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Venues, Tips, and Tricks: Hosting Elsewhere

Last updated: March 27, 2024

You can still throw parties even if hosting at home is not a possibility.

Try these, and please email me if you have any suggestions to add.

Venues

  • A park.
  • The café of a local museum.
  • A library or community center.
  • Your apartment or neighborhood common space or game room.
  • Your office.
  • At a hotel lobby.
VENUESPROCON
ParkOpen, outdoor space, and minimal necessary décorToo large for intimacy & weather risk
CaféYou can choose items from menu, staff to serve foods and drinks, and no venue preparations Café cost and other people using the venue
Library or community centercentral to where are others coming fromGeneric & not personal
Apartment or neighborhood common spaceClose to your apartment / larger space, easy bathrooms and kitchen spaceNot private, may disturb your neighbors, cleaning everything yourself

The easiest and most common solution is to find a friend or colleague who will let you use their home for your party. If you go that route, please review these tips and tricks when throwing a party with a co-host.

Other Hosting Location Ideas

In another article on my site, a digital nomad named Shaggy talks about lots of venue ideas and how to host a party when you don’t have a home.

A Note from The Author (Nick Gray)

You’re doing it! This will be fun.

My big goal in writing this book and these articles is to get 500 people to host their own party and tell me about it.

You can see my current list and count at www.party.pro/hosts/

Send me an email or text me with your party date.

Email to [email protected] or text me at +1-917-635-9967

I reply to every message, usually quick. And I’ll give you a few bonus tips and tricks or answer any questions.

Send me a note now. Email to [email protected] or text me at +1-917-635-9967

Read that article here. Here are a few more of his examples:

Maybe your town doesn’t have a coworking spot, a hotel lobby, or an easily accessible public park. Here are a few other location or venue ideas to host your gathering.

  • Friends Houses: You could bribe your friends with some cookies or beer to persuade them to let you use their space. And tell them about the amazing people they will be able to meet! If they still say no, offer to clean their house before and after the party.
  • Restaurants: Look for restaurants with a section that has a standing area without loud music. Shaggy has met some people who walk into restaurants and ask the staff “what nights are usually the slowest?” Then they offer to bring in at least 15 people that night and ask to have a little section of the restaurant closed off for their party (free of charge).
  • Rent an Airbnb or Peerspace: A classy way to make a cocktail party happen! Make sure in the details of the Airbnb rental that you are allowed to host a party of 15 people. Peerspace is another option, most commonly used in North America, for event spaces that are specifically designed for hosting events. But they can be expensive.
  • Hotel Lobbies or Hotel Bars: Tons of places are open 7 days a week and have slow weeknights. The perfect opportunity for you! One of Shaggy’s friends reserved a conference room at a hotel by committing to buy 100 PBRs for $1 each. See this new article I wrote all about hosting at hotel lobbies.

Tips and Tricks

  • Name tags: While name tags are always important, they’re especially important when you’re hosting an event outside your home. In a shared space like at a park or in a café, name tags become a visual unifier for your group. They’ll make it easier to identify your guests within the shared space.

Note: The best place to host your party is probably still at your home. Chapter 3 of my book goes deep on this – including rebuttals to many objections you may have.

Related posts:

Leave a comment on this article here.

About the author

Nick Gray is the author of The 2-Hour Cocktail Party. He’s been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and in a popular TEDx talk. He sold his last company Museum Hack in 2019. Today he’s an expert on networking events, small parties, and creating relationships. Read more about Nick Gray here.

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