Happy New Year!

Hello my beautiful followers,

Welcome to 2015 a brand new year & I am so excited! Firstly how quick did last year fly by! Crazy!

We didn't go all out this year just hosted a little party/gathering with Paul's family as my family couldn't make it which was lovely & we had a lot of fun! 

Some tips for hosting a party:

1.If you are stuck on what food/snacks to serve at your party then I would highly recommend on getting a take away such as Indian or Chinese like we did. This is because from previous parties we done party food such as sausage rolls,sandwiches,crisps etc.. & not alot of people had full tummies after! 

Also believe it or not it costs alot more buying party food from the supermarket because you end up getting so much of everything & different sides,desserts etc you can easily get carried away. Where as if you order a takeaway (suitable for 20 guest or under) everyone can select a main dish & a side dish and also share everyone's leftovers! For around 20 guest it worked out around £90 and we got alot of Indian food & tons of leftovers for the next day! In the end everyone had abit of everything from the spread & turned out to be a brilliant buffet!

 If you have a party with alot of guest then probably stick with party food/canapes etc as I am not sure take away restaurants can cater to a large amount! Little note if you are ordering on NYE then always plan ahead we scheduled the food to come for 8pm on JUST EAT and it came bang on 8pm so the guest were very happy! 

On top of our main food of the night I did get a massive chocolate cheese cake from ASDA which tasted so good & went down a treat, on the side I also put out the usual peanuts,crisps,pringles,cupcakes,sweets etc.. Overall I think it worked out cheaper because party food can add up fast and after spending £90 on a big take away with lots of left overs it was pretty worth it! Also all of the guest put £5-10.00 into the bill so they are getting a main dish,side for £10.00!

2.Preparing your house! 

If you are hosting a big party then you need to start thinking of the little things or things that you wouldnt necessarily think of like:

• Carpets/Rugs getting ruined - we are lucky to have all wooden floors in our house but we have some beautiful cream rugs downstairs so I rolled them up and put them away in the spare room as it was raining outside & guest bring in mud,dirt from outside and things could get messy! If you have carpets in your hallway,lounge etc place a dark old sheet down so people can wipe there feet or even better if you feel comfortable asking guest tell them to take there shoes off.
• Neighbors - If you have great neighbours then maybe invite them to your party so everyone is kept happy, but instead a couple days or weeks before your gathering when you see them just give them a little heads up that you are hosting a party and there maybe loud music, etc going on 
• Clean out your fridge - If you are buying your own party food then you will need alot of space in your fridge for all the fresh products so clear out any unwanted food/sauces in there to make more room for your groceries also you may have to keep wine,champayne chilling in there so make as much room as you can.
• Declutter - Alot of our party was in our kitchen as its quite big so I had to focus on this area more then other rooms, I have a few bits on the counter tops that don't need to be there so for extra room I removed items such as the toaster,chopping board (things I wouldnt use that night) and put them in a cupboard so I had tons of space on my counter tops to prepare drinks,coffees etc! 
• RUBBISH! - Wow after our party we had endless amounts of rubbish that Paul had to go to the local tip TWICE! My tip for this is to keep a black garbage bag out at all times, somewhere people can notice it (I put mine hanging on our back door) & also a recylcing bag so people can chuck there cans,beer bottles,plastic cups away straight into the bag & your not left with mountains of rubbish on your countertops to sort through! 
• Bathroom - The amount of people that use your loo/bathroom is crazy, I think I spent a good hour before guest arrived spring cleaning the bathroom as I do like a sparkling loo! A great tip use a toilet cleaner disk or gel such as the one I use which is Duck Fresh Discs Marine & you can buy refills.These work brilliantly & really freshen your loo up everytime some flushes. Also I am a big lover of candles around the house, so one in your bathroom,living room,kitchen just to make the place feel more inviting & of course smell great too! 

• Coats & Bags - Another great tip is to Specify a place for coats this maybe in the hallway or up in one of the bedrooms. I wouldn't recommend putting them on the bannister as you can easily trip over them espically if you have a drunk guest :-/

 Hoped these little tips help anyone who is planning a party soon or maybe hosting a NYE gathering next year! 

Lots of Love

Katie x