You did it! You invited all of your friends to your party. What a success! Since they love you, and love spending time with you, they don’t come alone—they drag their friends, so the party you planned for a small group of six, has turned to a little congregation of 20. While you are happy everyone showed up, reality hits home—your tables and chairs aren’t enough. Should you rush to the party rentals in the middle of the night? You wonder.

If you are facing this dilemma, you don’t have to worry as there are several things you can do to keep your friends busy the entire dinner party to notice you didn’t have enough tables and chairs. Some of the things you can do include:

Set up a casual attitude

When the guests step in the door, set in their mind, they aren’t having the usual formal sit-down party. You can do this by setting up the music and be cool about it. Also, offer to put together the appetizer plates and drinks for the guests. Create small servings to encourage the guests to go for seconds and even thirds rather than pilling up a lot just once on their plates.

Encourage your guests to move around. When they land in your party, let them know they are free to move around and interact with others in the event.

Make it comfy

If you have more guests than you planned, you can counter this by creating a Moroccan vibe with floor cushions and pillows. Place these around the house, so the guests have extra seating areas when they are tired of walking around.

Make use of ottomans.

The absence of a table often means a lack of counter space, and this is where the super trendy ottoman comes into play. The ottoman can provide you with a space for your tray and, at the same time, a place to store your glasses. When the party is over, you can easily turn that baby into another seat. How handy?

Avoid bottlenecks

When you have your guests crammed in one space, you give your party a confused and overcrowded look. At the same time, it gives the guests the urge to sit as they wait for others. You don’t want this as you don’t have enough chairs.

To keep things moving, don’t cram everything in one spot. This calls for you to serve your food in two or more areas. Also, have a separate station for drinks. It’s also wise to scatter napkins, utensils, and other items the guests will need throughout the evening.

When you do this, you eliminate bottlenecks and, at the same time, encourage the guests to move around, so they don’t find the need to sit down. The moving around also encourages the guests to mingle, increasing their chances of raving about your event.

Prepare standing-friendly food

The intention is to minimize the chances of the guests sitting, so what better way than serving them foods that don’t give them the need to sit? When planning your meals, go for standing-friendly foods. Some of the best are: tapas, kabobs, and finger foods.

These will ensure the guests fill their stomachs without being too self-conscious when dining vertically or while sitting on the floor.

Be strategic in your planning.

As you are putting together the event, remember you don’t have enough tables and chairs, and you don’t want to rent them from your local table and chair rentals Rockland NY. To keep the guests on their feet, you need to be strategic on how you organize your house.

If you have a free-standing kitchen island, you can use it as the serving area and serve your guests from here. The trick is to ensure everything is ready beforehand. You don’t want to get into the guests way by cooking when they arrive.

Got a bookshelf? Clear out all the dusty books and stash them away. Use the space to scatter snacks and platters or use them as surfaces to place glasses and appetizer plates.

When it comes to the window sills, ensure they are thoroughly clean and place a bowl of snacks here. You can also encourage the guests to place their drinks there.