Planner Extraordinaire Rebecca Gardner on How to Throw a Perfect Party

Rebecca Gardner created a party on a page with A Screaming Blast, a new book sharing the beautiful highlights of her career planning events, as well as her thoughts on creating joyful moments in your own life. “It’s a surreal thing,” says Gardner, who runs the events and interior design firm House & Parties. “It’s so much time rushed into these pages.” The book includes a foreword written by Sofia Coppola; Gardner helped her plan a 50th birthday celebration in her New York courtyard. “Can you think of anyone better for any kind of endorsement? I am extremely honored,” Gardner says. “She is a very generous friend, an incomparable talent, and a constant inspiration.”

Gardner has a colorful attitude that comes out in her vibrant and over-the-top design style, but she’s also meticulously organized and approaches each event with the same kind of precision. This is a job she was born for. “I grew up surrounded by a gaggle of effervescent, resourceful, elegant, hairspray Texas women who know how to entertain and know how to have a good time,” she says. “Entertaining is in my blood. Even my childhood memories are arranged by parties. My mother and I would scheme my birthday party a year in advance. I had no idea that this would be my job, but I’m so glad that it is.”

Below, Gardner speaks with ELLE about her book, what makes a gathering great, and the wildest thing she’s ever seen at a party.

This Pink Poodle Party, held in Houston, asked guests to dress in a ’50s theme. The desserts piled on the dining room table were so beautiful that some people assumed they were part of an art installation.

My mantra has always been, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.” I like excess. And I would say I like luxurious layers. I like a feeling of abundance, which to me translates to generosity. I also think that by overdoing, you are showing guests effort and therefore love.

To protect an original table at a party at the Aiken-Rhett House in Charleston, House & Parties used hundreds of yards of tulle in shades of green to cover it.

No matter what kind of party, no matter the scale of the party or who the client is, we ask, “What is the story that you want to tell your guests?”

All parties include three major documents that outline our process. We start with a creative brief, which is an extensive, illustrated short story of how the evening will unfold from the perspective of a guest. It starts with [asking:] What is the emotion that you hope to create with opening the invitation? The next thing that we create is a meticulous budget. Probably more than the creative brief, the budget gives peace of mind and transparency. Then we have a fairly detailed run of show, which outlines on a timetable how the evening will unfold so that everyone is on the same page.

I really like seated dinners, from five to 500 guests. There’s something very special about choosing 24 inches for your guests that are designed specifically for them. How flattering is the candlelight? What do the flowers smell like? What are the little [things] scattered on the table? You’ve created a little world for them with the guests seated to their right, to their left, and across from them. To offer a guest a little world created just for them is the perfect gift for a control freak like me.

A Screaming Blast by Rebecca Gardner

Someone once asked me recently, very seriously, “What problem does your work solve?” And I thought, Well, I’m certain that if we do not make an effort to gather friends, and mark memorable occasions, and create an atmosphere for our joy, all of our memories will lean beige. So beige is really the problem, and I bring the color.

A lavish 40th birthday celebration in Aspen included a party parade led by a trumpeter playing “Louie Louie” and Ginuwine songs.

I did a wedding two years ago, and it had a draped tent. It was 10,000 square feet, and it had 10,000 square feet of pink silk covering the walls. It was really sort of luscious and wonderful in Hollywood boudoir [style]. After dinner, guests were mingling, and the music started. People started to ask me, “Where’s the dance floor?” The band was hidden, and they did a dramatic and very loud drum roll. The lighting guys projected Batman-like splotches of light on one side of the tent. We had a 10-second drum roll, and the whole side of the pink draping, all in one swoop, fell to the floor. And it revealed an adjacent tent with an 18-piece band that was draped in gold, pink, and purple with a million disco balls and a painted dance floor. Everybody had an espresso martini and got up off of that thing.

This interview has been edited and condensed.