How to Set Up Your Party Venue: Tips for Creating a Memorable Night
Setting up your party venue correctly, whether you’re hosting in a venue or at home, can make or break your event. A well-designed space encourages your guests to mingle, dance, and enjoy the night to its fullest, while a poorly arranged layout can leave people feeling disconnected and disengaged.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the do’s and don’ts of setting up your party space, ensuring your event is a memorable one.
Don’t Overdo the Seating
One of the most common mistakes hosts make when setting up a party venue is providing too many chairs and tables. Unless you’re hosting a sit-down dinner, you don’t need seating for every single guest. Here’s why: when guests are seated for too long, it slows down the energy of the party. People are less likely to dance or mingle if they’re sitting comfortably in a chair. While it’s important to have some seating available, especially for older guests or those who need a break, less is best.
When it comes to choosing the type of seating for your event, we recommend using high-top cocktail or bar tables instead of traditional tables. These encourage guests to stand, mingle, and move around. Guests are much more likely to hit the dance floor if they’re already on their feet!
Keep the Bar Close to the Action
The location of your bar can make a huge difference in how quickly your party kicks off. Guests naturally gravitate towards the bar, so position it as close to the dance floor or DJ as possible. This keeps your guests in the same area, ensuring the dance floor fills up faster and the energy of the event stays high.
When the bar is placed too far from the DJ or in a completely separate room, guests become divided. Those getting drinks can feel disconnected from the party vibe, making it harder to create a lively atmosphere. Try and set up you bar adjacent to the DJ booth or dance floor to keep the energy focused in one area. If your venue is large, consider having more than one bar in high-traffic areas.
Consider the Location of Key Amenities
It’s important to consider the proximity of other important spaces, such as the bathrooms, smoking areas, and chill-out zones. Guests will always need to leave the main party space for these reasons, but if they have to go too far, it can fragment your party.
For example, we recently worked on a wedding where the smoking area was four floors away from the rooftop venue. As over half the guests were smokers, this meant a significant portion of them were missing from the main party space for large chunks of the night.
Long distances to toilets can have the same effect. If your guests have to walk 100 metres or more to use the bathroom, it can pull them away from the action for too long, making it harder to keep the momentum going on the dance floor. Try an minimise travel time for guests by placing smoking areas, toilets, and chill-out spaces as close to the main event space as possible. This keeps everyone connected to the party and prevents the space from feeling too empty at key moments.
Designate a Chill-Out Space
While having a chill-out space is important for guests who need a breather, especially older guests or those who aren’t as keen on hitting the dance floor, it’s important to think about where you place this area. The danger of a chill-out area is that it can draw people away from the main event, especially if it’s too far from the party. To avoid splitting up your party, try and keep this area close to the dance floor or the bar. If your venue allows it, you can even create a designated space within the main room, using the right furniture to define a relaxing area without isolating it. For this area, use comfortable setting such as sofas and lounge chairs.
Make the Dance Floor the Focal Point
The dance floor is the heart of any great party. It’s where the energy is highest, and it’s usually the place where most of the night’s memorable moments will happen. With this in mind, you want to make sure your guests are drawn to the dance floor, rather than wandering off to other parts of the venue. If the dance floor is in a separate room, or too far from the bar and seating, it can be difficult to keep the energy high. Guests might feel awkward venturing out to dance if nobody is there, and an empty dance floor can make the party feel like it’s fizzling out.
Plan for Flexibility in Your Layout
One of the best ways to ensure your party space works well is to create a flexible layout that allows guests to move freely from one area to another without getting disconnected. For example, avoid placing large objects like buffet tables or large party props that might block the flow of traffic between key areas like the bar and the dance floor.
Conclusion
The setup of your party venue is just as important as the décor and entertainment. The right layout can create an atmosphere where guests feel encouraged to dance, mingle, and fully enjoy the night. Keep your seating minimal, your bar close to the action, and ensure that all key amenities are easy to access.
With these tips, your party space will be buzzing with energy, and you’ll be sure to create a party to remember!
