Throwing a house party can feel a little overwhelming – especially if you have 3 roommates and each person has their own guest list. Back in December, we threw a big Christmas party with about 80 friends and it was SO FUN. We wanted to do a round two and make this one even better, but it was going to take some planning.
We’re at the age where house parties shouldn’t feel like frat parties anymore. You realize how nice it is to enjoy real conversations instead of screaming over loud bar music and that entertaining like an adult is actually so fun. We love planning and decorating, so we felt like it was good timing to get this place whipped into party shape for a mid-summer party. Creativity doesn’t need to take a lot of time or break the bank, so I wrote out a few bullet points about how my roommates and I got our place party-ready with just a couple days of planning.
Easy ways to step up your decor game
for your next house party…
Statement Decor: Paris 312 party decor is a must. I used their huge balloons for our Christmas party and they were such a hit I had to get them again, but this time in summer colors. The huge balloons, letter balloons, and tassels make a bold statement and really fill up the space. We have a pretty big house so we spread the balloons thoughout the party: by the front door when you walked in, in the living room, and above the bar cart. They delivered the balloons right to the door. PS – my mid-century modern velvet chairs from Joss & Main are 66% off right now!
Flowers: Fresh flowers are the perfect decor touch and easy to put together last minute. We picked up hydrangeas, lilies, and some greenery at our local grocery store (Mariano’s has *great* flowers if you live here in town) and put together summer-y bouquets for the coffee table, island, and end tables.
String lights: Our back porch is pretty simple, but when we strung these tea lights along the top and bottom of the porch it created the coolest ambiance (online here at Target)! Add candles throughout the house and dim the lights for when the sun goes down.. lighting is everything! I bought 4 of these – 2 for the top, 2 for the bottom. Each string is 25′ long. I also linked my outdoor rug that’s on major sale right now:
Bar cart: A styled bar cart is great for parties, so we styled some pretty bottles (sent straight to the house via Minibar), La Croix cans, Pelegrino bottles, and little pineapple guys on my bar cart (click here to shop this exact bar cart almost 40% off!). What really makes the barcart though is the mini cheers balloon hung over top of this beach scene art I found a World Market last week. I bought it for $100 last week but now it’s on sale for $49 here – steal!! Very Gray Malin-ish for like 1/10 of the price.
Finger Foods: we didn’t even attempt to try to feed everyone invited to the party, but thought it would be a good idea to have some snack food spread throughout the house. We picked up some chips, guac, and salsa (bc who doesn’t like that) and Chex Mix. Very fancy, I know. But seriously the Chex Mix was a hit, haha.
Add a good playlist, good friends, and some rosé.. and if you ask me you’ve put together a pretty successful party 🙂 Thanks for reading guys, hope you all had a great weekend! If you missed my Instastory tour of our new kitchen (!!) the other day, here are some of the links to shop it and the new bar stools I just ordered:
Outfit details below (wearing size 0 in the skirt – I LOVE IT, and my heels are only $49 right now):
Photography by John-Philp
