10 Ideas for Easy Fall Entertaining
It’s a cinch to pull together a quick autumn gathering when you have these simple tips in your back pocket
With crisp weather, school back in session and farm stands brimming with produce, fall is a great time to nurture community with a cozy gathering in your home. But since fall also tends to be a busy season, it helps to have a few back-pocket tips you can rely on to make any gathering feel extra-special without a lot of fuss. Here are 10 can-do ideas for fall parties.
2. Be Generous With Warm Throws
The next time you spy cozy throw blankets on sale, consider picking up a few extras. Beyond sofas and armchairs, throws can add a welcoming touch to the front porch, back deck or dining chairs.
When you’re not hosting, extras can be folded and draped over a decorative wooden ladder to add color and texture to a blank wall.
Shop for throws on Houzz
The next time you spy cozy throw blankets on sale, consider picking up a few extras. Beyond sofas and armchairs, throws can add a welcoming touch to the front porch, back deck or dining chairs.
When you’re not hosting, extras can be folded and draped over a decorative wooden ladder to add color and texture to a blank wall.
Shop for throws on Houzz
3. Get Your Decor From the Farm Stand
Shop for party food and decor in one swoop by scooping up farm stand apples, pomegranates or nuts in the shell to use as centerpieces. Placed in a pretty wooden bowl, any of these seasonal finds can easily stand in for (or complement) the usual flowers.
Warm Up Fall With an Apple Pie Party at Home
Shop for party food and decor in one swoop by scooping up farm stand apples, pomegranates or nuts in the shell to use as centerpieces. Placed in a pretty wooden bowl, any of these seasonal finds can easily stand in for (or complement) the usual flowers.
Warm Up Fall With an Apple Pie Party at Home
4. Embrace Platter Food
Think fresh fruit, nuts, cheeses and charcuterie — but also meatballs, roast chicken, veggies, dips, spreads and anything else you have on hand or spy at the market on your way home. When all these little things are arrayed on big platters or boards, they look beautiful and bountiful yet require little of you aside from choosing and arranging. Of course, if you want to cook, do it! But know that slaving in the kitchen all afternoon is not the only option.
Think fresh fruit, nuts, cheeses and charcuterie — but also meatballs, roast chicken, veggies, dips, spreads and anything else you have on hand or spy at the market on your way home. When all these little things are arrayed on big platters or boards, they look beautiful and bountiful yet require little of you aside from choosing and arranging. Of course, if you want to cook, do it! But know that slaving in the kitchen all afternoon is not the only option.
5. Welcome Guests Into the Kitchen
When the first guests arrive, instead of directing them to the (empty) living room and then abandoning them to finish your prepping, invite them to perch at the kitchen counter and hand them a glass of wine or a mug of hot cider. It feels welcoming and cozy, and once enough people have arrived, you can let the group spill into the other space.
Find a kitchen designer near you
When the first guests arrive, instead of directing them to the (empty) living room and then abandoning them to finish your prepping, invite them to perch at the kitchen counter and hand them a glass of wine or a mug of hot cider. It feels welcoming and cozy, and once enough people have arrived, you can let the group spill into the other space.
Find a kitchen designer near you
6. Serve a Signature Drink
Having a signature drink is just a fancy way of saying you’re serving one thing, and that’s it.
This can really simplify things, especially if you’re hosting a big group. That said, if you choose something alcoholic (like the fall sangria pictured here), it’s a good idea to offer a festive nonalcoholic alternative like fresh cider or Mexican hot chocolate too.
Then just set everything up in one area and point guests in the right direction to help themselves.
A Juicy Fall Sangria for Your Outdoor Mini Bar
Having a signature drink is just a fancy way of saying you’re serving one thing, and that’s it.
This can really simplify things, especially if you’re hosting a big group. That said, if you choose something alcoholic (like the fall sangria pictured here), it’s a good idea to offer a festive nonalcoholic alternative like fresh cider or Mexican hot chocolate too.
Then just set everything up in one area and point guests in the right direction to help themselves.
A Juicy Fall Sangria for Your Outdoor Mini Bar
7. Use Your Best
Do you save your best china or silverware for special occasions? If so, consider bringing out at least some of it during more casual gatherings too.
Even one special touch, such as using the good linen napkins or the fancy sugar bowl and creamer, will make your guests feel cared for — and it’s not even hard to do.
How to Organize and Style Your China Hutch
Do you save your best china or silverware for special occasions? If so, consider bringing out at least some of it during more casual gatherings too.
Even one special touch, such as using the good linen napkins or the fancy sugar bowl and creamer, will make your guests feel cared for — and it’s not even hard to do.
How to Organize and Style Your China Hutch
8. Do Something Collaborative
Having an activity to participate in together can be a great way to break the ice, especially if you’re inviting over folks you’re just getting to know. Board games or cards can work, but so can shareable food (fondue, perhaps), simple craft projects or a photo booth.
Having an activity to participate in together can be a great way to break the ice, especially if you’re inviting over folks you’re just getting to know. Board games or cards can work, but so can shareable food (fondue, perhaps), simple craft projects or a photo booth.
9. Have Breakfast
Having a breakfast party can be a welcome change of pace, especially for parents of young kids — everyone is up early anyway, so why not get together? Plus your party is done before lunchtime, so you can still squeeze more fun into the weekend. The menu can be as simple (bagels and cream cheese) or elaborate (homemade waffles and bacon) as you like, but be sure to include plenty of coffee and tea, fresh juice, and an assortment of tempting fruit.
Browse pretty teapots in the Houzz Shop
Having a breakfast party can be a welcome change of pace, especially for parents of young kids — everyone is up early anyway, so why not get together? Plus your party is done before lunchtime, so you can still squeeze more fun into the weekend. The menu can be as simple (bagels and cream cheese) or elaborate (homemade waffles and bacon) as you like, but be sure to include plenty of coffee and tea, fresh juice, and an assortment of tempting fruit.
Browse pretty teapots in the Houzz Shop
10. Take It Outside
If the day is pleasant, hosting a fall party outdoors can be delightful. Provide throws to wrap up in and plenty of hot drinks to keep everyone cozy inside and out. And if you have a fire pit, this would be the perfect time to put it to use.
More on Houzz
Simple Pleasures: 9 Ways to Get Cozy Outside This Fall
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If the day is pleasant, hosting a fall party outdoors can be delightful. Provide throws to wrap up in and plenty of hot drinks to keep everyone cozy inside and out. And if you have a fire pit, this would be the perfect time to put it to use.
More on Houzz
Simple Pleasures: 9 Ways to Get Cozy Outside This Fall
Find an interior designer
Shop for home products
With the right lighting, your guests will walk in and immediately feel at ease, which means that you can relax about some other party elements (like fancy food) and no one is likely to even notice. And while it took the homeowners a day to put up the 300 feet of string lights shown here, it’s a set-it-and-forget-it task that’s bound to serve them well for parties throughout the fall and winter. If you don’t want to go quite so big, even a few strands of lights over the party space can make a big impression.
Read about this house and how the owners strung their lights