Get togethers made easy

Summer's here and so is the time to host get togethers and throw parties. My mantra for parties is to take it a little easy. Not to say that you stop paying attention to all detail. I have hosted lots of get togethers in the past where I have generally gone overboard with setting up, preparing food, decor, clean-up, so much so that by the time it was time for people to show up I was exhausted and could not muster enough energy to host as I usually do, like a social and energetic person that I am. I still did sit through the get togethers but didn't enjoy them. So, since a few years, I decided to ease up and let things flow.
You as the host should not just be catering the whole time, you should set some time aside for enjoying yourself. That's the only way you would ever want to throw another one of these get togethers. If it's all work and no play, you will end up not wanting to do these. SO now let's talk about my newly found take it easy mantra...

1. Spontaneous parties are the best - when its spontaneous you will not have enough time to agonize over them, and a bonus will be that you will actually enjoy the fact that you can manage being spontaneous and doing things spur-of-the-moment, still as you used to way back when!

2. Attend to the basics, the rest will take care of itself - yes, keep the house clean, ideally always, but with kids we all know that's as close to impossible as it gets. So clean the house for the get together, make sure all's tidy. Attend to the details especially in the bathrooms and kitchen. This is however, not a time to start spring cleaning all over again.

3. Take it outside - unless the weather is comletely crabby, outdoor is more fun than in. Backyard. Backyard. Backyard! Keep some activities handy, such as lawn badminton, ball games and such for kids to enjoy.

4. Drinks please - Buy lots of drinks, keep them in a cooler with ice and done. Hydrated people are happier in general :)

5. Buy food when you can - buying takes away the work of cooking and cleaning. If you want to cook, make sure you cook things that can be done in advance and kept refrigerated.

6. Do minimal work on the day of the party unless you thought of having the party that morning (no one asked you to be that spontaneous!).

Don't care about the rest and enjoy! Hope you have lots of lovely get togethers this summer. Happy entertaining!