Thinking about a casino party in your home?

 

We have a special 6' craps table that was designed to fit into most homes without any problems.

 

Home parties are smaller than regular hotel events, but they have the same requirements when it comes to planning.  In fact, in many cases they actually require more planning.

Some of the most overlooked items are:

Parking Problems:
It's a good idea to inform your neighbors of your plans. You will find that in most cases your neighbors will appreciate your efforts to minimize potential problems before they happen.  Telling your neighbors of your plans will allow you to avoid problems, and in many cases you might find that some neighbors would even let you use their driveway to put extra cars.  One way to almost guarantee your neighbor's help is to invite them to the party.  This also might help you with excessive noise issues.

Guest wandering around your house? 
Want to keep some rooms "off limits?"  It's ok to post signs to guests telling that this room is "off-limits" or if you want to be more discreet, try placing a chair in front of the door to the off limits room.

Want to limit your guests from having too much to drink? 
Pass out "drink" tickets to your guests. In most cases your guests will get the hint and not go over the limit.

Make sure your guests can find your house:
Use a small sign in your front yard "This is the place!" or "Jan and Mike's Party".  You can even have a spot light on the sign using a flashlight or garden lights.

Do you expect kids at the party?
Have something for them to do. You can hire a clown, or some other kind of entertainment. You can also have a television set up with some kid movies, or buy a few games that will keep them busy for a few hours. Another good idea is to hire a baby sitter to help watch them, and keep them entertained.

Is this a surprise party party?

The biggest challenge with a surprise party is coordination and timing.  Usually the main plan is to get the guest of honor out of the house, and get all their friends into the house without being noticed.  This usually includes turning a plain looking room into a party room.  Get your guests to help with decorations and set up.  Make sure that everyone knows their job.

My advice is to determine how long it will take to perform this task, then double it.  Don't forget to have the guests park away from the house, that is usually a dead give-a-way.

Another issue is the planning phase.  Make sure you tell all of the hired party vendors,  and guests that this is a surprise party so they don't call with questions and spoil the surprise.

It's a good idea to have a video camera set up to capture the event.  You can make still photos from a digital video camera,  it is very hard to capture the exact moment that the surprise takes place with a regular camera.