Your Easiest Party Ever...

Spontaneity rocks.  Being spontaneous enables you to enjoy something without over thinking, over planning, or over discussing it to death.  Let's apply that same thing to parties...be spontaneous.

Your easiest party ever will be the one that is relaxed, spur-of-the-moment, and casual.  Consider this:  it's Monday today.  What if you decide tonight to throw an after work happy hour on Friday to celebrate the end of the work week?  Tonight, email your friends---a big group of 'em---and tell them that Happy Hour is at your place on Friday.  Tell 'em to come over anytime after 5:30 or so---or, tell them just to drop by whenever they get off work.  On Thursday, head to the grocery store and get a few blocks of cheese, some olives, crackers, some fresh fruit----all easy stuff.  (If you are ambitious or can enlist a willing husband, you might pick up some sausages to grill quickly, slice up, and serve with mustard).  Then, on Friday, put it all out on a table for people to graze on.  Choose only things that don't need to be kept hot or refilled.  Put it on the table and walk away...let your guests munch at their convenience.  Your only responsibility is to put a cold drink in the hands of new guests and point them toward the food.  Since you called it a "Happy Hour," you can figure folks won't stay too long and the atmosphere will be a casual open house-type event.  Easy to throw together, but it serves the important purpose of getting friends together and starting the weekend off on the right foot.  :)