Hosting A Housewarming Party When You’re Busy & on a Budget
Housewarming parties can be daunting to host when you’re busy and on a budget! But it is absolutely possible to have a fun, stress-free, and affordable housewarming party!
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You finally moved in, the boxes are unpacked, the new furniture got delivered, and you’re ready to have your housewarming party! There’s just one small problem: that new house cost a lot of money, and homeownership comes with a ton of extra work! How are you going to afford a big party and find the time to make it fun? Believe me, it can seem tough. Earlier this year, I wrote a post on how I planned my wedding while working full-time. Much like a wedding, throwing a housewarming party requires a plan.
My husband and I finally committed to hosting our housewarming party a few weeks ago. We both have super demanding jobs, and with the holidays coming up, we didn’t want to break the bank. However, we still wanted to host a great party! We made a few strategic decisions, and we managed to host our housewarming party without going (too) crazy or spending an enormous amount of money. Here’s how we pulled it off:
Decide Who You’ll Invite to Your Housewarming Party
The first step to throwing your housewarming party is to make your guest list. Are you going to invite your family? Friends? Co-workers? We chose to invite our families to see the house on separate occasions, so the party was kept to just our friends. Inviting less people helped to cut down on costs. It was also easier to coordinate schedules and plan our menu.
Once we decided who we wanted to invite, I decided to make invitations. These aren’t necessary, but I thought it was a fun way to make the party more welcoming! I made the one above on Canva. Canva is a free design website, and it has tons of templates to use! I chose colors that complemented our kitchen, where the party would be centered. Once they were done, we texted the invitations out to our friends. That cut down on postage or worries about anything getting lost in the mail.
Decorations
Decorating is so much fun! It can really pull together a space and help to embrace a theme. We (loosely) went with a fall theme for our housewarming party because we wanted the party to have a cozy, homey vibe. One way to really accentuate the atmosphere is through scented candles. Think about what kind of vibe you want for your own party, and do some research on what scents evoke that. My hometown is known for beekeeping and makes the best beeswax candles! We had one of their 3-wick candles lit for our entire party. In my humble opinion, their bourbon pear scent is the best fall scent out there!
I had also wanted to make these apple tea lights I found on Pinterest, but we ran out of time. Our party happened the weekend before Thanksgiving, so it was pretty easy to find cute fall decorations like these napkins. Decorations don’t have to cost a ton, but a few strategically chosen ones can really elevate a party!
Planning the Menu
Food and drinks are arguably the most important part of hosting. Nobody wants to celebrate when they’re hangry. On the other hand, food and drinks can give guests something to do as well as be a conversation-starter. We had a few guests get into a (friendly) debate over how to properly make different mixed drinks, and it kept them entertained for a while. Food and drinks can also play up the theme of your event!
Food
When deciding the menu for your housewarming party, a good rule of thumb is to have a “pass-by snack,” a “main” item, a savory side, something sweet, and a few healthy options. Always keep in mind any food allergies or other dietary restrictions too. A “pass-by snack” is anything that someone could eat as they pass by; it doesn’t necessarily rise to a meal or side. For this, we chose chips and dips. We got tortilla chips, potato chips, salsa, guacamole, and queso. A “main” item ensures your guests have something filling to eat. Our “main” item was a sandwich tray. Publix had a great option where we could pick 3 different bread and meat combos so everyone got something they liked. Our savory sides were popcorn chicken with dipping sauces and deviled eggs. Our dessert options were cupcakes, cookies, and brownies. We also made fruit and veggie trays with dips (fun fact: I put the veggie dip in a hollowed-out bell pepper!).
We spent some time deciding what we could reasonably put together ourselves vs what was better to just buy. Publix had a great selection of pre-made party trays, but they were too expensive to use for every single option. It made sense to buy the sandwich tray since that would have taken a while to make, but the fruit and veggie trays were easy enough to handle on our own. We also wanted to food to go with the cozy fall theme. My family always had deviled eggs at family gatherings, so I thought it would be fun to include for our housewarming party. I toyed with the idea of putting out a few “sophisticated” foods, but they didn’t go with the rest of the party’s vibes.
Drinks
Next is the drink selection. Definitely make sure you consider your guests’ preferences when making selections. We absolutely wanted a few non-alcoholic options since the party was in the middle of the day, and our guests all had to drive home. Beer and wine are popular party options. I’m not a beer-drinker, so I left that choice to my husband. I do enjoy a good glass of wine though. I usually drink dry white wines, so we got a few bottles of sauvignon blanc and chardonnay since they’d eventually be drank even if our guests didn’t finish them. A few of our guests liked red wine and a few others liked sweet wines, so we got a few bottles of those as well. Publix had a great selection of wines that didn’t break the bank!
I also made a signature drink. Signature drinks are a great way to play up a theme, break away from the “standard offerings,” and offer a mixed drink option without having to buy a full bar. To tie in our cozy fall theme, I made an apple cider sangria. This was definitely a hit!
Cleaning
The next task was figuring out the best way to get the house ready for guests. Since we planned to show our guests the whole house, the whole house needed to be clean. I would have loved to deep clean the house the day of the party, but there just wasn’t enough time. Our Roomba saved us a ton of work by handling the vacuuming every day while we were at work (They’re on sale right now too!).
For the rest of the chores, we split them up and covered a few each day leading up to the party. We did the yard work the weekend before since it wouldn’t need to be redone closer to the party. The upstairs vacuuming and bathroom cleaning was handled earlier in the week since that wouldn’t be the main place guests would be mingling. Dusting happened mid-week since it wouldn’t build up too much by party time. We cleaned the kitchen and downstairs bathroom the night before so they would both be as clean as possible for the party.
Housewarming Party Activities
The final element to throwing a great housewarming party is activities. This doesn’t have to be anything too intense. The main idea of a housewarming party is for people to see your new home and socialize. My husband took on the role of tour guide while I chatted with our guests in the kitchen. However, having some additional activity to keep everyone entertained is still a good idea. We planned our party on the day UGA was playing Tennessee. A lot of our friends are UGA fans, so having the game on was an easy choice. It also gave people something to watch when there was a lull in conversation. Planning your party on a day where there’s some televised event your guests will have some degree of interest in is a great way to keep guests entertained for cheap!
I am so glad we FINALLY got to host our housewarming party! It was a ton of fun! I hope you’re able to use some of these tips for your own party! Let me know which ones you like best in the comments!
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