Life of the Party

There is a crucial moment at every house party when the evening can go one of two ways. It happens quite late – but before midnight – and coincides with a particularly good song on the playlist. Somebody either takes the leap, claiming space on a makeshift dancefloor, or they don’t – in which case the sofa brigade wins, checking phones and taxis home.

​

​Committing to a shimmy in a friend’s (or a friend of a friend’s) living room is an act of camaraderie that embodies the best that a house party can offer. It is confirmation that enough of a connection or friendship has formed in this tiny bubble to allow people to get silly and a little uncool. I have a soft spot for home-style dancing and find it hard to hold back from giving it a try, even in the most buttoned-up settings. Last Saturday, at a party that had been split between kitchen chatters and balcony smokers, I thought that the chance was never going to come. All it took was another guest casually asking, “Who was it that was saying they wanted to have a dance?” for me to grab her hand, head straight for the hi-fi and let loose. A couple of others tentatively followed, the lights were turned down and carriages didn’t get called for another few hours.

​

​Earlier this year, Konfekt’s editor, Sophie Grove, and I worked on the magazine’s inaugural book, Konfekt: A Guide to Generous Hosting. At first, I was a little apprehensive about the task because (despite being an enthusiastic eater) I am not much of a cook. All too often people equate the act of entertaining with the knowledgeable wielding of a pan or a Dutch oven. Soon, though, as Sophie and I unpacked all of the connotations of hosting, I started finding myself in many of the essays that we were commissioning. How do you choose who to invite? What should the soundtrack be? What does being a good host even mean? All these questions apply whether you’ve got a masterful menu up your sleeve or not. The house parties at my current flat have involved wild, muscle-pulling dance-offs to Boney M’s “Rasputin” and late-night confessions dangling cigarettes outside the back window. The secret, whether you’re serving canapés and pudding or not, is making your guests feel that you love their company – and that there’s a good chance that the people who they’re going to meet that night will too. Enough that, when the moment strikes, they’ll let themselves be taken by the hand and led to the dancefloor so that the party – and the fragile-but-magic alchemy of it all – can carry on a little longer.