Party Style: 5 Easy Ways to Decorate

Dazzle your guests with fabulous decorations. Here are our tips for taking your party from ordinary to extraordinary.

Streamers and balloons? Sure. But if you really want to wow your guests, you need to think beyond the helium tank. Sprucing up your party space is easier than ever, all it takes is a little inspiration. Here's a fresh place to start.

Entryways
Make the entrance to your party grand and you'll set the tone upon arrival. Just be sure to check with your venue (if it's not your home) beforehand to see if they allow such a thing. Fresh Ideas:

Hang a beaded curtain for guests to walk through -- the beads come in all different shapes and colors. For a more unusual effect, layer one right after the other.

Generate atmosphere by hanging sheer curtains so your guests will get just a hint of the party inside as they arrive.

Create a dramatic entryway with an arrival carpet. Rather than red, pick a color that matches your theme. If you're on a budget, instead of actual carpet, get several yards of inexpensive fabric, trim it to fit, and use heavy-duty double-sided tape to keep it in place.

Table Linens
The way you dress your tables says a lot about your party's theme and its formality. The most important rule here: don't settle for basic white. A splash of color will give your room a whole new look. Fresh Ideas:

Consider accenting your table with an overlay -- a smaller tablecloth that sits on top of a floor-length one. Using a sheer overlay (so you can see the other color beneath it) can also create a shimmering effect (think sheer gold overlays over creamy linens for a glamorous affair).

If you can afford it, use chair covers. Most venues have chairs that look like they were purchased decades ago (and probably were). To give the room a quick makeover, cover up those prehistoric seats and secure with a ribbon to match your party's palette.

Get creative with napkin folds. It may seem like a waste of time (since guests simply pick them up and plop them down on their lap), but learning how to do a whimsical napkin fold is a detail that makes a statement and impresses guests.

Place Settings
Everyone gets a fork, knife, and spoon, but there's plenty of other fun stuff you can add to spice up your tables and surprise your invitees. Fresh Ideas:

If you're giving out favors, pack them up in cute bags or boxes and tie them up with matching ribbon. Leave one at the center of each plate to dress up your tables.

Go crazy with color. If you're renting tableware, ask about your options -- colored glasses, plates, even napkins will brighten up your tables and give your party some extra pop.

Other interesting table add-ons: Consider giving each table a disposable camera (or even one of the new disposable video cameras) to capture some of the action. Just make sure one of your friends or family members remembers to collect them at the end of the night. You'll wind up with tons of great candid party pics.

Centerpieces
Another way to prettify your tables is with centerpieces. The right ones can up your party's chic factor immeasurably. Whatever you choose, just be sure your guests can see (and reach) around them -- you don't want your centerpieces impeding the flow of conversation. Fresh Ideas:

Flowers are always in fashion, but you don't always have to pick blooms for your tables. If flowers aren't your thing, consider other options -- jars of candy, piles of "gifts" wrapped in papers and ribbons that match your theme, vases or bottles filled with colored water and floating candles, or a monogram spelled out with a stack of giant letter blocks. Practically anything can be a centerpiece.

Get inexpensive frames that match your theme and palette and fill them with photos of your guests. Each table can have a cluster of pics of the people sitting there.

If you're not having a seated meal, you might still want a few centerpiece-style elements to dress up a cake table or the gift area. Another option: Spice up those plain tabletops with a few handfuls of confetti or sequins.

Dance Floor
The dance floor could very well be where your guests will spend most of the night, so make it the perfect setting for a great time. Fresh Ideas:

A little lighting goes a long way. Ask your band or DJ if they can provide colored spotlights, or improvise your own with colored bulbs. You can stick to hues that match your theme or go crazy with wild washes of color -- it's your call. If your budget allows, consider a GOBO spotlight that can shine the guest of honor’s name or monogram on the floor.

Make your dance floor the center of attention by decorating from above. Inexpensive paper lanterns, strings of Christmas lights, or billowing swags of tulle can create a decorative perimeter for the space.

Set up some chairs, a bench, or even a couch nearby to create a lounge-like area where guests can take a break without totally leaving the scene -- crucial for when you're having too much fun.

 

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