Entertaining Guests

Having people over is pretty fun, but in the words of one of my friends: “Eddie, when we’re at you’re place, the only thing we do is drink.” It’s true, I’ve invited a lot of people to my place before, but I seldom have things such as snacks or activities prepared. Even today, all I had to offer my friends were walnuts that my girlfriend’s mom gifted me and beverages. Although it’s nice having the space to just relax and catch up with friends, the time we spend together could definitely be further optimized. Here are a few things that I could do in the future to improve the experience:

• Prepare some snacks to eat while we’re talking. Drinking’s fun and all but it’s definitely made more enjoyable with something to eat
• Do some party games to loosen up the crowd. Some interesting examples I’ve seen is Jenga where there are King’s Cup-style prompts on each block or Jackbox
• Play some music. This seems super easy but I’m always lazy to do it
• Plan a more comprehensive activity, like a dinner party murder or a puzzle to solve together. Or, simply cards or mahjong work well
• Watch videos together

With a larger crowd, having some activity would make sure that everyone feels included to some extent. The biggest caveat with my current methodology is that not everyone drinks, and even the people who do don’t to the same extent. In the past, the people I’ve had over have bonded over just drinking and chatting, which can definitely not be generalized across the friends I have now.

When there are only a handful of people, there’s a lot more variety of activities to choose from. One or two people can do some sort of more involved activity, such as crafts or cooking, far more easily than catering to a group of four or more. I’m the type of person who generally likes gathering more people, though, and I’d like to get better at it in the future.

I’d like to spend more time brainstorming in this post, but I’m a little tired. When I come up with more ideas, I’ll write another post.