8 Ways to Take Your Holiday Party to the Next Level

Image via Complex Original

Even if you bailed on catering by picking up the standard veggie, cheese, fruit, and cookie trays from your local supermarket, it doesn’t mean you have to make your presentation obvious. Get creative. Put your drink of choice in a light-up fountain, add cupcakes to a cupcake tree, or pair that fruit with a chocolate fondue fountain. If you’re up for it, arrange the food in special shapes or words (planners get paid to do this, if you’ve got the cash to spare).

If you’ve ever crossed a Kardashian-Jenner Instagram page, or a few of them, you may have noticed that the celebrity family loves their photo booths. Weddings, birthdays, graduation parties—you name it—America’s royal family keeps guests entertained with mementos they’ll Instagram and cherish for years to come. There are more services than ever to get a photo booth at your party, so come up with a fun caption, ask for soft, flattering lighting, and reserve one ASAP.

Turn the embarrassing “where did our host go?” alcohol run into an opportunity to impress your guests. Ask them if there’s anything missing from the party that they’d prefer to drink, like GREY GOOSE® LeMelon or an obscure West Coast beer, and then get it delivered. Services like Drizly will get the alcohol to your door in an hour, and suddenly you're the best, most accommodating host of all time.

Though setting the lights a little dimmer than usual is a good start, there are many lighting options that can take your party from a four to a 10. Colored light bulbs are solid; there are even color-changing ones with remotes for under $10. There are also door-curtain icicle lights, pattern lights, strobe lights, string lights, tree lights, ocean wave lights, and many more that can give your party a cool nightlife vibe without being over-the-top.  

Having the TV on during a party can be a mistake (as in, no one should be watching the game or Netflix), but projecting a funny film or YouTube playlist of music videos on mute can draw people in without making them become antisocial. There are tons of premade YouTube playlists with exotic scenery or artsy websites like this that can give added life to blank spaces. Urban Outfitters even sells a nifty “smartphone projector” made of cardboard that will totally do the trick.

Though hiring a DJ is the obvious move, sometimes you just don’t need one. Apps for your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch like Djay2 can play off of Spotify or your iTunes library, you can make a premixed playlist of your own on VirtualDJ, or, if it’s an emergency, you can use the awesome Apple Music radio stations or playlists (pro tip: pick your favorite party song and let the radio station take it from there).

Maybe it’s your birthday, but that doesn’t mean you have to be the only one wearing a crown. Buy some crowns that go beyond the cone-head look of your typical party hats and don’t look back. Or if you feel like doing a little bit more and adding an A$AP mob vibe to the party, buy some LED masks that will make your guests feel wild for the night.

In addition to photos they’ll be able to take home from the photo booth, give your guests something on the way out that will have them remembering your party the next day. Whether it's custom M&Ms in a sachet, a can of gummy bears, a funny USB with a playlist of the night’s hits, or some fortune cookies, a gift at the exit never goes unnoticed or unappreciated.