14 Hosting Tips From Martha Stewart To Make Your Next Party A Smashing Success

If there's anyone who knows how to host a party, it's Martha Stewart. The cooking expert has built a brand on advising people how to make the most of good times in their kitchens and dining rooms, and she hasn't just taught folks how to make meals for themselves. Throughout her career (which has been pretty lengthy, having just published her 100th cookbook), she's also imparted a lot of wisdom on the best ways to host in a manner that's welcoming, easygoing, and fuss-free, making parties seem like less of a chore for the host and more like an extension of their own good vibes.

She hasn't just taught people how to do so through their food, either. While Stewart has given us plenty of tips about how to cook for crowds without breaking into a sweat, she's also dispensed lots of advice about how to prepare homes for parties. Plus, she's particularly in tune with the aesthetic side of parties, and has given some top tips and tricks about how to make your event look the best it can. If you're tired of throwing drab dinners for your friends, it's time to learn from the best.

Although making lists can be some people's ideas of hell — "What happened to spontaneity?" we hear them cry — when it comes to party planning it's a non-negotiable. Well, for Martha Stewart, at least. The home guru dubs making a list before a party as one of her 10 golden rules for hosting, which she expanded on in an interview with The Hudson Union. The idea is that you should take an inventory of everything you have and everything you'll need, and make a master list of the items that you might need to stock up on.

Stewart is quick to point out that these items shouldn't just include your food and drinks, but those extra touches you'll need to serve them properly. Otherwise, disaster can strike. "I remember once catering a party for like 300 people, and I had forgotten the cocktail napkins," she said in the interview. As such, it's vital to think about every component of your evening and the overall experience you'll want your guests to have. Oh, and make sure you account for unexpected arrivals on your list, too, and buy a little more than you'll need for everything.

Few people manage to exit hosting a party with a pristine home. However, you can help yourself out considerably by beginning with a tidy space. Stewart states that starting with (quite literally) a clean slate before you host a party will ensure that the vibes are good from the offset. By assessing your space a few days before the party and thoroughly cleaning and decluttering, you can avoid having to do so at the last minute.

Starting with a tidy space isn't just for your benefit, either. How will your guests feel if they arrive at your home and find that it's already in a state of disarray, or that you haven't cleaned the area they're going to be eating in properly? A tidy space creates a feeling of serenity, which will inform everyone's mood and enjoyment. That's not to say that you have to suddenly throw everything out to host your party, too: Simply move some of your every day items into a room that your guests won't be using, like your bedroom. Make sure that you plan to finish tidying a few hours before everyone arrives, too, so that you're not rushing at the last minute.

If you think that themed parties are out of fashion, you clearly haven't met Martha Stewart. Stewart is a huge fan of sticking to a theme when it comes to party planning, and suggests that organizing your evening around a theme can make for an easier and more cohesive experience. If that all sounds a bit intimidating, bear in mind that you don't have to go too big with your theme. It can be as simple as a unifying color or a specific design that runs throughout all of your decor — or you can go bolder, embrace the fun, and pick something more conceptual or culturally relevant. The choice is yours.

If you're a big party planner, too, you can make life easier for yourself by grabbing a few timeless pieces that you can recycle each year for your parties, or that work for multiple different themes. Simply stow them away until you need them the following year, or find a way to incorporate them into other parties. Don't forget, too, that picking a theme for your party should be fun; try not to be intimidated by the whole thing.

When it comes to throwing parties, color is the way forward. Martha Stewart is a strong advocate for placing color at the center of her events, understanding that what makes a party swing isn't just what people are eating or drinking, but how everything looks. Although she naturally adheres to the colors of whatever season she's throwing her party in, she's not afraid to pick colors that correspond with other moments in the year, like her red, white, and blue chips, which are perfect for the Fourth of July.

On that note, Stewart's a strong believer that color shouldn't just be for your tablescapes. It should be in your food too. For spring parties, embrace foods that come in pastel tones, like raspberries, eggs, or macaroons. If you're hosting in winter, go for reds and greens, with cranberries and deep-toned kale salads. It'll enhance the overall feel of your event, and will also help you restrict your menu choices (which is always a bonus when you're in planning mode).

We all want our guests to have as much choice as possible, especially when it comes to the drinks menu. These days, drink tastes can be astonishingly varied, and it can feel like you have to restock your entire bar to keep everyone happy. Well, people, you really don't — especially when you're thinking about your wine. Martha Stewart recommends sticking to just a few types of wine and focusing on quality instead of quantity. When it comes to Thanksgiving parties specifically, she recommends opting for a good-quality white wine and a fairly light red.

If you know that some of your guests are particularly big fans of a specific type of wine, like a rosé, then you can of course grab one of these too — you don't have to limit yourself unnecessarily. The key, though, is to make sure you get the best wines you can within your price range. To make your life easier, you might want to also stick with one signature cocktail, which you can batch-make ahead of time and place in your fridge.

Even if you're just hosting a party for a few friends, it's vital to get ahead of the game. Martha Stewart knows this perhaps better than anyone (she's had a lifetime of hosting parties, after all), and she's keen to let others know that it's a vital step. "Have a lot prepared ahead of time," she said in an interview on "On Air with Ryan Seacrest," where she shared how to host the perfect dinner party. "I think most of our mistakes are that we're trying to do everything at the last minute. It's better to have stuff to serve that's been prepared a little before the guests get there."

As such, prepare any appetizers or snacks before your guests arrive, so you can whip them out without thinking about it too much. Plus, consider what elements of your main dish you can prepare before everyone arrives. You'll make your life so much easier if all you have to do is put everything together, instead of starting from scratch.

Martha Stewart knows a thing or two about drama, especially when it comes to hosting a dinner party. That's why she's a fan of finishing things off at the table. She does this with one ingredient in particular: Her potatoes. "I've smashed potatoes tableside at home since I bought my house in Maine about 18 years ago," she stated in a conversation at her restaurant The Bedford, printed in Well+Good. Stewart takes her baked potatoes and slams them down on a cutting board tableside, before doling them out to her guests. They're then free to top the potatoes with whatever they wish.

Although this move brings drama, that isn't the only reason why Stewart does it. "It's a simple, actually scientific thing to do. It breaks up the fiber," she says. By smashing your potatoes instead of cutting them open, you increase their fluffiness and create a pleasing irregularity. Bear in mind that you don't just have to do this with potatoes, either: You can finish a host of foods tableside. Try dressing your salad at the table, or garnishing your items with some chopped herbs in front of your guests. It's a small gesture, but it makes things just that much more exciting.

Look, we all know the deal. Our friends don't always entirely gel with each other, and some people get on with others. While you might see your party as the perfect opportunity to bring folks together who might not ordinarily see eye-to-eye, you're far better off taking the path of least resistance and pairing folks up who you know will have a good time.

Martha Stewart recommends doing this through your seating plan. "Know your guests if you possibly can, and arrange your tables so that people who go well together [sit] together," she said in a chat with Well+Good. "Don't put known enemies together, or even invite known enemies to your party, either." We're fairly sure that the last part was a joke, but there's also some truth in it: It's always worth thinking carefully about whether there will be any real clashes with your invites. You should remember, too, that a seating plan also puts your guests at ease, as they don't have to pick who they're going to sit with — which can be more complicated than you might assume.

When you're buying ingredients for your party, you're probably mainly looking at the items in the recipe you've picked, right? Sure — it's only natural. However, you should look a little beyond those specific items and check the essentials. Items like salt, pepper, sugar, cooking oils, and basics like vinegar and spices can often be missed off a shopping list, with the host assuming that they'll have enough of it to go around. This is a mistake that Martha Stewart warns against, and it's a surefire way to fall at the last hurdle.

So, make sure you're taking stock of your pantry goods, and buy a little more than you think. Additionally, think a little further ahead about what your guests might want that you haven't anticipated. Do you have a friend who's especially into hot sauce, or can't eat a meal without mayonnaise? Are you serving a dish where somebody could feasibly want mustard as a condiment, and you should keep a few different mustard varieties? How about chutneys, jams, jellies, or syrups — do you have enough to go around? Keeping a well-stocked pantry is the best way to ensure that everyone can enjoy their meal just how they want to.

When people think about tablescapes for their parties, they can get pretty creative. But then, when it comes to glassware, they suddenly chicken out. Instead, they stick with the same old glasses that they always use, or if they're being really brave they bust out the fancy glasses. While there's nothing wrong with this, it can make for a fairly boring final effect, when what you really want is a little bit of pizzazz.

To gain said pizzazz, Martha Stewart recommends getting a little bit experimental with your glassware. Stewart is a fan of collecting old wine glasses, which she then serves her drinks in at her parties. The best thing about this tip is that it doesn't cost a huge amount of money to execute. Head to any well-stocked thrift store, and you'll probably find a load of glasses begging for a new home, which costs a couple of bucks at most. Once you use them, you can stash them away until the next time you have a party, or donate them back to the store so that someone else can enjoy them later down the line.

Here's a tip from Martha Stewart that we can entirely get on board with. Stewart suggests that before you serve a dish at a dinner party, you should make a test version and try it yourself. Doing this will ensure that you're ironing out any kinks in your preparation, and it'll also allow you to figure out how to work with fiddly foods that you may not serve every day. The reason we like it, though, is that you get to eat a delicious meal twice — and who doesn't want that?

Trying your recipes before you make them will also help you assess the recommended timings for a dish. We've all been there: A meal that says that it'll be ready in 30 minutes actually takes an hour. While you're struggling with the dish in the kitchen, your guests are getting hungry and perhaps enjoying the cocktails a bit more than they should. Making the dish ahead of time will help you assess whether you need to start a little bit earlier than you thought, or at least stock up on the snacks.

It's not enough to buy and prepare the best food out there. If you're not serving it at the right temperature, all of your hard work will have been totally wasted. Martha Stewart knows this well, which is why she advises thinking about what temperature you'll be serving each aspect of your meal at.

Although this sounds simple, it's a bit more complicated than you think. For instance, if you have a cheese course, you'll have to take your chosen cheeses out a couple of hours before you serve them — which you'll have to factor in as a step before you even serve your appetizers. Speaking of appetizers, although it can be tempting to put them out ahead of time to save you some work, a lot of them (like shrimp cocktails or crudités) need to be super cold. As such, they should only be taken out just before you serve them. Don't forget the little details, too: Things like condiments should be room temperature when being served, yet are frequently kept in the refrigerator.

When you're hosting a party, it's tempting to keep things in controlled spaces. However, you should think about taking things outside if at all possible. This makes things just that bit more special, and allows you to show off different aspects of your home. Martha Stewart likes to take her parties outside, so that her guests can see her blooming flowers. It's also a great incentive for you to get back out in the garden and do all of that work you've been unable to do during the winter.

Although the spring and summer months are ideal for outdoor entertaining, don't be afraid to do so later in the year. You can make a very cozy evening for your friends and family by roasting marshmallows around a fire pit, with everyone covered in cozy blankets and surrounded by lanterns. If it's snowed in the last few days, host a snow sculpting party for your friends and pass around the mulled cider. You'd be amazed how much adults get down with these activities, too: At the end of the day, we all wanna be kids again.

It's incredibly easy to go overboard with dinner party decor. If you're not practicing restraint, tablescapes can quickly become overly complicated and overflowing, leaving your guests with little room to actually eat (or even see each other). Instead of making your decor too impactful, you should instead practice restraint wherever possible. Keep things simple and tasteful, and you'll be rewarded with an easygoing party where everyone has a good time.

As well as this, you should avoid making your decor too high-maintenance. If, for instance, you're throwing a huge holiday party, Martha Stewart recommends leaning toward artificial trees instead of real ones, stating that the clean up is way simpler. The same goes for if you're adorning your table with any greenery: Don't be tempted to use real ferns or potted plants. Instead, just go for artificial ones. Not only will you avoid getting soil all over your table, but you'll also be able to reuse them time and time again, allowing you to save money in the long run. Plus, if you're thinking that people are judging you for using artificial greenery, trust us on this one: no one cares.