Hi Quintessential readers! This past weekend my partner and I hosted a house cafe for our friends, family, and neighbors on a beautiful spring afternoon.
In this article I’ll review the event and give you an inside look into how to plan and prepare for a home cafe of your own.
Celebration
This past weekend was the perfect confluence of events to host a celebration with friends and family. Here are some of the recent wins being celebrated at our house cafe:
My recent cohabitation with my partner
Together we showed off the space we’ve been making together. Additionally, it was the first time our families met which was both nerve wracking and exciting. We had lots of laughs on the patio.
Introducing my baby axolotl
For the past couple of months I have been preparing to become an axolotl parent. I’ve been studying up on how to care for them, practicing with some beginner fish that are happily living in my aquarium of a home, and taking the time and care to properly cycle my tank for a healthy little critter. My little lady named Pandora is 4inches long and sooooo cute. She loves to swim and eat worms.
Welcoming spring on a sunny day
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate a spring morning than drinking an iced coffee with friends on a patio. Now imagine the coffee shop is your home and the patio is your yard/porch. It’s comfortable, it’s sweet, it’s perfect.
My new pursuit of music and creativity
Now I didn’t promote the release of my single or my first performance as Quinn Oslo as much as I intended to. I barely shared the song, and didn’t invite anyone to the show. But I knew that I was celebrating privately. It was just another piece of positivity leading me through the day, a conversation topic if anyone cared to ask, and a piece that sounded so much like music it blended into my playlist.
The Event
We hosted people open house style , or cafe style, from 10am-4pm with the hopes that people would trickle through all day without it ever getting too crowded or overwhelming.
Since we were mixing friend groups and families, we had a couple of distinct seating areas set up. Some were set to keep people separated and some were for people looking to mingle. It was up to the guests where they wanted to sit and enjoy their coffee and sweets. The more individual stations came with entertainment options - a deck of cards, a good view of the best March madness game available, some tarot and oracle cards. Mingle spaces were distraction free.
The intention was for the kitchen to stay off limits to guests like an elusive cafe kitchen where I’d run back like a server for my friends and family, but it didn’t work out that way. The environment ended up being so casual and people were spaced out enough that I invited my guests into the kitchen to watch me and Luke at the espresso bar and pick out which treats looked the best to them. While this kind of took away from the cafe aura I was trying to give, it made it much more personable and afforded me more face time with my people so I can’t complain.
Turnout
By the end of the cafe open house window, we’d had a little more than 20 visitors stop by. My worst case scenario involved everyone who RSVPd coming at the same time and not getting time to mingle because I was busy making everyone’s drinks, but I was happy with how spaced out everyone was. For the most part, Luke and I had the opportunity to sit down with each of our guests individually for a while. During the busiest time, we were bouncing between two groups of our mingling families and some of my friends.
Would I recommend hosting a home cafe?
Yes, 100%! It was a great way to bring friends and family together, show off the home Luke and I are making together, and it felt great to serve my people even if it was something as small as a coffee.
This event would be extremely easy to scale down for a smaller, more intimate gathering, but might be a more advanced hosting gig for a larger crowd. Keep reading for tips on hosting your own home cafe.
How to Host a Home Cafe
Menu planning
The most important part of the home cafe is going to be your coffee selection.
I had a full espresso bar going at mine to make my little barista heart happy, but all you need is a decent pot of hot coffee to get started. Here are some coffee options:
Classic pot of hot coffee (I have the basic Walmart pot)
Espresso bar (link my breville bambino)
Cold brew, homemade or store bought
Iced coffee, homemade or store bought
Decaf option
Non-coffee option: iced tea/juice/lemonade
For food options I offered some finds from my local bakery that I picked up the morning of:
Variety muffins
Donuts
Blueberry scones
Chocolate chip cookies
I had considered offering the following savory options but decided against it:
Mini quiches
Breakfast sliders
My reasoning for excluding these savory options was the logistics of making sure everyone gets a warm bite to eat and ensuring the food safety. Plus I felt like I was already doing enough.
When planning your menu, only consider the things that YOU like. You’ll be the one left with all the leftovers!
Store bought or homemade are both acceptable.
Space arrangements
A home cafe is different from other parties as it is a strictly sit-down party. Just as no one would be standing up at a coffee shop, no one should be left standing at your house cafe. That being said, your space should be set up accordingly.
The amount of people you can invite is extremely dependent on the amount of people than can comfortably sit in your home cafe all at once. For example, the total comfortable seating in my home cafe was 20, therefore I would not invite more than 20 people. While it’s unlikely that everyone would show up at the same time, it’s a possibility you must be prepared for as a host.
With that out of the way, there are several creative options for how you can lay your space out depending who and how many you invite. You can set up open, collaborative spaces for families or friend groups, separated tables or areas like a real cafe for small cross sections of people from your life you’d prefer to stay separated, or any combination of the two.
These areas can be complemented with activities like games or a good sight line to a screen, or you can promote analog interaction between people. It all depends on the vibe you want to bring as a host!
When it comes to music, always put on the music that YOU want to hear. Your guests will come and go, but you’re stuck listening to the playlist all day, so stack it with your favorite songs.
Prep schedule
Here’s the timeline of how I prepared:
Weekend before
Purchase supplies and dry goods
Two days before
Clean home and arrange space
One day before
Grocery store run
Baking day / clean and prep kitchen for coffee bar
Morning of
Last minute supply run for things you forgot
Bakery run
Prep a hot pot of drip coffee for the moment it is set to begin
Most Important: Enjoy the Time Together!
Once the start time hits the clock, let the stress go and try your best to enjoy the time you have with your people. You’ve probably been thinking about this all week. At this point, you’ve done all the work. It will be what it will be. Focus on cherishing the quality time with your friends and family. You’ll remember that more than you’ll remember the little things that go wrong.
Would you host a home cafe? What is a must have treat to go with a coffee? Would you sit in a mingling space or at a smaller table to play cards with the bestie you came with? Let me know in the comments!
About Quintessential
Thank you so much for reading! Quintessential is a collection of personal writings about how I am managing to live my life authentically as myself. You may be interested in this publication if you:
Are a young woman trying to make it in this world;
Enjoy niche topics;
Care about your communities around you;
Don’t take life too seriously; and
Want to know what makes me, me!