The holiday season can be fun and exciting but when you are hosting a party it can quickly become stressful. Here are a few strategies to help relieve the stress and make your party enjoyable for you and your guests.
Don’t worry about perfection
Movies and social media create an unrealistic expectation of the holidays and it is easy to get caught up in trying to make your holidays picture perfect. Instead of running around trying to make your holiday party perfect try to relax and work on making an event you will enjoy. It is easy to forget what the holidays are all about so instead of focusing on making everything perfect remember that what is important is spending time with family and friends.
Get help from guests
Trying to plan a party all by yourself is hard and you will end up spending most of your holiday in the kitchen. A potluck party is a great way to get people to help out and take some of the stress off of you. This also gives you time to spend with your guests instead of having to go into the kitchen constantly for last minute preparations.
Downsize
While you may want to invite everyone you know, too many people can make a party feel cramped and will give you double the work. Try to limit your guest list to close friends and family so that you do not get overwhelmed. If narrowing down your guest list is hard you can have separate parties one for friends and one for the family. Another way to make things less stressful for you is to downsize the work you are doing. Instead of making a whole home-cooked meal serve pre-made appetizers from the store. This will also make it easier to feed more people without giving you more work.
Hire help
If you want to be able to host a party for your friends and family but are too busy to do the preparations, hire some help. You can hire wait staff to serve drinks and food so that you can be present at the party and not worried about getting everything out. This will give you more time to socialize and enjoy the party. Hire a cleaning service to come in a day or so before the party to get your house in order for your guests so you don’t have to be stressed. You can also hire them to come back after the party to help with cleaning up, so you are not up all night cleaning by yourself.
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