Paneling = oy. Update tomorrow. But while we’re here…
Can you believe that Clara’s birthday party drew 25 people, making it the largest celebration we’ve hosted since our backyard wedding nearly four years ago? It’s funny to think that a simple at-home party can feel like such a production, but since many of our posts double as notes-to-self (how else would we remember paint colors?), we wanted to capture what we learned from the day so we don’t forget the useful bits.
1. Keep the focus on a few carefully selected rooms (and avoid placing distractions in other areas). This sounds obvious, but we struggled with it. Initially we planned to leave fabric letter magnets on the kitchen fridge for kids and loop photos on a laptop in the office to give wandering guests something to look at. In practice those extras pulled people away from where we wanted them. If your goal is to keep guests in the living room, sunroom, patio and backyard, don’t scatter kid toys or interesting displays in other rooms. Consolidate the action so guests naturally stay put.
2. Simplify the menu whenever possible. We worried serving pizza, veggie sticks, chips & salsa, spice cookies and cupcakes—with lemonade, limeade and a couple of sodas—might feel uninspired. Instead it worked perfectly. A smaller, straightforward selection pleased guests (including vegetarians) and eliminated the need to manage dozens of bowls and platters. With less food logistics to fuss over, we were able to focus on enjoying time with friends and family.
3. Don’t underbuy the essentials. That said, make sure you have enough of the key items. By the end of the party we had a reasonable amount of leftovers—eight pizza slices, a bowl of chips, about ten cookies and roughly 15 cupcakes—so we sent people home with extras and enjoyed leftovers for the weekend. It’s far more relaxing to have a little surplus than to worry guests will run out of food.
4. Provide activities for little ones to keep them engaged. Kids need things to do, and those activities help protect your home from accidental chaos. We used large balloons, a big rubber ball, a bubble-blowing toy the kids chased outside, sidewalk chalk for the patio, wooden puzzles and toys in a basket in the living room, and individual small bubble containers labeled with each child’s name—these doubled as favors. These simple options kept kids happily occupied and gave adults space to relax.
5. Rearranging furniture isn’t as daunting as it sounds. Moving the kitchen table into the sunroom to serve food there seemed like a big task at first, but it took five minutes to drag the table and tuck the chairs away. The sunroom provided a bright, pleasant serving area adjacent to the patio, while the kitchen—with its dark paneling—wasn’t the backdrop we wanted for photos. With seating covered by the sectional, sunroom daybed and patio chairs, we didn’t need extra chairs. That small change made a big difference in the look and feel of our pictures.
6. Plan a few activities to keep the party moving, but stay flexible. We didn’t run a tight schedule, but a light structure helped the day flow. Our sequence looked something like this:
- Guests arrived and we took photos in front of Clara’s fabric backdrop
- Pizza and snacks were served in the sunroom
- People drifted outside to blow bubbles, play with balls, and chat
- With everyone outside, we did the piñata
- Clara’s highchair was brought out so she could dig into her smash cake
- Cupcake time
- We watched a short video of Clara to finish the celebration
Having a few anchor activities like the homemade piñata and the video helped keep momentum without making the day feel rigid.
7. Remember the reason for the celebration. Our priority was to honor Clara and actually enjoy the milestone, not spend the whole day running logistics. We asked a brother-in-law—who’s a pro photographer—to take photos, which was incredibly helpful. I also recruited my mom to help transition from serving food to serving cupcakes so John and I wouldn’t be stuck handling everything. Those small delegations made it possible to savor the moments we came together to celebrate.
Overall, hosting the party reminded us how rewarding it is to gather people at home. It took a little work, but seeing the house full of friends, balloons and paper poms poms made it feel more like ours. Home-hosted events do require more planning than meeting at a park or restaurant, but the payoff—friends and family enjoying the space you created—is worth it.
Do you have go-to tips for hosting at-home parties or memorable hosting missteps that later turned into funny stories? We’d love to hear your what-I-learned moments—there’s always more to learn when it comes to throwing a great gathering.
Psst—check the original Clara birthday post for the full party play-by-play.