5 interesting ideas to engage guests at a house party.
Photo by Askar Abayev
Keeping guests engaged at house parties can be a daunting task that generally requires a significant amount of labor. While not all the labor that goes into entertaining your guests can be eliminated, we can still make an effort to make things a little simpler with some of our house party hacks. Truth be told: we have all faced the situation where the guests are about to arrive in the next hour, and we are yet to set up the guest room with a fresh setting, but the meals in the microwave or run last-minute errands at stores.
Engaging guests in house parties can range from hosting visitors for a short cocktail or dinner party to hosting guests for an elaborate stay for a weekend. Well, we have got you covered for all these cases. We will walk you through the ins and outs of both sorts of hosting to ensure that you can greet them without getting frantic the next time you have a guest at your house. And FYI, none of our party hacks necessitate the use of professional event planners. So you can pull off these recommendations at home in a DIY style easily and impress your guests. Now let’s get straight to our party hacks –
Host a theme party for your friends and family
A theme party is one way to streamline your house party. It helps you in organizing your decor, food, and attire more easily. Themed parties have become an excellent way to celebrate significant moments like birthdays, Christmas, New Year celebrations, or just casual catch-up or reunions with more fun! So how to throw a memorable theme party?
- Set out your theme invitation: If you are planning to organize a theme party, you need to inform your guests without giving away too much information so that there is enough room for creativity. If you think your theme requires a particular dress code, this is where you need to mention it. Starting the anticipation early with a customized invitation can help make people enthusiastic.
- Choose the right decor for your party room: You need to ensure that the party setting of your place adheres to your party theme. Say your theme is retro, so in that case, you can have a disco ball, some funky and glittery backdrops, tinsel curtains, etc.
- Arrange themed food: This one is purely optional because you do not have to unnecessarily get overboard with your theme idea that the whole party seems like a headache.
- Add music and games that resonate with the theme.
Organize a karaoke session
Karaoke is one element that works well with every kind of celebration. It brings out the singer in each one of the guests and creates a light, joyful environment. So, how do you organize a successful karaoke session?
- If you want to pull off a proper karaoke, you might want to get a karaoke player in which you either get prerecorded songs or instrumentals of your choice that can be played through Bluetooth, USB, etc. This is purely optional.
- You will need an electronic mic where your guests can sing and create that karaoke environment. If you are not using a karaoke player, then we recommend that you use the instrumentals of your favorite songs available on YouTube.
- Adding prizes and gifts for your karaoke session will only make things more fun.
Play Jackbox with your guests
Jackbox is the best option for playing house party games. The games are in abundance, and you get to choose your Jackbox Party Pack at your convenience. To get the most out of your favorite Jackbox Party Pack, you should play your games on the big screen. Now the bigger question is – how to play Jackbox on TV?
There are three ways through which you can stream your Jackbox games on TV so more people can enjoy them as they play on their devices.
- First, you can stream Jackbox on your TV by using a gaming console like Playstation 3 and above and Xbox One/S/X. All you need to do is download the Jackbox App on your gaming console. Once you have launched the game, connect the gaming console to your TV via an HDMI cable. And now you can play Jackbox on your TV.
- Second, those playing Jackbox on iPad can mirror the game on Apple TV through Airplay. You can also use Jackbox’s mirroring tool to mirror your game on Apple TV if you are using Google Home with an iPad.
- Amazon Fire TV allows direct Jackbox purchases from Amazon. So, you can directly download and start playing on your TV. Those with Android TV can also download the game from Playstore and start playing on the big screen.
Set out a barbeque night
There is nothing better than some chilled drink with some barbequed food. The cool breeze of summer calls for some outdoor activity like a barbeque night, where everyone participates in making delicious barbecued dishes for those at the party. While organizing a barbeque night, you need to keep in mind a few things –
- Make sure you have all the grilling equipment: The main grilling equipment that you should not miss are a spatula, tongs, grill fork, frill glove, apron, gas or charcoal, aluminum foil, oil, and towel.
- Be ready with chilled drinks for your friends and family members: Do not forget the beer, wine, non-alcoholic beverages, soda, water, cocktail mixtures, disposable cups, cooler, ice, bottle opener, and corkscrews.
- Keep the condiments and sauces ready: Tomato Sauce, BBQ Sauce of various styles, Mustard Sauce, etc.
- Sides and Dessert: Bread, Grilled Veggies, Grilled Non-Veg Patties, Hummus, Corn on the Cob, Pasta Salad, Cake, etc.
- Do not forget to check the safety of the place. Arrangements should be fireproof.
Host your own card party
Card games are classic, and people enjoy playing them. Some of the most classic card games that you can pick are solitaire, blackjack, and Uno. There are many other card games that you can discover for your party. Some things that you should not forget are –
- Setting up the mood of the game by playing nice music.
- Have snacks and drinks to energize your guests while they are using their minds to outdo their competitors.
- Do not forget gifts and rewards to make things more fun.
Conclusion
Having visitors at home does not imply that you must follow all-party etiquette standards or provide the greatest cuisine. It is more about the quality time that you spend with your near and dear ones. Your party guests will not remember the little mishaps that happened, but they will recall the good time they had at your place and how delighted they were to spend their time with the people they cared about. If you are ever worried about engaging guests at your house party, remember the above simple steps to help you effortlessly organize a successful party.