# For those with small houses and big party groups



## colmmoo (Jul 23, 2005)

We have a split-level home that isn't that big and are expecting around 70 people at our party. We are hoping to have some of the party outside in our backyard and deck, dependent on the weather. 

Do any of you have any tips for planning for bad weather? Do you setup canopies outside?


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## VeeCat (Sep 17, 2006)

I've held all my parties mostly outside,
with food in the inside.

We have now a big tent set up just in case.
but if it does get worse, that would be a bummer.
luckily, i haven't had this problem yet but if it ever does, i wouldn't be prepared
at all.


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## katei4 (Oct 16, 2008)

*Hi*

Arrange according to wheather,otherwise party fun will get ruined.
Enjoy....


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

We always have bad weather in the Netherlands lol
I have 2 rooms....a livingroom and eat in kitchen. We are expecting around 30 guests.
We set up a tent from the back door, across the patio and extending to the carport. Its like having a 3rd room. Plus its cooler out there for those who come heavily made up or wearing masks.

MsM


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## lv2haunt (Oct 1, 2008)

We have our party in our garage with the food in the house. That way people can smoke too. We put black plastic and those scene setters around the walls in the garage and hang bats, lights and such all around. Inside I decorate with spider webs and some wall things. This year I made a witch's kitchen too. I also used to put white sheets on the furniture, but our living room is too small for that now, it makes it look like we just don't want people too sit down!


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## LadyBrower (Oct 14, 2008)

We're opening up the bedrooms; my room is going to be the victorian/ gothic torture chamber (we have a fabulous cast iron four poster bed). In the living room we'll be putting all the furniture aside and putting the leaves in the dining room table which will extend it into the living room (we don't have a separate dining room, just a nook, really) and I'll probably put all the food in the kitchen and on a card table with extra wicker *comfy* chairs near the kitchen door. We're even considering cleaning up the basement- throwing sheets over everything (blood-stained of course) and letting the resident spiders do some of their own decorating. Since we are already storing a couch and tables downstairs it should work out if it doesnt rain and flood. ick. I'm going to set up a bit outside, but we don't have a tent so I'm sort of just preparing for a very full house.... I think it will help too that our guests will probably be staggered... 

The real trouble will come when people want to crash because I'm pretty strict on my drinking and driving policy.... I have no idea how many people will be spending the night and where they are going to be sleeping...


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## jkcoop (Oct 11, 2004)

Our house is split funny too - and I've always wanted to get people outside - it's just hard, because it's usually cold. We have a canopy on our deck we are planning this year on taking it down before the party. That way I can put the fire pit on the deck and hopefully get more people to go outside.

If it snows then I'm out of luck......


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## JamieMT (Sep 29, 2008)

I'm not sure what you catagorize as "small" - our house is around 2500 sq. ft (1250 main level, same in basement). I consider it average, really (my first house was small at 800 total sq. ft). We use almost the whole house for our party - I have the registration table in our bedroom (main floor - where people can leave thier coats/purses on the bed). There's a table in the living room for the game "launch point" (where we gather everyone to explain rules, hand out papers, whatever), the non-alcoholic bar is in our galley kitchen, and the dinner buffett is in the dining room. 

The alcoholic bar is in the basement, next to the pool table room, and there's a TV room downstairs as well set up with horror movies playing. Chairs are scattered throughout the house, though never enough for everyone to be seated at the same time (which is supposed to be good for parties). 

I set up the back patio table with luminaries and a few decorations, plus ashtrays for those guests who smoke. And normally quite a few people end up out there just cooling off or keeping the smokers company. But I never count on the weather being good - it's primarily just set up for those smokers, and if the weather is bad, people just use the whole house. 

It's a little crowded, but I think that sort of adds to the whole "party atmosphere". Better than feeling like there's not enough people for the space!


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## LHALLOW (Aug 10, 2004)

We've rented a tent before and that worked really well. We never know if it's going to be warm or snowing on Halloween so it's better to be prepared. We rented it a day early so we could decorate it. We also put a space heater out there just in case (costumes can be pretty skimpy.) 

With how many people we had last year.....nex year we're planning on moving the dancing to the basement. That way we can have a bar on the main level and a bar downstairs to keep everyone from gathering in one spot.


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## shrmndlit (Aug 25, 2008)

I live in Aiken SC in a sigle wide house with tires (ha ha) I am on 7 acres (About as rednedk as you can get) so room is not a problem. All of the rooms inside are set with a theme except the kitchen we just make it festive with all the fun halloween the rest of the house is very dark and scary. The inside is for the food and bathrooms. The out side has the bar tent, DJ tent, huge grave yard, bon fire, dance floor( linoleum thorwn over the dirt), about 6 burn barrels set up with stacks of wood so anyone can fuel the fire and then there are a ton of other props (trash can trauma, FCG, air cannon) the entire area is surrounded by an 8 foot high piece of plastic. Everyone parks in a field and enters though a very short maze. Vee and I are in the same boat that is it were to rain I would be in big trouble 100 people will not fit in my house.


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## LadyBrower (Oct 14, 2008)

Wow shrmndlit, you have it made with those 7 acres. I wanna go to your party! =) Way to use resources.


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## colmmoo (Jul 23, 2005)

shrmndlit said:


> I live in Aiken SC in a sigle wide house with tires (ha ha) I am on 7 acres (About as rednedk as you can get) so room is not a problem. All of the rooms inside are set with a theme except the kitchen we just make it festive with all the fun halloween the rest of the house is very dark and scary. The inside is for the food and bathrooms. The out side has the bar tent, DJ tent, huge grave yard, bon fire, dance floor( linoleum thorwn over the dirt), about 6 burn barrels set up with stacks of wood so anyone can fuel the fire and then there are a ton of other props (trash can trauma, FCG, air cannon) the entire area is surrounded by an 8 foot high piece of plastic. Everyone parks in a field and enters though a very short maze. Vee and I are in the same boat that is it were to rain I would be in big trouble 100 people will not fit in my house.


7 acres is HUGE!!!! Imagine the possibilities! Your party sounds fabulous!


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

Last year was our first party, so I'm not real experienced at this.

We invited 15 people, had around 25 or so show up. Our house is pretty small and we had the party spread over the living room, dining room and spilling out to our back patio.

We have a nice sized deck and covered patio, and about half the guests either stayed out there, or wandered back and forth. 

If it had rained, we still had the porch area that was covered. If we hadn't had that, I'm not sure what we'd have done. 

We really don't want a large party - I'm too paranoid to have too many people in our house, so we control the guest list pretty tightly to make sure we don't end up with lots of people crammed into too small a space.


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## MHooch (Jun 15, 2007)

Our house is small, too. We have a screened in porch off the kitchen where my hubby puts black plastic up each year. The sun warms it during the day, and it's like having an extra room to use (and decorate ). We also have a TV room in the finished basement for overflow. Our average attendance is around 30 people, give or take, and they sort of come and go over the evening, so we've never felt claustrophobic.


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## shrmndlit (Aug 25, 2008)

Sure sure 7 acres sounds good but when you have that much space you never have to stop building I mean is that really a blessing??? HA HA


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