6 Super Scandalous Party Tips & 1 My Competition Will Kill Me For Sharing. Oops.

I’m on a roll with our new, fabulous, re-invented blog, Vodka & Donuts as well as posting cool images of past events on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. What do you think? This post covers 6  Super Scandalous Party Tips & 1 My Competition Will Kill Me For Sharing. Oops and oh well. See if you can tell which one my competition isn’t going to be so happy about. 🙂

1. Tell the neighbors.

Communication is like oxygen: You don’t know you need it until it’s gone. Therefore, over communicate. I’ve seen a LOT of hall passes given to hosts who plead the mea culpa ahead of time and explain to those within ear shot that they are so sorry in advance for the noise, but junior’s only going to get married once, and we promise to knock it off by midnight. (Well, I guess unless junior is yours truly, but that’s for another newsletter.) Give them a heads up. They’ll feel guiltier about spoiling it for you and the fam.

2. Get enough booze.

It 100% is totally back. You can hand me every A-list vegan in the world, and all of ‘em have some kind of vice. With the dawn of Uber (or “Ooobare” as my sweet, naive bf thinks it’s called) it’s likely a few hard cocktails. So get a little extra. In fact, bonus tip: Don’t have an open bar if it’s too complicated – limit the “types” of booze so you can have plenty of what you are serving. And while we’re on that note…

3. It’s easy to be hip without blowing a wad.

Small batch everything is exploding – from whiskey to gin, there are so many ways to dial it up a notch in about 5 seconds. Another surefire hit? Randomness of any kind – think homemade pop tarts on a stick,  vodka in mini spray bottles and tater tot bars. Seriously. D.I.V.I.N.E. #ShootMe it’s so exciting.

4. Don’t forget about insurance.

Sorry to bring up a bummer of a subject, but it never ceases to amaze me how people spend their entire lives working to attain a certain level of, how shall we say, wealth, or perhaps more appropriately,”comfortability”, and then they’re willing to blow it all by hiring some yo yos without any insurance. As a lawyer friend once told me: “Marley, if something bad happens at an event and the injured’s got a good lawyer, that lawyer is going to sue you and every single person down the line while he’s at it.” Basically, he was saying that whether it’s your fault, you hired them, didn’t hire them or they snuck their way in, if it happens at your pad, you’re toast.

Scared me so badly into thinking that the poor cow who provided the beef’s ranch hand’s mother was gonna go down, so I massively upped my insurance. Any event planner, caterer or valet who’s worth their salt will have exactly ZERO problem providing you with their proof of insurance. So ask for it. (They balk? Oh, that’s right, they don’t have any…which is why you’re getting such a “deal.” Next.)

5. Mix up the guest list.

My Mom always told me that the best parties she used to go to in Washington were the ones that had the doctors, lawyers, senators, gardeners and recent parolees all in attendance (or her tidier version, but the point was the same). It was a great lesson because we spend a LOT of time trying to control everyone’s experience and worrying about who will like whom and think what-of-whatever that we miss the point. If you like to surround yourself with an eclectic mix of people (MUCH more interesting), then invite them to the party. Who CARES if someone turns their nose up. If they do, THEY’RE the ones who should’ve been left off the list. Losers. #Next.

6. Please. Play. Music.

I get that sometimes a band or even a dj is overkill, but really, it’s HORRIBLEEEEEEE to walk into a party of any kind and…freaking crickets. Music sets the mood for everything – winds you up, cools you down, cheers you up. Yes, I even believe in good music at funerals. Sorry.

Well after all of those doozies, I should probably log off an plan my own funeral. Kind of scandalous advice but somebody had to dish it. Oh well, we never were the go to peeps for the random rubber chicken dinner, so go find yourself a senator and a chimney sweep and add them to your next guest list. I’m off to DC to judge the entrepreneurship competitions at Georgetown, guest lecture for the b-school and catch up with a ton of old friends. After all, the whole story started a million years ago with that handsome chef from 1789…