putting your guests in the party mood
Fiona Leahy, one of the world’s most in-demand events planners, reveals her secrets
1
My most important tool for making people feel comfortable at a party is a tape measure – you can only have comfort and ease when you have room (at the dinner table, the ideal distance between people is around 55cm). So many good dinners are ruined by a table that is too big or too small.
2
If you want people to feel their best selves, lighting is everything – you want everyone to look like they’ve been dipped in honey. Overhead lighting and modern bulbs can be quite unforgiving so when in doubt, take it down a notch. Better to be too dark than too bright. I love to have as much candlelight as possible and use a lot of hurricane holders – glass sleeves over the candles – to keep things safe.
3
You want it to be romantic, in the sense of going someplace else – and being someone else – for an evening, like being on a movie set. Fleshy tones on the walls are really flattering. I love a pale, nudie pink on the wall – my favourite is Drunk Tahini by The Pickleson Paint Co. But it’s also about flattering the environment – you want people to walk in and feel, ‘Oh, this is really nice.’
4
Above all, a party has to be fun. One of the most enjoyable parties I did was to fill a room with sand so that guests immediately went barefoot: put on The Beach Boys, and all of a sudden, you’re in Barbados. You can create entire balloon walls by sticking balloons onto the wall with double-sided sticky tape so it looks like Paco Rabanne chainmail. Or you can get personalised graffiti vinyls (from The Graphical Tree) that peel off easily again. I love using mirror balls – if you want a good time, put a mirror ball up. You can rent any size or number of mirror balls from a guy called Mirror Ball Paul – putting them up en masse makes it feel a lot more fun. For instant fun, you can use garlands, streamers, smoke machines and vintage neon signs (you can rent these from Gods Own Junkyard). Anything that’s not what you would do every day is a signal to have some fun – and that helps people to relax.