Cocktails, Dinner and Furniture Design

I just like having fun.  - Katy Perry

It’s Monday night and you are trying to figure out your stellar plans for this weekend. Your husband will be out of town, your children will be with their grandparents and you are looking for something FANTASTIC to do. 

We have an idea: Throw a Cocktail Party! Invite all of your closest friends, relax in your eat-in kitchen and enjoy your company.

You had a stressful week at work? A cocktail party is just the right weekend activity for you! A small new study shows that during stressful times, being around your best friends decreases levels of the stress hormone cortisol. "These findings provide a better understanding as to how close relationships might serve as buffers against the adjustment difficulties that result from negative experiences," researchers wrote in the study.

We came up with 8 tips for throwing the most fantastic cocktail party. Check them out!

Step 1: Pick up any necessary furniture. Make sure you have all of the necessary furniture pieces for your party. Do you need bar stools for your eat-in kitchen? If you need to run out and grab something, go to a store like ours that offers same day design pieces so you can take it home the day you purchase it!

Step 2: Accessorize your home. Get any last minute accent pieces that you want to accessorize your home with! Brightly colored, stand out fashion pieces will be perfect for a flashy cocktail party!

Step 3:  Invite your friends. Pick a day and time that works for everyone! The traditional time frame for a cocktail party is around 2 or 3 hours.

Step 4: Buy Ice. This seems simple, but many people forget the ice! You aren't just using it for your drinks, but also to cool bottles and other foods that you can’t fit in your refrigerator.

Step 5: Have a lot of glasses on hand. Wine glasses, martini glasses, beer glasses. Make sure you have a glass for every type of drink you are offering to your guests!

Step 6: Stock your bar. Make sure you are prepared drink wise! Don’t forget mixers and lemons. Also, have a few wine and bottle openers handy.

Step 7: Prepare the menu. If you are having a sit down dinner, step 7 will obviously take more time than usual. For a more casual atmosphere, decide on a few appetizers that you will offer instead of a sit down dinner.

Step 8: Enjoy! Don’t forget that you are the hostess, but it is also a time for you to have fun too!

Have you ever thrown a successful cocktail party? What tips would you add?