Happy Hour is over at midnight and your place is the suggested location for your group to continue the evening of fun and to “straighten up” before hitting the road all the way home.
This could be a sticky situation if you aren’t prepared. So, here are 7 easy tips to successfully hosting an impromptu after party.
1. Put A Pot On- Serve coffee. Keep it simple, you don’t have to compete with Starbucks. Just brew up some java and it at the very least leaves your apartment with a wonderful aroma. It’ll help the sleepies wake up a little too.
2. Play Music At A Volume Grandmother Would Appreciate- And not the deaf one either. Be respectful of your neighbors to keep the party going. You could pop on your favorite streaming service like Spotify, the Ipod, stereo, or even use your favorite music channel provided by your dish or cable company right on the TV, but keep low. Suddenly you’re an Instant DJ. Plus, those music channels offer some really neat trivia about the artist that it’s currently playing.
3. Serve water to everyone- Maybe they don’t go for the coffee, but after a night out everyone could use some water. Even try to rouse the guy who didn’t quite make it through the night. If you don’t have bottled water, make a picture of ice cold water, add lemons, limes, oranges or even cucumbers (although not necessarily together) to give it some pizzazz. You must keep hydrated.
4. Appetizer’s are in high demand- Order appetizers before you leave your happy hour spot. Or, hop over to Ihop for breakfast food. Don’t want to stop? Scramble some eggs with a little toast, have chips and salsa, or cut up a medley of fresh fruit, cheese, and crackers. The true entertainer should always have mixed nuts or pretzels on hand.
5. Go Light On the Sauce- When preparing late night cocktails, go heavy on the mixers. Remember: your apartment isn’t a fully stocked bar and everyone’s been drinking since 6 p.m.
6. Play thinking games- Have games already on hand? Perfect. If not, make up some trivia games like name 5 movies with Julia Roberts or who holds the NFL record for the most Touchdowns. The point is to make sure your guest are mentally in top form before they say they’re going to head home—driving.
7. Don’t invite extra people- Only VIP’s make it to the after-party. Don’t allow others who call your after-hour buddies to drop in. Too many people can ruin a late night get together and things can get out of hand. VIP’s only!
The key to the perfect after-party is supplying your guests with a safe, fun place to relax or pull it together before heading home to drunk dial—which you can’t really help them with.
