Party Time: How to Corral Your Party Supplies
Don’t let paper and plastic goods overwhelm your home. These tips can help you pare down to the entertainment essentials
Summer is the season of backyard barbecues, family reunions and plastic plates. If you host large parties, finding space to store all your party essentials can be challenging. Your supplies may be mixed in with everyday items or scattered throughout the house and garage. But there’s a more efficient way.
Keeping your party supplies in one place allows you to take inventory at a glance and ensure that you don’t forget — or overbuy — any items. Don’t let occasionally used party supplies dominate prime space that can be better used for more frequently needed items.
Keeping your party supplies in one place allows you to take inventory at a glance and ensure that you don’t forget — or overbuy — any items. Don’t let occasionally used party supplies dominate prime space that can be better used for more frequently needed items.
Recognize your party style. Do you host intimate dinner parties, use your fine china and keep the guest list streamlined so that cleanup is quick? Or is your style to have large backyard bashes, with food served on disposable plates to minimize dishwashing? Your answers will help guide your decisions about what party items to keep. This backyard, by Todd Richesin Interiors, gets a festive feel thanks to colorful paper lanterns.
Is it realistic and practical? A beautiful punch bowl that you never use because it’s too cumbersome to wash, too inaccessible or too small for your typical party is just taking up real estate. Get rid of items that aren’t practical. If you love an item, such as a punch bowl, and can’t say goodbye, then store it where you’ll be motivated to use it, or repurpose it, perhaps as an elegant salad bowl. Similarly, if using an item adds unwanted work to your party prep or cleanup, then consider selling or donating it.
Reusables versus disposables. Disposables may initially seem best from a storage standpoint: Use it, toss it, no need to store it. But this approach may be worth rethinking. If you purchase in bulk from warehouse clubs, the quantities can be as great as 500 — leaving you storing several hundred extra utensils, plates and cups until the next party. Reusable dinnerware and flatware may take less room than bulk disposables.
If you are in short supply of reusable items and need more to accommodate your typical number of party guests, restaurant-supply stores are often a good source of affordable options for flatware, plates, bowls and cups. Dinnerware made of Vitrelle, a tempered-glass product, can be a great option since it’s extremely lightweight, durable, low-profile and, most important, stackable.
If you are in short supply of reusable items and need more to accommodate your typical number of party guests, restaurant-supply stores are often a good source of affordable options for flatware, plates, bowls and cups. Dinnerware made of Vitrelle, a tempered-glass product, can be a great option since it’s extremely lightweight, durable, low-profile and, most important, stackable.
Reusable plastic and melamine dinnerware is also lightweight and easy to store. However, you’ll want to check whether these items need to be hand-washed or are dishwasher-safe.
If you’re uncertain whether to stock disposables or nondisposables, assess how many guests you typically host and how willing you are to wash dishes after your parties. A standard-size dishwasher holds 14 place settings.
If you’ve decided that disposables will work best, consider compostable items, as they are more eco-friendly. Plastic is usually less costly than compostable counterparts, but depending on where you live, it may not be recyclable. Check with your local recycling center before you purchase.
If you’re uncertain whether to stock disposables or nondisposables, assess how many guests you typically host and how willing you are to wash dishes after your parties. A standard-size dishwasher holds 14 place settings.
If you’ve decided that disposables will work best, consider compostable items, as they are more eco-friendly. Plastic is usually less costly than compostable counterparts, but depending on where you live, it may not be recyclable. Check with your local recycling center before you purchase.
Serveware. Serving pieces often come in odd shapes that consume a lot of space. To save room, consider getting rid of items that aren’t practical for the parties you host. For example, do you serve dishes in multiple serving bowls because your largest bowl alone won’t hold enough to feed your group? Or do you never use your chip-and-dip bowl because you leave chips and dips in their original packaging? Have you collected more serving spoons than you can use at a single gathering? Free up valuable space by paring down pieces that aren’t practical. When deciding what to keep or buy, think about which items will nest well together, as that can also save room.
I like using extra-large stainless serving bowls for my parties because they hold enough so that I don’t have to break away from guests to refill food. Nesting several of these bowls takes up only slightly more space than one bowl. Plus, they are lightweight, easy to clean and modern-looking. Recyclable (disposable) aluminum trays are relatively eco-friendly and can help minimize post-party cleanup.
Decorations and party favors. If you host the same holiday gathering every year — Thanksgiving dinner or the Fourth of July barbecue, perhaps — then using the same decorations year after year can bring on a warm sense of tradition. I recommend storing these items in containers labeled with the corresponding holiday.
However, broken, unusable decorations may not be worth keeping for the few seconds of memories they evoke when you open the container once a year. I recommend keeping only those items that will be displayed and enjoyed. Many people like to keep original Christmas ornament boxes, which is understandable, but discarding other unnecessary packaging may allow items to better fit into storage containers.
What to do with extra supplies. You may not need to keep decorations for theme parties — such as your daughter’s princess party, a best friend’s bridal shower or a Downton Abbey viewing party — after the event. Perhaps you can pass them along to someone else planning a party with the same theme. Websites like Nextdoor can be a place to pass along these items. Alternatively, try searching online for “what to do with extra party supplies” to find many resources for donating your extras.
Some party supplies — for example, streamers or self-assembled paper flowers — seem like a good idea, but once in your home, they may require more work than you anticipated. If you have such supplies on hand, a local school may appreciate a donation.
However, broken, unusable decorations may not be worth keeping for the few seconds of memories they evoke when you open the container once a year. I recommend keeping only those items that will be displayed and enjoyed. Many people like to keep original Christmas ornament boxes, which is understandable, but discarding other unnecessary packaging may allow items to better fit into storage containers.
What to do with extra supplies. You may not need to keep decorations for theme parties — such as your daughter’s princess party, a best friend’s bridal shower or a Downton Abbey viewing party — after the event. Perhaps you can pass them along to someone else planning a party with the same theme. Websites like Nextdoor can be a place to pass along these items. Alternatively, try searching online for “what to do with extra party supplies” to find many resources for donating your extras.
Some party supplies — for example, streamers or self-assembled paper flowers — seem like a good idea, but once in your home, they may require more work than you anticipated. If you have such supplies on hand, a local school may appreciate a donation.
Keep it fun. Remember, entertaining is supposed to be quality time spent with friends and family. If you’re spending too much time preparing for the party or cleaning up afterward, your quality time will be tinged with exhaustion. Keeping party supplies in order will leave you with one fewer detail to worry about. Instead, enjoy that party.
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