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Comment by sbuccini | Hacker News Reader

22) Turn the AC wayyyyyyy down when the party starts

23) Buy frozen finger food and put into oven in staggered batches. When a batch is ready, immediately transfer to serving tray and walk through party offering people food. Great task to delegate to that one attendee who doesn't know anyone!

24) Polaroids/Disposable cameras are cheap and seem to be universally adored. Get a few and scatter them throughout the party.

25) Sharpies/labels for marking solo cups, drastically cuts down on clutter as the night goes on.

26) If someone brings a bottle of wine or a bottle of liquor as a gift, just crack it open and ask them to share it with other attendees. Same with food. Makes for a good conversation starter.

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If you give people glasses instead of solo cups, I find that partygoers will tend to treat your house with a lot more care and respect. We have a set of glasses that have little black stickers on them that are a material that works well with chalk, so people can label them.

Yes, there's a risk of breakage & having to clean up, but overall I think it sets a better tone.

Dixie cup / glassware divide will tell you a lot about the type of party, but not always along the lines you might think.

I'm intrigued. Elaborate?

> Polaroids/Disposable cameras are cheap and seem to be universally adored.

I do this on my parties! Also sometimes people ask me to bring my gear to their parties.

The guests can either keep the photo and take home some memories or gift it to the host.

My more advanced version is that I take photos with my "good" mirrorless camera, transfer the photos to my phone, and then send them to the polaroid (Instax mini) for print. Too much work as a host, but as a gift when I'm a guest I might do it :)

The polaroids is a good idea; some more expensive / corporate parties I've been at had photo booths with random silly accessories as well. I mean it's not for me because I have no whimsy but other people appreciate it.

Not being a USian: what does turning the AC down mean? Set the thermostat to a lower temperature or make it less active (i.e. set it to a higher temperature)?

As someone who's been in a room with many people: I'm confident it means that the temperature should be low, because the room will quickly heat up otherwise.

(This is also the reason I'm hesitant about the oven tip, given that the kitchen is where the true party is.)

Right, it means to turn down the Air Conditioning to reduce the temperature of the hosting space first. The reason being that as people arrive, temps will climb into something more comfortable.

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