I have always been a social gathering type. By that I mean, I have always loved getting together with a bunch of my friends, eating a ridiculous amount of food, and catching up. When I got back to campus this semester and moved into my dream apartment in South, I knew I wanted to throw a housewarming party. One of my suitemates was also very into the idea, and when we got approval from the rest of our suite we could barely contain our excitement. The mass group chats were created, the grocery list was written, and the apartment was tidied up.
Despite all of the excitement, my friend and I both had the same itching feeling that this shindig was probably a bad idea. We were worried that our friends’ personalities might clash, there wouldn’t be enough food and drink to go around, and worst of all, that we were bound to get a noise complaint. As we picked out cheese for our charcuterie board we couldn’t help laughing at the idea that we were setting ourselves up for failure.
Photo Credit: Emma Kopelowicz
When the day finally came, we decided to let our worries go and hope for the best. Flexing our hosting muscles, we laid out the most glorious spread of cheese, bread, and dips there ever was. Even if it turned into a complete fiasco, at least the food was quality. Guests slowly started to trickle in and I frantically kept checking my phone to find texts from friends telling me “something came up” or they were going to “be a few minutes late.” I kept it cool, though, and focused my attention on easing any awkward tension. More people started showing up and I could feel the energy in the room shift. I grabbed my speaker and threw on a quick playlist I whipped up. With some nice background noise and a little less empty space, people started getting comfortable. The house was––dare I say––warming!
I went around and made sure to introduce myself to unfamiliar faces while weaving in between my friends to check in on them between bites of Brie. Then there came a point in the night where I stood back, took a look around me, and realized that everything was going great. I’m talking so great that all of a sudden I was the only person in the room not talking to someone. My suitemate and I looked at each other and laughed at our unnecessary anxiety from earlier. Not only did our housewarming party turn out amazingly well, but we also realized at that moment we had just made our apartment into a true home.
Our friends were exchanging numbers to set up lunch dates, cracking jokes, and generally just having a good time. They were all getting along so well that we felt like we didn’t need to do anything to brighten up the conversation. We didn’t even need to pull out the games we planned on playing if things turned weird. At one point, I thought the music had stopped working, but it turned out that everyone was just getting pretty loud and talkative. I wasn’t even worried anymore about the potential noise complaint we could receive (we didn’t thankfully) because I was just so happy to see everyone laughing, talking, and smiling. Since we could barely hear the playlist over the chatter, here it is for all your future party planning reference.
Being a host can be a little stressful, especially when the party in question involves a bunch of strangers in a tiny apartment. Fortunately, our friends blended perfectly and we had just the right amount of food to keep everyone satisfied throughout the night. The last few stragglers left at almost two a.m. which I see as a pretty good sign. I foresee hosting a few more of these kinds of get-togethers in the future since they’re a great way to get to know new people, they make you feel just a smidge like an adult, and they’re the best excuse to put together a charcuterie board.
xoxo,
Emma :)
Want to keep up with HCBU? Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, check out our Pinterest board, and read our latest Tweets!