The holidays are fast approaching, and if you’re planning on throwing a holiday party for your family and friends, you’ll want to make sure you have the best room arrangement possible. Here are some holiday party ideas for making the most of your space.
Consider the Guest List
When you’re throwing a holiday party, the first thing you need to consider before rearranging your furniture is the guest list. Throwing a party for 10 is different than throwing a party for 30, and adult-only parties will have different considerations than family events. Once you have a solid idea of who is coming, then you can figure out the specifics of your dining room and living room arrangements.
Figure Out Logistics
Before you arrange your furniture for your holiday party, you’ll want to consider the logistics of the evening. Is dinner your number one priority? Will gift giving be the main event? Are people bringing their own dishes? What are you serving for appetizers, dinner, and dessert? What kind of drinks will you be serving?
Consider the Flow
This step separates the professional party planners from the amateurs. Once you’ve figured out the logistics, you can arrange your furniture with flow in mind. In addition to making sure people have a clear path to walk, this entails placing furniture, food, and beverage stations in such a way that people will naturally move through the party in a logical way. By putting popular stations away from chaotic spaces like the kitchen, you can keep people spaced out and out of high-traffic areas.
Create Multiple Seating Areas
While creating multiple seating areas helps keep people spread out, it has the added benefit of allowing people to have more intimate conversations. Sectional sofas naturally create a segmented seating area and adding a secondary seating area with loveseats and accent chairs can help keep conversations audible for everyone involved.
Utilize and Repurpose Furniture
When throwing a holiday party, it’s important to utilize every piece of living room and dining room furniture you have, even if you’re repurposing it for a different function than it’s intended. You might, for example, use a coffee table as a kids table for your youngest party guests. Or you may end up using a credenza as a makeshift cocktail table.
Remove Extra Furniture
Does your living room layout include a beautiful conversation piece you picked up during your travels? Your holiday party might not be the best place to display it. Remember, you want the space to be as functional as possible, which might mean putting large or unproductive pieces of furniture into temporary storage.
Use a Furniture Arrangement Tool
Rearranging furniture can be heavy and time-consuming, and if you’re not sure exactly how you want your furniture arranged, you might consider starting with our free furniture arrangement tool. That way, you can see how different living room arrangements look before actually moving the heavy furniture.
Before the big event, be sure to check out our holiday hosting furniture guide. You can also check out our interior design blog for more information on upgrading your dining room for the holidays and sprucing up your guestroom for holiday houseguests.
