Thread: Hiring Help

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I thought I would post this, as in the past years, this has been a huge contribution for me being able to totally enjoy the party!
Generally speaking, my halloween party has between 55-80 ppl. What I found when I first starting hosting, I spent my whole night running around trying to replace dry ice, keep sterno going, replace chafing dishes, etc...you know what I mean. For the past 2 years, and again this year, I hired helpers. I still prepare my own food, and do the initial set up, i just leave a to do list for my help. Especially for passing food....super helpful. I make sure something new is passed every 20-25 min. or so...usually the show stoppers, like Meat Head, and those type of fun recipes. Also my helpers keep the dry ice going, clean up dropped cups/dishes at the buffet, empty the trash, keep chafing dishes going and also make sure that food from guests just doesnt get left behind. They also rinse and stack my food dishes in the kitchen.
I also "block" out the kitchen/prep portion of my house - only helpers go in....
Guests love the 5 star treatment, Hubby and I love the party! Well worth the $$ - last year I paid two HS seniors $90 ea for 4 hours work - they had fun, dressed in costume and enjoyed themselves too. I kept making sure to tell them how much I appreciated them, and they seemed happy to participate and be helpful also. (They do not handle any alcohol! or refill any coolers, etc. Dry Ice is used in a caldron prop on the table.) - hubby does that!

We did that one year, and it was well worth the effort. Of course our HS seniors have long moved on and not available to us anymore. We have a 15 year old daughter who we would be willing to pay, but that "relationship" is just not the same, nor does it work for "paid help". We have 50-60 coming this Sat though, and we may look into hired help. Having people come through and "serve" is a nice touch... but you don't want to be doing it your self.

One thing I did do last year, that was a HUGE benefit, was turn the DJ job over to a laptop PC and Media Monkey "Party Mode". Years past I seemed to constantly be shuffling CDs (our signature event is a blackout, then some cool lighting and dance music) and didn't enjoy the party/guests much. Now I custom mix a 12-15 minute "opening track" and then let the guests select the music on the laptop in the corner of the room. The Party mode allows people to click select songs ad add to the now playing list, but that can't start stop, re-order, change volume, etc. It worked wonderfully last year.

I think it is very important to structure things so that you can ENJOY your party. Make food ahead of time, use crock pots, if people ask what they can bring TELL THEM. Be specific if you want something specific. Keep things simple and don't get bent out of shape if the fog stops flowing, games don't work, etc. etc.

I've also been bad at "missing" my own party, one thing I finally did last year was have one friend come over early and work on a few things so that I had an hour to actually get myself dressed. It helped SO MUCH! I have got to get better at letting people help, but I also don't want to ruin all the surprises for them, so it's a balance

I have thought about doing this for a couple of year's now. I think I will definitely put this in next years plans/budget. I'm always so exhausted by the time the party rolls around I can't think of anything but "when will they all go home so I can go to bed!"

We host a considerably larger party (100+ adults) and we have an indoor and outdoor bartender, a dj, and a front door guy, but between 6 hosts, we are still running around a little bit (making sure trash is emptied, keeping the food area prepped, keeping the bartenders full, etc.)
It definitely does help though.

what a great idea. I have never thought of hiring help with my party. I will definately look into this for next years party. By the time I can relax and enjoy my parties everyone is leaving. Ugh... all that work and I don't get to enjoy it. I have actually thought of renting a hall and a caterer so I can relax and enjoy the party and not worry about cleaning up or restocking food.

I'm telling you, I love it. This year, the kids are at college, so their friends are not available as hired help. I found out that one of our friends older son was laid off from his summer job out on the coast. He was more than willing to do this for me this year, but I know locally there is a business that will send servers to your home parties.
Worth putting into the budget!

Still getting RSVPs by the way!