Everyone knows someone who is a great host. You go to an event hosted by this person and you enjoy being a part of it. It feels almost like the event was designed for your personal comfort.

In this article, I would like to examine if everyone can be a good host. In order to answer this, we need to study what it takes to be a good host. Hosting a good party needs many things. Firstly, it is not only about what you do at the party, but also about the preparation and planning to make it enjoyable for the invitees.

There are some who are great with planning but their party is boring. Something will be missing there – most significantly, the ability to understand the invitees, their tastes, needs and preferences. Once someone goes wrong here, attending such a party becomes a punishment to be endured rather than enjoyed. If you went to one such party, you can probably recollect the bad experiences from that event.

Then there are hosts who are more interested in inflating their ego rather than doing something that is enjoyable for their guests. They just do something flamboyant and celebratory – with the intention of causing people to be awestruck. They feel good being the center of attention. After all, the invited guests need to go up to them and greet them. In such events, you are just ready to hit the door as soon as possible.

The above situations outline what is not being a good host or hostess for the party. In the below section, we will look at the elements that make a good host (or hostess for that matter).

A good host keeps an eye on the trends in parties in the recent past. Invitees’ expectations are framed based on prior experiences. Also, vendors and suppliers gear up to provide services that support the popular services or items that are common across many parties. For this reason, having a pulse on the recent parties is an important element for pulling of a great party.

One element that is essential for ensuring the guests have a good time is to be aware of their preferences and tastes. More than your budget and event planning, this aspect needs to be taken care of well to ensure your guests have a good time. All good hosts have this awareness of what works for their audience. The ability to come up with common things that are liked by almost everyone in the party is a special gift that some people possess.

Above all, a host or hostess needs energy. To spend time with each person at the party and to be cheerful, happy and glad that they have come needs person with high energy and social skills.

In this article, we have so far looked at choosing the party theme, music and food based on the tastes of the guests and recent trends in parties. One aspect that determines the decision related to a party is the ‘list of constraints’. Weather, budget and number of people attending determine the kind of party that can be hosted. Good hosts are aware of the implications of such constraints and make smart choices under the circumstances.

If you have good awareness of the recent trends, know the preferences of your guests, have lot of energy but you are poor at planning. It is difficult to host a good party. Planning and organizing skills are absolutely essential for ensuring everything runs smoothly. Plus, if certain aspects of the party are taken care of before the party begins, there is lesser number of things to focus on during the party. If the preceding work was neglected, then it prevents a host from doing what they should be doing at that moment. It goes without saying, that bad planning will lead to many problems during the party and disturbs the mental balance of the host. In such a situation, not only is the host disturbed but it also dampens the mood of the guests.

It is quite obvious from the preceding paragraphs that being a good host is a special attribute that is not easy to possess or learn. In case, you have neither the time or if your personality is different from what is required to be good host, you don’t need to worry too much. All you need to do is to find a friend or acquaintance who can do this for you. Or hire an event organizer who will do this for you.