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Make any chore into a fun & easy entertaining event for your friends & family. You provide the F&B, music and supplies for the task; your friends supply the manpower!
Have you ever heard of a Home Improvement Party? Read on to learn how to host a function where everybody pitches in to help!
We've all heard the proverb, "Many hands make light work," which means that a large task becomes very manageable when many people work together to accomplish it. You can adopt this adage and complete any daunting task, while providing a gracious, fun environment for your helpers. Let's say that you've decided to paint the interior of your home, but can only spare one weekend to accomplish it. Here's a recipe for successfully getting the job done, by relying on your hospitality and your friends' good will!
Create an Invitation: indicate the "where, when, and what" details of the event. Make sure to mention that the guests will be helping you out, in exchange for good food and camaraderie. Also mention what the appropriate attire is.
Purchase paint, brushes, rollers, drop cloths and all the supplies that your task will need.
Purchase extra paint buckets to use for snacks, and oversized, lidded tumblers to hold for beverages.
Break the job into smaller tasks. You could divide the big job into different rooms (i.e. bedroom, living room, etc) or into different tasks (i.e. taper, furniture mover, painter, clean-up)
Look at your guest list and match up people with tasks. This is a CRITICAL step! Similar to planning a seating chart for a sit-down dinner, you will need to take into account each guest's painting skills, their communication skills and leadership ability. You may want to enable your guests to meet other guests, and therefore you would assign strangers to work together. Assign a "foreman" to each room, and you will act as the foreman for the entire project.
Pre-Party Preparation: clear as much clutter out of the house as possible. Provide garbage receptacles in each room. Have clean up supplies readily available in centralized locations. Create a Job Assignment Board. This could be as simple as a chart on a piece of poster board that includes key information (job assignments, guests' names, and a "completed" column) about the project. Take "Before" pictures of the entire worksite. Have fun, upbeat music turned on throughout the worksite.
Pre-Party F&B: use clean paint buckets to hold dry snacks (chips, popcorn, nuts, party mix, wrapped candy and mini chocolate bars). Distribute the buckets of dry snacks throughout the work area. Create an F&B Area that is not in the project area, (you may have to use an untouched bedroom, basement, porch or garage) and outfit it with chairs, more substantial food (sandwiches, pizza) and the beverage center. Label the tumblers with each guest's name, and leave them in the beverage center.
Arrival of Guests: greet your guests, thanking them profusely for their help! Give them each a name tag that includes their room/job assignment. Gather in the F&B Area until all guests have arrived. At this point, act as project foreman, introducing all guests and room foremen, outlining the day's activities, pointing out the F&B available, etc. Make sure that each guest takes their filled beverage tumbler, as they scatter for their assignment
During the Event: constantly rotate throughout the entire project site. You are the project foreman, but you also are the cheerleader, waitress, nurse, garbage man, and general problem solver! Make sure that your guests are happy, and that the job is being accomplished in the manner that you wish. Encourage your guests to take F&B breaks every 60 to 90 minutes, and congratulate people on their successes. You may want to include mini-raffles during break times for lottery tickets, gift certificates, or vouchers for your own services to be offered in the future! You may want to take pictures and/or video of your friends.
End of the Event: Thank everyone for their efforts -- make a really big deal of this, so that your friends know how much you appreciate their help. This party is the modern equivalent of an old-fashioned barn raising, and hopefully they all will feel part of something bigger. When your guests have left, doublecheck that all the supplies are properly cleaned, and that any paint drips have been removed before they dry.
The Next Day: Take "After" pictures of the worksite to include in your thank you notes. Write and mail thank you notes to all of the workers. Enjoy your freshly painted home!
Check out these Suite101 links for more in-depth information about painting preparation and techniques from my colleague Kristin Abraham at Interior Decorating.
© Text by Janice Benoit, [April, 2006]. Photo by durdge00 webshots. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.
The copyright of the article Home Improvement Party in Entertaining is owned by Janice Benoit. Permission to republish Home Improvement Party in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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