Last night we hosted the first of many parties in our new home.

Due to work and travel, the weeks leading up to the party were quite busy and suddenly, earlier this week, we realized that the housewarming party was quickly approaching. While we wanted to throw a wonderful party that would provide a great opportunity to catch up with friends and show them our new home, we didn’t want to break the bank or make our life difficult trying to design a “Pinterest worthy” party.  This girl does not have time for anything crafty, regardless how hard I try. But, give me a pumpkin and good friends and I can cheese it up for the camera for hours.

Since we are hosting three more parties in the coming months, I thought it would be great to capture some of the things we did really well, for both my future benefit and yours.

1. Wrapping paper can make a great, inexpensive table runner. The lovely team at PaperSource suggested that I use two sheets of their high end wrapping paper to bring a pop of color and fun to our large center island.
2. Save on beer and wine by ordering in advance. Many online grocery stores such as Fresh Direct or even your local wine, beer or liquor stores have a discount if you buy in bulk.  We ordered a 1/2 case of white, 1/2 case of red and an assortment of pumpkin beers which were on sale last week.
3. Use your grill! When planning our menu, we decided that the main course would be something we could easily grill without requiring a lot of attention. The pork shoulder smoked on the grill for eight hours, requiring nothing more than an hourly check and baste. Using a large cut of meat saved money and made our life a lot easier!
4. Use disposable plates, cups and utensils. This was the first party that we’ve not used our everyday china, wine glasses and silverware. At first, we both worried how it would look and how guests would react to the plastic glasses of wine or drinking beer straight from the bottle. By the end of the night, when guests saw that I could go to bed with a spotless kitchen, they all agreed it was well worth it. You can save by ordering the party ware ahead of time online and if you are Earth conscious there are bio-degradable and recycled plates available online or at Whole Foods.
5. Choose a theme that lends itself to easy party preparation. Last night’s Fall themed housewarming party allowed us to create a menu from seasonal foods. Our dessert was a tower of apple cider donuts, which we bought at the local farmer’s market yesterday morning and our soup was a delicious pumpkin thyme soup from Serious Eats. This theme was easier to work with then say, a 20’s theme flapper party or other random theme.