11 secrets for a successful party

My wife and I do cook-offs with friends—they always foster jovial trash talking, says Sudhir Kandula, advisor & investor of technology and food startups in New York City and runner-up on America's Next Great Restaurant (NBC). Happy adversaries are always good things for a dinner party, and having a group of artists cook against a group of bankers, or an American/Japanese couple cook against an Indian/Swedish husband-and-wife team, makes for a more fun and interesting party!

Choose a theme that transports your guests to a new place, says Michael Cirino, founder and creative director of a razor, a shiny knife. One party we threw revolved around a short story by Ernest Hemingway and for another we tapped into the macabre Victorian undercurrent of London. All of the food was completely black, and the servers wore black with lace covering their mouths.

My father taught me to pop my own corn, so I like to prepare some for an easy snack to serve as guests arrive, says Aaron Oster, executive chef at the Kitchen Porch in Martha's Vineyard, Mass. The smell always grabs people and it's easily shared and can be eaten with your hands—plus, it's gluten free!

Christmas trees are fun but take up too much space at parties. Instead, I wrap a bunch of hollow boxes, and make a meandering snake of gifts that crawl up the wall to the ceiling, says Jason Young, performance artist and filmmaker in New York City.

As part of your invite, send out a special 'hashtag' to mark the occasion, says Pippa Lord, founder of Sous Style and photo director at ELLE in New York City. Think #brittsbday or #megsbabyshower. The hashtag initiates social media buzz among your guests and enables you to create a visual archive of all the fun on Twitter and Instagram, says Lord.

A classic party trick: Tell guests that the seating chart was arranged based on commonalities. Everyone will immediately start talking to try and figure out what they have in common, says Suzanna Lee, a film distributor in New York City. When the time comes for each to announce their findings, you then reveal to your guests that you had no clue what they might share. By this time, they're already fast friends!

Forget afternoon tea: For lunch we always serve a fresh-made vegetable juice, says May Vervoordt, author of At Home With May and Axel Vervoordt: Recipes for Every Season. In addition to the nutritional benefits, it helps to awaken the palate. One of my favorites is green apple with spinach, mint and gingerroot juice.

I like making menus for each place setting because it not only shares with guests what will be served, but provides a souvenir they can keep to remember the meal, says Troy Williams, owner of Simply Troy Lifestyle + Events in Los Angeles. Personalize each one with the guest's name at the top and it can also act as a place card or create your own monogram or logo with a title for the event.

When arranging the seating, separate people who know each other (or are in a relationship) into different sections of the table, says Allegra LaViola, owner of Allegra LaViola Gallery in New York City. Want to be more adventurous? Switch seats after each course. Moving around helps facilitate conversation and gets you to interact with people you might not have had a chance to speak to all night, says LaViola.

Even if it's a small dinner, always have a self-service bar to give your guests a place other than the table to have a drink, says William Richmond-Watson, owner and creative director of Watson & Company. Hopefully they will be up dancing to your playlist, which, if you plan it right, should crescendo and pick up in beat towards the end of the meal to keep the party going.