How to Host the Best Party at Home with Social Distance

Summer entertaining season has arrived, and yet we all have an obligation to maintain safety protocols in this era of COVID-19. So there are a bunch of new rules on how to host a party these days. Is it possible to be safe and still have fun? Not to worry. Our correspondent Julie Chang Murphy has the tips we all need on how to host the best party at home while maintaining safe social distance.

Can you actually host a party at home in the era of COVID-19?

Depending on your geographic state (and your own state of mind), small social gatherings are poised to replace the Zoom happy hours we’ve grown accustomed to.

The latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer many considerations for enhancing protection of individuals and communities and preventing the spread of coronavirus during in-person events.

And while any live gathering invites exposure, there are some specific measures we can take to minimize the risk.

Specifically, outdoors is a lot better than anything held indoors. Moreover, individuals should try to remain 6 feet apart, wear cloth face coverings, refrain from sharing objects, and definitely stay home if they’re not feeling well, have an underlying condition or have recently traveled to a “hot spot.”

The benefits of increased in-person social interactions hardly need to be listed. It’s something most of us have felt bereft of these past few weeks. We were recently invited to an outdoor dinner party by close friends, and it was absolutely soul-restoring. Two couples, two sets of kids, a dog, a cat, and a warm starry summer night. What could possibly be better?

If you’re in the mood to host a party at your home, and want to do it in the most responsible and cautious way, we have a few solutions that will allow you to be the ultimate gracious host/hostess.

While the stakes for safety might be high, know that your guests will not be expecting the same party standards from the pre-coronavirus era.

Meaning, forget the bountiful, open buffet spread or passed hors d’oeuvres. Most likely, your guests will just be honored to be included in your chosen pod and have a chance to have in-person conversations in a safe, private environment.

If you’re ready to host a party pandemic-style, read on.

How to Host the Best Party at Home while maintaining Social Distance rules

1. Invitations

If you’re inviting under 10 people, an old-fashioned phone call is the way to go. Etiquette expert Mindy Lockard explains that this allows the hostess to be fully transparent and as straightforward as possible. Potential guests can then make an informed decision based on their own comfort level.

If the group of invitees is more than 10 people (and it’s allowed by your state), consider Paperless Post which has designs incorporating Coronavirus concerns like the one below. They also have text message “flyers”which makes it easier to facilitate an exchange of questions or concerns from your guests. The bottom line is that a gracious host puts the needs and comfort of the guest first and a considerate and sensitive invitation will set that tone.

2.  Location 

By now, we know that outdoor gatherings are the safest way to interact and social distance properly. Keep an eye on the weather and be prepared to postpone and cancel the event if there is a good chance of rain. You don’t want a group huddling in your living room, cold and sneezing! Prior to the event, you can set up seating and tables that are already six feet apart. At a park in NYC, we saw spray-painted circles on a lawn, all socially distanced. A host could even make a game of it and assign guests a specific colored circle and then have people switch throughout the event- consider it a COVID-inspired mash-up of musical chairs and guest cards.

If there’s space, consider setting up games that naturally encourage social distancing like croquet or badminton. If there’s a pool involved, these luxury pool floats provide a bit of buffer and eye candy.

3. Food and Beverages

Some publications have suggested guests be asked to bring their own food but that just doesn’t feel right to us. Taking cues from some of the best practices in the restaurant industry, it is relatively easy to provide disposables and individually wrapped items.

These days, there are many attractive and sustainable disposables on the market. We wrote an entire article about them! Serveware and utensils made from recycled paper but also sugar cane, bamboo, and wheat straw. For food, Bryan Rafanelli, who has staged events for the Obamas at the White House, suggests box lunches or dinners. The containers themselves can be decorated and customized for a unique signature look. Or, consider a dinner tray for each guest so there is nothing communal to be shared. Don’t forget that common shared items like condiments, sugar, salt and other spices are available in mini packets and can be included on each tray.

For beverages, there are many creative and novel canned beverage options from spiked seltzer, to hard kombucha and boozy tea. They lend a casual and relaxed vibe to the affair which can further take the edge off- in more ways than one. If you must have a bar, it makes sense to have one designated person mixing drinks and serving drinks. Hiring a professional for this is always money well spent.

4. The Coronovirus toolkit: Face masks, gloves, hand sanitizer 

The trickiest part to navigate is the question of face masks. Ideally, you will have established a base line in the invitation stage of the party planning. With food involved, people will have to take off their masks at some point. Do they put it back on after eating? Do they put it on while walking through the house? As the host, it will be up to you to take control and likely, your guests will be grateful for a little bit of bossiness and clear direction.

Regardless, it’s a good idea to provide some face masks, gloves and readily accessible hand sanitizer in the common areas. Here, you can even have a small sign of your established house rules to cut down on any awkwardness. Also, consider some of these chic masks as a parting gift to remind guests of their first party post-lockdown.

And the best tip of all? Have a sense of humor. We are all in uncharted territory, united by a common desire to be in one another’s company. With any luck, partying pandemic style will be buried and forgotten in a time-capsule but until then, here’s to staying safe, sane and connected.

The best tips on how to Host a luxury party pandemic style

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Crediting her training as a cultural anthropologist at Wellesley College, Julie has immersed herself in various industries in the last 15 years including fashion design, event planning, and fitness. Julie lives in New York where she loves trying every ramen and dumpling restaurant with her husband and three children. She finds joy in bold prints, biographies of fierce women, kickboxing. And spending way too long finding the perfect polish color to express her mood.

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