage purposes. Your house should not look unkempt and untidy. If you stack the unpacked boxes and keep them in a separate room that won’t be used by guests, it will help ease out some of the stress of shifting to a new home. With time, you can slowly unpack and decorate your house accordingly.
Decorate your home
Decorate the rest of the house for the housewarming party. Set up the biggest room in the house for this purpose. After cleaning and sweeping, making it fit for people, now comes the part of decorating it for the party. Adding a string of LED lights across the room instantly gives a bright feel to the room. You can also place balloons and candles that can illuminate the space.
Keep furniture and things where they belong in the other rooms to give a ‘settled down’ look to your house. People visiting would want to see how well you have decorated the place and converted a house into a welcoming home. All of these efforts will be appreciated by the guests and your family alike. Don’t let the walls be barren. Use photo frames and wall hangings and paintings to decorate the walls.
Seating arrangement for the guests
It is very important to prepare a seating area for the guests. Some people want to sit down to eat, while others are comfortable standing and talking while munching on a few things. Prepare your seating area for both types of guests.
You can place the chairs along the wall where guests can sit and talk or else create a small corner with a table and chairs so if someone wants to sit down and eat they have a cosy corner all by themselves.
On the party day
There are quite a lot of things to do on the event day.
Be presentable
Wake up early and after the basic cleaning, get dressed up. It is important that you are presentable. People would not only look at the house you have bought recently, but they would like to meet you as well. Give them a good first impression. Wear light clothes that you can carry the entire day without feeling overwhelmed.
Set the table
It is always a nice idea to set up the dining table beforehand. If you are serving hi-tea with snacks, then set up a table in the corner. You can stack plates and glasses on the left side and the snacks to be served on a cake stand on the right side.
Use other serving plates and platters that would look impressive when serving snacks. Keep a sugar pot and dry milk on the right side corner of the table beforehand. You will just have to bring the drinks and tea in a kettle when the guests arrive.
If you are serving dinner, then keep plates and glasses on a table along with the dishes you intend to serve, Guests would choose whatever they like to have from the buffet table. If you have a limited number of guests that can easily be accommodated on a dining table, then set up a formal dining table for the party.
Welcome guests graciously
When guests arrive, welcome them graciously with a smile on your face. It is important to meet and talk to all your guests so that no one feels ignored. Introduce your neighbours to your family and mingle freely.
Give them a house tour
People who come to your house want to take a house tour. Be prepared beforehand and give them a house tour yourself. They would ask a few questions if you have built your house on your own. Answer to all the questions truthfully. On a side note, if you are planning to build a house on your own, look at the construction costs required to build A-category 5 marla and 10 marla houses.
After the party
There are a few things to do once the party is over. Let’s take a look.
Clean the house
Once the guests have bid adieu, you will see the house needs cleaning again! There are some considerate guests who don’t create a lot of mess and also help in cleaning before they go. However, if you have guests with kids, it is quite likely that your house will be a lot messier than it was when you shifted! Although you are dead tired, at least sweep the floor. You will have less cleaning tasks the next day.
Send thank you messages
Don’t forget to send thank you notes especially to those who got gifts for you or give them a call and tell them how much you like the gift. It will show that you appreciated their coming.
Organise pictures in your album
This will be a memorable party – one that you won’t easily forget. After all, people usually build or buy a house in their lifetime. The moment is special and so is the celebration. Take pictures of the event and save them digitally or in an album that you could revisit anytime you want to celebrate your success again.
So, these were some of the best housewarming party ideas. You can also take a look at how to achieve a stress-free move. Don’t forget to write to us at blog@zameen.com and we will surely get back to you. Stay tuned to Zameen Blog, the best real estate blog in Pakistan.
