For some, there's no place like home when it comes to throwing parties, particularly if you don't mind the clean up. Just about anything goes in the world of party room setups for the at-home affair. Below, Paula Witkin, a party planner based in Wellesley, MA, offers tips on hosting an informal affair, both indoors and out.

The Inside Story
Homes connote warmth and charm, so don't start rearranging the furniture and taking the family photos off the walls. Leave the majority of things as they are. If you feel there isn't enough space, your home is simply not big enough.

Optimally, a large, spare room would be useful, but if one isn't available, try to keep guests as neatly contained as possible in several rooms: They'll eat in the dining room, chat in the living room and dance in the den. The great thing about entertaining at home is the built-in perks: tables, chairs, sound system, coat racks, refrigerators. Everything you need is right there.

Care and Feeding
Make finger foods and booze accessible and keep them coming. You don't want the grub and grappa lines to intersect either; snaking lines make for snarling guests. For your entree, a sit-down dinner is a perfectly feasible idea, but a buffet frees up the host or hostess from serving and portioning chores.

There are many ways to arrange chafing dishes or platters for a buffet. Most people place them on a long table against an unobstructed wall in what is called a mirrored format: The same dishes are on either side of the buffet table, so that there are two lines. They can flow inward or outward, depending upon the configuration of the party room.

Split buffets are another option: salads on one table, hot stuff on another. Or you can have themed buffet stations: cheese sticks and pasta on the Italian buffet station and chicken lo mein on the Asian one. It's a matter of personal preference.

Buffet and bar cloths should hang to the floor, so that the under-table region can be used to store liquor bottles, kitchen utensils and even soiled linens. Since standard table height is about 30 inches, add 60 inches to both the length and width of the table to reach the floor. In a pinch, a king-sized sheet can be used under a cloth that is not long enough.

The Outsiders
Virtually no one wants to be cooped up in the house on a beautiful day. So if the weather is suitable, take your affair outdoors for a little dining al fresco, the most casual of which is the barbecue.

The first tenet of Barbecuing 101 is not to set up your grill near the dining tables. The best place is in a corner of the yard, where the least amount of traffic will be present. You can also set up a table beside the grill for plates, buns and condiments. And keep a garbage can in this area so guests can pitch their own trash.

Cocktail tables, or 36-inch rounds, allow people to talk and move around more freely. However, if you're planning a sit-down affair, use 60-inch round tables, which are designed for 10 people or fewer. And try not to assign all the neighbors to one table and all the cousins to the next. Mix it up ? that's what makes parties fun.

If you're fretting about the weather, you can opt to rent a tent. If you do, make sure it is connected to the house in some way ? either by canopy or covered walkway. Tents should for daytime parties should have an opaque top, not a clear one, which would make the interior feel like a greenhouse in the summer time. If you expect hot weather, tents can be air conditioned. Conversely, if your outdoor get-together is slated for the fall, tent heaters are available. They run about $200 per heater for a small tent (25-by-25 feet).

Clear-topped tents are appealing for a nighttime affair, particularly on a starry night. And if the ground is level, you shouldn't need a floor for the tent. If it's not, you may want to consider one, because nobody likes to eat on wobbly tables.

If you're having kids at your barbecue (and who doesn't?), establish a kiddies table for those five and under. Instead of a tablecloth, use butcher paper and place cups of crayons at each place setting, and that should hold them for at least 15 minutes. For a more formal affair, which would run longer, consider keeping children with their families, because that's where they'll end up spending most of their time anyway.