ENTERTAINING You can host a party like the pros

Two pros agree that simplicity is the key.
By CHARLYNE VARKONYI SCHAUB
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Some folks just seem to have it all. You go to their holiday parties and everything is perfect. The food is delicious and beautifully displayed. The decorations look like they came out of a glossy coffee-table book or a TV holiday special. The mood they create is nothing short of magical.
Feeling somewhat insecure? Don't. You, too, can learn how to play the party game.
We interviewed two of America's premier party planners -- Preston Bailey and Colin Cowie -- to learn how the pros do it. They should know. Both have made reputations creating parties and weddings for the mega rich and ultra famous.
Both party planners recently have published new books on entertaining. Bailey is the author of "Preston Bailey's Design for Entertaining" (Bulfinch, $45), an inspirational photo album of events he has planned with ideas on how to pick a theme, lighting, flower arrangements and table settings. Cowie's new book is "Dinner After Dark" (Clarkson Potter, $40), a primer on decor and tabletops with recipes for menus that can be prepared in less than one hour.
We asked them questions to help you get he most out of your party.
Q: What do people do wrong in planning a party?
Bailey: People get a little overanxious. They forget about celebrating and make it an obsession. They get tense and don't enjoy their own party. Sit down and make a wish list about the feeling you want to convey. You might want to take all the pictures off the walls and create an understated room and go with a simple approach to everything. If you love simplicity, remember repetition is important. Repeat the color scheme. If you are using candles, keep repeating them in the same kind of container. Martha Stewart does simplicity like nobody else. She might tie a green ribbon around a green votive candle and keep doing it over and over again.
Cowie: I think people overproduce their parties. They try too hard and end up getting themselves locked into the kitchen chained to the stove. Some of the best party givers know where to get the best food and how to get it delivered as quickly as possible at the right price.
Q: What can we do with lighting to influence the mood of the party?
Bailey: It's very simple. Outline the perimeter of the room for a night party with lights in each of the corners. Turn off all the other lights so the corner lights outline the room. Paper lanterns are inexpensive and the lantern lighting has a movement to it. Or use some electrical or battery-operated holiday candles in different spots in the room.
Cowie: Dimmers belong on every light switch in your house. Dimmers make you feel very welcome and very warm and allow candles to create the mood. One of the most important places to put a dimmer switch is in the powder room. You don't want a guest to look in the mirror in glaring light and ask herself if she needs more sleep. I don't like to combine fragrant candles with food. There is nothing worse smelling than vanilla and gardenia when eating lamb. Combine votives in blocks of four, eight, 16 or 20. There is no such thing as enough votives. They make you look more glamorous and take years off your life.
Q: What special things can we do with flowers and centerpieces for the holidays?
Bailey: I like to use flowers that dry easily and last beyond the holidays. Roses and peonies are wonderful when they are dried. Stay away from red poinsettias. Use pink and white poinsettias as topiaries. Amaryllis is great. What really make amaryllis special are the containers. You can go crazy playing with the container. Use pieces of rocks or glass in the bottom or pile them with petals.
Cowie: I love cut flowers, but I don't think they are practical and they are very expensive. A big arrangement can cost you $150-$300 at a florist and it looks like it has been arranged. Take a sculpture off the sideboard and surround it with floating candles, limes and kiwis cut in half. Or you can cover the whole table with leaves.
Q: What can you suggest to beef up a buffet table?
Bailey: The most important thing is to have one showstopper ornament on the table. The mistake people make is to use too many colors. Instead use the same color over and over again. Use it on the buffet and on the tablecloths. If you change colors too much, the design looks too restless. You can do all white and glass and enhance it with greens.
Cowie: You always want an element of height -- whether it's candles or dried branches. Then you use lower items such as votives at the base. It doesn't have to be in the center. I prefer to do something off center. The center is too predictable. One of my favorite ways to do a holiday party is to have buffets at stations. As guests arrive, have a table with a holiday pitcher of drinks near the door to meet them.