I hosted a party this weekend at my house and it was so much fun! I used a lot of Jo’s party tips to help me prepare for the party and pull it off without a hitch. By the end of the evening, though, I found that I had come up with three more useful party tips to add to the list, so I thought I’d share them with you all.

Do you have other great tips to share? If so, we’d love to hear them, so please let us know in the comments!

1. Make the house cooler before everyone arrives. In the winter, this means turning the heat down and in the summer this means turning the A/C up. Either way, an hour or two before your guests are due to arrive, adjust the thermostat so that it’s about 5 degrees cooler that normal. When everyone arrives and starts talking and milling about, you’ll find that the temperature of the house climbs pretty quickly, and your guests will be more comfortable if you’ve given the air a head start before they got there.
2. Empty your coat closet. I have a pretty small coat closet and it’s full of my and my husband’s coats. That means that when guests arrive, their coats don’t fit inside. I usually find myself taking their coats upstairs to put them on the bed so that they’re out of the way. Then the guests have to go find them later (or send me after them). Instead of all that fuss, I take all of our coats out of the closet before the party and put them upstairs. My guests then have the entire closet at their disposal, and it becomes much more convenient for them.
3. Keep take-out containers on hand. This tip is particularly useful for a party with lots of food involved, or even a big event like Christmas or Thanksgiving. How many times have you tried to send your guests home with some leftover foods only to find that you have to either give them your nice Rubbermaid containers or invest in reusable GladWare that’s still a bit too expensive to be giving away? I combat this problem by keeping a stack of take-out containers on hand at all times. You can find these containers online or in your local warehouse store or restaurant supply store. There are foam containers which are inexpensive but take more storage room, or classier round foil containers with lids, which are easier to store.