11 Tips to Host Parties in Small Houses and Apartments

Listen to Chrystina discuss all 11 tips for hosting parties in small spaces on Episode 14 of the Party Ideas & Logistics with Chrystina Noel podcast, above, in approximately 8 minutes.

I’ve read a few articles around the internet about how to host parties in a small space, but I haven’t been thrilled with them. They talk a lot about décor (not worth cluttering your space), using all the rooms in your house (that’s a lot to commit to), and keeping colors monochromatic (which might be true, but this is a logistics blog), but I’m not sure those are the things that really count when hosting a party in a small space. It’s (always) all about logistics.

Some of you may know that I live in a row house in Philadelphia. I was recently informed (I have not confirmed this, but it seems like it could be right) that row houses come in three varieties: 12 feet, 14 feet, or 16 feet. Mine is 12. (I recently went to an Open House of a 16 foot wide row house and spent the rest of the day convincing myself that I didn’t need a $500k+ house. Also, for those of you who live in suburbs, you might be thinking, come on Chrystina, 12 to 16 feet, that’s nothing – that’s THIRTY-THREE PERCENT more width. That is all.) I got lost somewhere in here, let me start again…

I live in a 12’ wide row house, that is 850 square feet, split among 4 floors. Which makes each floor about 12’ x 17’, including the stairs. When you walk in, you enter into the living room. You go down the stairs to the kitchen. (There’s a basement under that.) If you went up a flight of stairs you would find a bedroom and a bathroom, and then another bedroom above that. So it’s tiny. And feels even more tiny once you put 12 people inside of it (which is the max that fits in the house).

The kitchen:

The living room:

The apartment I lived in before this was on a single floor and about 1200 sqft. So it was WAY bigger. And it was so easy to navigate. There was a kitchen that opened into a living room with a heck of a lot of seating and a big foyer for people to put their things. I didn’t know how good I had it.

So since then, I’ve been navigating figuring out what to do with people when they come in the front door, figuring out where to put their stuff, how to best setup, how to best serve food, and how to clean up. It’s been a challenge. And trial and errors. So I’m here to share some of that information with you today.

Clear traffic paths

Try to keep as much furniture out of the way of the walking paths as possible. There should, at a minimum, be a clear path from the door and a clear path to the bathroom. Especially because as people come, they will start to fill those paths, so you want to make sure they’re not filled by people and things.

Give everything a place

One thing that can really help is to give everything a place. For example, when people come in, have a space for bottles of wine, have a place for coats, and have a place to put food. That way, you can direct people straight to that space (or take it from them). For something like coats, I recommend that you put it out of the way from the party happenings, for example, in a bedroom. This way things are out of the way and not taking up space you need shoved in a corner.

Setup seats around the perimeter

If your place is super small having people sitting in the middle of the room will close off the space and inevitably make somebody feel like they’re left out. Sure, it means you’ll end up engaged in much “larger” group discussions rather than one on one conversations, but it’s a great way for people to meet people.

Send people to food in groups

Because my space is so small the food is served from the kitchen, but people hang out in the living room. I always have a few people come downstairs at a time to grab food so they don’t clog up the stairs and to tag team a friend when they get back upstairs.

Check your plate and utensil count

My friend Heather reminded me of this one. If you have a small space, you probably don’t have that many cups and dishes and utensils. Make sure you have enough before the party starts. If not, consider either (a) buying extra items, or (b) buying disposable items to use for the party (and if you want to avoid adding too much trash to the worst, you can search for eco-friendly plates).

Put things where people will be

This is probably the most important tip. Maybe I should have started with it. Put the things where the people are going to be. Put out the water, the napkins, the coasters, and the trash right where people are hanging out so they don’t need to move very far to get to it. This actually even stretches to appetizers. Don’t put your appetizers in the kitchen if you know people are going to be hanging out in the living room.

Clear plates quickly

As soon as plates are done being used, clear them. Whether they’re real or disposable, the sooner you can get them out of the way, the less cluttered the space is going to be (and the less likely that they will be knocked on the floor).

Differentiate between cups

Because everybody’s going to be in such tight quarters, find a way to differentiate between cups. You can label plastic cups, you can use a variety of different glassware, or you can buy wine charms. This will help people find their glass when they’ve placed it down.

Don’t bother decorating

A lot of articles I found about hosting parties in small spaces talked about the décor. I’ve got to tell you. If your place is small, I don’t see a reason to add any more clutter to it. Every space in your apartment is probably going to be utilized as either a seat or a place to put food, so don’t use that space for décor.

If you still really want to decorate, two suggestions:

• Keep it to the outskirts. Think of the places that no one is going to be trying to push through. Window sills. Mantles. Nooks. Something that nobody will knock over as they’re trying to make their way to the bathroom.

• Take advantage of walls and ceilings. You can hang streamers, lights, or paper chains. You can post pictures, hang specific artwork, or project something on the wall. These don’t take up actual foot traffic space in the room.

That said, I really just would let the natural décor of your home speak for itself – and keep the party fun in the food, drink, & company.

Keep it bright

Make sure there’s enough light in the room. Bring in extra lamps if you have to (especially if it’s nighttime). Small spaces with a lot of people that are dark look even smaller.

Consider the temperature

If there are going to be a lot of people in a small space, make sure you are either heating or cooling that space accordingly. And don’t forget to take into consideration whether or not you will have the oven on, because that will affect the temperature as well.

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And that’s it. Those are my best tips for hosting a party in a small space. Do you have any tips that I haven’t considered? I’d love to add them to my list!