Anybody else out there love to have people over?? This season of my life as a young newlywed has ushered in one of my current joys: hosting parties. There’s something so fun and special about getting to invite people over for snacks and games, or prayer and a lesson. It’s a place for discipleship and growth. Laughter is always sure to be there, genuine friendships are built and the body of Christ gets an opportunity to love on each other. The wonderful thing about hosting these kinds of parties? You don’t have to live in an immaculate, 2786 sq ft. home to do it! You also don’t have to cook a huge meal and deal with the stress that comes with such a big task.

Host a Game Night

Grab your favorite games or have people bring their favorites. Put them on the dining room table and make sure there’s plenty of room, either on the table or in the living room or both, for people to spread out and play. Card games, board games-- you name it! If you need any inspiration, I’m going to list some of our family friendly favorites below! (All of these can be purchased at Walmart, Target, or Amazon)

Telestrations 

Quixx

Hues & Cues

Bye, Felicia

Farkle

Balderdash

Wahoo or Aggravation

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

Charcuterie Board Party

You’ve seen the Pinterest boards, you know what’s up! But don’t panic, you don’t have to create an elaborate spread with organic honeycomb and hard to find ingredients. The idea is simple: Get a large serving board and fill it with snacks you KNOW your guests will love. Meat and cheese, chips and dip, a “create your own nacho plate” smorgasbord--the sky is the limit. We’ve even done a giant Chick-fil-A charcuterie board that filled our dining room table. Complete with hundreds of nuggets, dozens of sandwiches and more sauce than you can shake a stick at--totally worth it!

Our family loves these because they’re easy and always a hit! Sometimes you don’t even have to go to the store, you can just raid your refrigerator and pantry for a wide variety of snacks. It’s a low-stress option that’s also great for conversations and story-swapping.

Breakfast for Dinner Party

Think waffles for dinner, bacon, biscuits and gravy, etc. You can make cute brunch invitations for free on sites such as Canva.com. Waffle mix is inexpensive and you don’t have to spend a lot of money on other items if you ask your guests to bring their favorite waffle toppings or breakfast foods.

Dessert Party

What’s not to love about a dessert party? You can do this in whatever way you like-- you provide the basic ice cream flavors and the guests bring their favorite toppings, or you can have them bring their favorite dessert to share. Either way, everyone is leaving with a sugar overload and everyone will be happy.

Prayer Meeting

Open your home up to have a move of God. Provide some music and set the atmosphere for people to have a distraction-free time of prayer. This will bless your home and, as God ministers, it will strengthen each person. Sometimes we’ll do a short prayer meeting before any of the other parties I’ve mentioned above. We want our home to be a place that’s full of peace and a blessing to everyone who enters it. We want to be Apostolic in everything we do!

Seasonal Party

Maybe it’s hot chocolate time or popsicle time; either way, run to the Dollar Tree and grab some fun seasonal items. 4th of July popsicles and fireworks, Christmas gingerbread house-making, Thanksgiving cookie decorating, Valentine’s Day Clearance candy eating…(don’t act like you haven’t wanted to do it). You can even do summer fruit or fall soup and sandwiches!

Taco Truck Party

This has to be one of my absolute favorites, and if you don’t have an authentic taco truck in your area--my heart goes out to you. Because for $3 and some change, you can get a plate of mouth-watering, perfectly seasoned tacos. Have people chip in some cash and you can make a taco charcuterie board pretty inexpensively.

Anything can be a party if you make it fun and make it something that brings people together. The point is not to impress people with your fancy cooking skills or your home, but to bring people together and let them spend time in real, face-to-face conversation and laughter. It really does do good like a medicine.