Thread: How many people do you invite?

Tweet

They always say to invite more then wanted because not everyone will show up. This will be mine and my husband's first Halloween party in our home and I have no idea how many peope to invite. We could easily invite 50-100+ people but what is a good safe number to invite. Our home has 2 livings, 2 dinings, and 2 bars and it is all connected and open so when you are in the front living room you can see into the other living and both dining rooms and kitchen and vice versa. AS far as seating with the couches , bar stools, and both dining room tables it is enough to seat 28 people plus we are renting a few of those tal bar tables and bar stools for additional seating. I just want eveyone to be comfortale and not "crowded". Here are a few pics of my living areas so you can better understand what I mean about them being open. I am also thinking about taking the black sectional out of the green living room and letting that be open space. Thanks for your help as I LOVE Halloween but this party thing is NEW to us and we want it to be perfect as can be!


Jalesa

Anybody wish to share how many people they invited or are inviting and if you invite more in case all don't show up?

Most all show up each year at our house, when we have the charity haunt and supper anywhere from 200-350. This year only having party so I am asking just family and few friends and I am expecting about 75-100. It usually goes on inside and outside my house. Clean up far worse than put together (but worth it everytime!)

I would start to invite people as early as the 3rd week in September. That's what we do just in case there are other people who are different friends with mine that maybe too are having a Halloween party this year. Also it helps to know now when you plan on having your Party. Set a date and go from there. We usually have our Parties on a Saturday night starting at 530pm. Then our guests start to wind down around 12 -12 30pm. Invite family and friends and if you have children invite their friends and maybe their parents too! That's what we do for our 18 yr old son.
They don't care because they are too busy eating and playing their video games to really care if Mom and Dad are there or not. If you don't have decor and props start to buy them now because they sell out fast! Spirit Halloween Grandin Road and Buycostumes.com have great decor and run great sales! Hope this helps!

Oh forgot to mention that we have about 30 people for our parties. A lot show up but you might get those few who say they are coming up until the day of and never show so don't be shocked! What we do in this case is NEVER INVITE THEM AGAIN!!! After all a phone call is all it takes

This is our 5th year for our halloween party, and every year it's gotten abit larger...last year we had 68 in attendance. I just ordered 50 invitations for this year, all invited are not usually able to attend, but then you have the last minute guests who are able to come.
Have fun hosting your first party! By the sounds of it, you have alot of space to decorate and for people to mingle.

Thank you so much everyone for your imput, we are going to go through a guest list of all our friends and fam and see what number we come up with and go from there.. Thanks again!


Jalesa

Your home is pretty much a formal living, formal dining and then a great room ~ yes? Perfect for hosting a big party! Last year was our first party and we invited about 40, only 15 -20 came But it was still a blast! This year we're inviting 50+ in hopes of having more guests. We're hoping it's one of those things where the more years we do it, the more people will come. And yes, definately send the invites out early. Our party is on the 29th, with an RSVP date of the 21st. I'll send out the invites either the 16th or 23rd of September.

Usually around 45, and there're always those few (as other mentioned) that say they're coming and then the day of don't show up and ignore your texts/messages for a few days until they come up with an excuse.

haha

I always have a good turn out, though, so prepare for the unexpected

We are inviting about 50 people and most will attend. I am being asked already when is the PARTY? I am sending a save the date this year as our party is a week earlier than usual (Oct 22). This is our 5th year. I see better attendance with printed invitations and they will go out around the 3rd week of Sept. I found some great invitations on etsy, so check there. I tried Evite one year, but too many people didn't get the invitation due to their spam filter. I tried making invitations myself, (some amazing ones on HF in other threads) but unless you have the right software or are really crafty, it can get very time-consuming to make 50 great looking invites. We have our entire neighborhood including kids and friends outside of neighbors too. We use both indoor and outdoor space, we have a large deck off our living room, where I try to set up wine/beer/sodas and we have a martini station too. I usually have 2 or 3 food stations and one candy/dessert/kid section. I don't worry too much about seating actually, at our party most people float around and talk and are not sitting down. This year I am ordering/making about 1/2 the food I have in the past. I've found my crowd drinks way more than they eat and I am cutting the food back. It will be great food, some I make and some catered, just less of it. I have tried to make some of the creepy Halloween food, like the shrimp brain dish, my crowd won't eat it. So we do a catered Mexican section usually and a hot finger food section that I make. We start at 6:30 and there are people lined up at the bottom of our driveway, so it is like the floodgates open. We usually have folks here until 2 or 3 am, and a few always stay to help us clean up. I keep a planning notebook and write down ideas all year, plus a recap of the previous year's party, like now much wine we went through, what folks ate, etc. Have a great first party!