I originally posted this in April of 2017
Hosting a Large Crowd At The Little House on The Channel
We hosted an engagement party for 110 people at our 780 Square foot home on the channel. If you don’t know about The Little House on The Channel, click here to read more about it.
Earlier I had shared with how I hoped it would turn out- you can read about my vision for it here.
I believe it turned out better than I had even hoped!
Take Advantage Of The Space You Have.
First of all, I did not imagine the beautiful white tent extending our indoor living space from the garage by 512 square feet. I want to give a massive shout out to fellow realtor Dina Mitchell who read my original post and graciously offered the use of her tent. Not only did it add usable square footage, but also it truly made the entire affair feel more formal. It turned a driveway into a banquet hall.
Make it look special
We put the tables in the tent with white tablecloths. I purchased bud vases in varying heights and colors from the thrift stores and borrowed a few from my sister. We borrowed lace runners from another friend. We ran the large patio lights in the tent- it was beautiful.
As I stated in my earlier post, I am not a fan of having a party in the garage. I had hoped ”for an airy, white, spring feel.” I believe I achieved that- take a look at the photos above.
We hung white icicle lights (a lot of them- some ours, some borrowed) behind the white sheets with lace over the sheets. My son and his lovely bride-to-be hung photos of themselves on long gold cords over the lace.
Use What You Have
My husband was going to remove his table saw and a few other pieces from the garage. He did not have to; we were able to use them as part of the buffet table.
I covered the buffet tables with the white sheets. I like to build height on my buffet table. I used cake pans, bricks, wooden boxes & cardboard boxes for my height; then covered them in sheets and lace.
One of the items left at the Little House when we purchased it was random pieces of slate. We had no idea what we would do with them, but it was one of the things we could not get rid of. My husband came up with the idea to clean one of them up and use it as a cheese tray.
I borrowed glass trays from friends and family (because I had purged several of mine). We rented chafing dishes for hot food.
It was a perfect day.
It did not rain. It was warm enough so people could sit on the patio and the deck. People enjoyed long conversations outside and in the tent.
My son and his fiancé were able to enjoy a relaxed day visiting with family and friends.
My advice when hosting a large party at your house? Plan well in advance so you know exactly what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by. I love to use excel spreadsheets for event like this so I have all my thoughts, tasks and lists in one place. Most importantly enlist the help of family and friends. Sometimes the real connections happen during the hard preparatory work. And the day can be made that much sweeter knowing how many hands had helped make it happen!
