Last summer, we held Zoom parties and stuck to ourselves. This year? Gatherings may be small and safe, but they seem to be back in vogue. And for people who’ve forgotten how to host, these soirées now have a solution that shows up at your door one day and then disappears the next.
That’s our extremely literal description of Party by Numbers, a just-launched instant festivity solution based out of New York that promises to “sustainably deliver a whole party direct to your door.”
The new company is a collaboration between Nicky Balestrieri and Luigi Tadini (of creative agency The Gathery) and Bob Spiegel and TJ Girard (of catering company Pinch Food Design). “When the pandemic hit, we had to think real hard about what to do next,” explains Balestrieri. “Gatherings had come to a halt, but we think events are an essential part of the human experience.”
The team decided to focus on simplifying event hosting for when things got a little safer. They looked into other party rental companies but weren’t impressed. As Balestrieri remembers: “Most were terrible for the environment, and nowhere did we find anyone who delivered a whole event, including food and beverage, decor and flair from one shoppable destination.”
So now we have PxN. The key to the instant party is a proprietary Party by Numbers Cart, a “Swiss Army knife of entertaining” (as Girard calls it) that acts like a magic airline trolley, bar cart and mobile storage unit all in one. Each cabinet here is filled with your event’s nibbles, dishes, decorations, ice and libations. The company drops off the cart the morning of your event; following some simple directions, you’ll just need 30 minutes to set everything up.
When you’re done, pack everything away and PxN will pick it up the following morning. No cleaning, zero waste.
To start: Go the PxN website. Enter in your number of guests (it’s multiples of eight, up to 96). Pick a cuisine and the type of service you want (from hors d’oeuvres to full dinners), destination-style theme and the date of your shindig.
That’s it. The compartmentalized, Lego-like cart — which looks like a nice piece of furniture when not in use — includes food, pre-batched cocktails (complete with trays of tinctures, garnishes and spritzes), flowers, a Bose speaker, party plates and glassware that nests on top, risers, racks, tea-light warmers, custom lighting and more. Other than a little food reheating, nothing here seems to take much effort.
Bonus? The whole experience — from the food to the trays — was crafted and designed around concepts like carbon neutrality and zero waste initiatives.
The service officially launched April 15 in New York, with expansion to the Hamptons and Westchester set for later this summer, followed hopefully by a nationwide rollout soon after.
At $110+ per person, this isn’t super cheap, but it definitely seems worth it for the minimal amount of effort on your end. We sadly haven’t been able to test out the full Party by Numbers experience, but we did get to try a small sampling with some food, decorations and drinks (alas, no cart) meant to evoke Mexico City’s chic La Condesa neighborhood, along with a Zoom discussion and a virtual demonstration of the cart. If what we tasted and saw on-screen is any indicator, your next hosting gig will be a simple counting exercise this summer.
And for those of us who are still in quarantine mode, the PxN has a pretty great and apt 2020/21 description for their service.
As Balestrieri says: “It’s the fanciest Seamless you’ll ever order.”
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