Flawless Festivities in Smaller Spaces - Part 1

Part 1 – Getting prepared!

Whether celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, the holidays or the long summer days, the festive season is a time to come together. And for those of us who love to host, fitting the family can seem challenging when living in an apartment. But be not discouraged! Help is at hand with the following tips on how to entertain big in a smaller space.

Rule #1 – Get prepared! I’m going to call it from the outset - families are great but we can’t choose them. We can however choose our friends so if you love entertaining without the stress of not putting Aunt Claire next to Susan, don’t forget to organise separate festivities chez toi for your non-familial nearest and dearest. With your friend tribe coming over, it’ll be all the fun with no drama. Unless of course you are in one of those rare breed of family where everyone just gets along.



Start with the numbers first. Hosting 101 dictates that every guest and your own household members need a chair and ideally something to put their plate on when they eat. With this in mind, do a chair audit and if your home doesn’t have enough places for bums to sit, beg borrow and steal prior to the date, ideally from neighbours as you’ll have less hassle returning them.

Then on to the table. If yours is a little on the short side, consider buying a foldout for future occasions, or better still, get an extendable table. Trusty Ikea have a pretty great selection that will not break the bank or for cheap and cheerful foldouts, head to Officeworks, Bunnings or your closest camping shop.



Now, clean and clear away all clutter, which is the enemy of smaller spaces anyway so hopefully you’re already well organised in this regard. And don’t forget the fridge as in terms of food prep, you need to do as much as you can ahead of time and you’ll no doubt need fridge space for perishable dishes. And in order not to clutter the fridge buy or borrow an esky to keep all the drinks cold.



And don’t forget to have some fun shopping for festive tableware. Before you leave the house, look at what you have and decide on a theme. Will it be Christmas old school style or summer themed- or perhaps Hanukkah à la Australiana or straight out of Jerusalem? Make sure whatever you buy is quality over quantity as you’ll have nowhere to store too many baubles after the fact! We love Bed, Bath and Table and Adairs, and for something more uber, Papaya and David Jones.

And finally, make a list of what to do on the day so you don’t get overwhelmed. Work out what food needs to be prepared in the morning if you are having a lunch, then take note of Part 2 which is coming soon and will give you sure fire ways to avoid the panic prior to arrivals. Staging in the Silly Season provides a great to-do agenda for making you the Christmas Host with the Most! So until Part 2, best wishes from the Cramer Crew



Part 2 Coming soon – Staging in the Silly Season