You must be sure to suit your guests to the program you choose for the party. For adults, outstanding sports events are usually the most successful. Make sure you have arranged the seating so that everyone can see, that ash trays are convenient to every chair. Plan simple refreshments, and set up a bar, for serving highballs or tea or coffee throughout the game. This kind of informal party can not only be great fun, but it's also very easy because the en­tertainment is all done for you.

state the closing hour
For teas and cocktail parties the time when the party is over is in­cluded in the invitation. It does not follow, however, that all the guests will leave your house exactly at that hour. It is even less likely to happen when your invitation states that it will be "an early party." But only a few thoughtless guests will overstay their welcome, and those can be dealt with subtly or bluntly, but firmly.

time limits
If you invite people to play a game, it is right for the hosts to say at the start that they think it would be well to set a time limit and really stop when the hour arrives. All passionate game-lovers know how easy it is to say, "Oh, well, we'll just play one more because it's such fun." And they know they'll regret it the next day. So everyone is likely to be grateful for a set stopping time.

go away
But if, with all the techniques you can use, one couple lingers on and on, is there anything you can do? With some people you have to be rude. You don't want to put people out of your house, yet, if they are so insensitive that they don't know when to go home, it seems to me one of the few times in life when a forthright statement of fact is permissible. Either the host says, "I have a very important business conference at nine o'clock tomorrow, and I've got to get some sleep," or the hostess says it for him. The reason must be important enough to make these people realize that they must go away.

good-byes
As anyone who has been trained in the good old dancing school tradition knows, a proper guest tells his host and hostess how very much he has enjoyed the party when he leaves. The hosts, on their part, ex­press cordial appreciation of the privilege of entertaining these people and see them off.

see them off
The hostess can certainly go with the last one or two of her lady guests to the "powder room" to help them with their wraps while the host helps the gentlemen with their coats and hats. ! In an apartment, keep the door open until guests have got onto the elevator and its door has closed. In your house, unless it's freezing cold outside, keep the door open until guests are in their cars, and the out­side lights on until you're sure everyone is well on his way.