I think ice doesn't matter but food and drink does. Only in the sense of it being good and it not running out, though. "Good" means potato chips quality. Fancy food is nice too but not essential. And the hardest and most important thing is the mix of people, and to keep them mixed. Name tags, often, even if they are tacky.
You see, if you lived in the UK here, you could take having enough ice off your list. I am perhaps asked for about three cubes per year. Which I can happily provide.
1. Don't invite the guy who's going to get emotionally drunk again and make everyone uncomfortable. If you're the host and that's you, stay sober. (Or "sobber", if you have a thick Irish accent.)
2. Don't invite the guy who wants to gather everyone up and bail on the party to go to some club he wants to go to, just as your party starts to crank.
3. If someone is standing alone, go pull them into a group and into the conversations. Sad people do not party. Happy engaged people do.
Sage wisdom. In a follow up i would love your advice on how as a host you should deal with that one person who you know you shouldn’t invite but in the end you have no choice because everyone he/she knows will be there and you’re not a monster. That person who will sink their fangs into anyone who pauses in their reach and speak a 40,000 word paragraph at them before taking a breath and allowing them to escape. There will always be that person. Its a law of nature. So how should a humane but sensitive host deal with them. (My thought- invite someone you dislike and offer them to the party ruiner as a sort of human sacrifice)
My feeling is, with enough food and drink (especially drink) at a certain point everyone is on their own. The poor person who is trapped by the party-ruiner needs to learn survival skills. Alternatively, invite two party ruiners and pull each one aside privately to ask them, as a favor to you, to keep an eye on the other one.
I think ice doesn't matter but food and drink does. Only in the sense of it being good and it not running out, though. "Good" means potato chips quality. Fancy food is nice too but not essential. And the hardest and most important thing is the mix of people, and to keep them mixed. Name tags, often, even if they are tacky.
How do I get an invite and will there be dark pretzels?
You see, if you lived in the UK here, you could take having enough ice off your list. I am perhaps asked for about three cubes per year. Which I can happily provide.
Couple other party rules:
1. Don't invite the guy who's going to get emotionally drunk again and make everyone uncomfortable. If you're the host and that's you, stay sober. (Or "sobber", if you have a thick Irish accent.)
2. Don't invite the guy who wants to gather everyone up and bail on the party to go to some club he wants to go to, just as your party starts to crank.
3. If someone is standing alone, go pull them into a group and into the conversations. Sad people do not party. Happy engaged people do.
4. Invite me.
Sage wisdom. In a follow up i would love your advice on how as a host you should deal with that one person who you know you shouldn’t invite but in the end you have no choice because everyone he/she knows will be there and you’re not a monster. That person who will sink their fangs into anyone who pauses in their reach and speak a 40,000 word paragraph at them before taking a breath and allowing them to escape. There will always be that person. Its a law of nature. So how should a humane but sensitive host deal with them. (My thought- invite someone you dislike and offer them to the party ruiner as a sort of human sacrifice)
My feeling is, with enough food and drink (especially drink) at a certain point everyone is on their own. The poor person who is trapped by the party-ruiner needs to learn survival skills. Alternatively, invite two party ruiners and pull each one aside privately to ask them, as a favor to you, to keep an eye on the other one.