Are you a spontaneous kind of host? The kind of person who suddenly feels like throwing a party, so invites everyone a few days before? Then here are some tips to ensure you get the logistics sorted with a minimum of eleventh-hour panic.

• *Don’t be disappointed if not everyone can come. Expect that some friends will already have plans if the party is this coming weekend … but there are sure to be others who are free and keen! An e-invite is the fastest way to reach your mates at the last minute, and we have hundreds. Also consider a more unusual time to have the party, such as Sunday arvo (as opposed to the ever-popular Saturday night), to ensure more guests can make it.
• *Keep the catering fuss-free. For drinks, stick to beer, wine, mineral water and soft drinks – don’t fiddle around with cocktails or punch. For food, make it buffet-style, so everyone can help themselves, and buy in as much as you can. Antipasto bits and pieces, cheese platters, and mini gourmet bites such as pies and quiches can all be bought from a fancy deli – just because you’re cutting corners, you don’t have to skimp on quality.
• *Give the house a basic tidy but in a cheat-style – designate one cupboard or room as the dumping ground for all that superfluous clutter lying around the house. This is not the time to embark on a massive spring-clean; just tidy the party area, clean the guest bathroom and hide the rest in the spare room.
• *Make the party a casual occasion – more formal parties require things you won’t have time to deal with, such as ironing cloth napkins or cleaning your fancy glassware. On the invitation, write something like: ‘Join us for drinks from 3pm’ so guests are expecting to be served wine plus a few nibbles, not a three-course sit-down meal with all the trimmings.
• *You don’t have to spend hours decorating to create a cool party atmosphere. Only a few touches are necessary for a last-minute bash. As long as the party space looks presentable, you can get away with vases of flowers and a few tea lights dotted around. Keep lighting low to create ambience and pop on some tunes to create the kind of mood you want – relaxed and chilled, or hyped and fun?