Few are those who’ve had parties they’ve hosted immortalised in print, but one of Nicky Haslam’s was - by Tom Wolfe, no less, who put a party that Nicky threw for the Rolling Stones into a short story. Further written accounts of memorable nights organised by him will doubtlessly surface as diaries of the great and good are published, for Nicky is – as Tatler declared – “the most well connected man in Britain”. Alongside, a stalwart of the House & Garden Top 100, he has an extraordinary ability to bestow beauty, elan, and a sense of the magical to any interior he touches. It makes him the ideal person to ask for tips on Christmas hosting.
Interestingly, Nicky is a fan of the last-minute soirée when it comes to this time of year. “It’s friendlier, and you don’t spend time worrying about whether or not it’ll work or whether people will be able to come – the trouble now is that people are so rich and flights are so cheap that everyone’s off skiing, or going to Thailand. In the old days everybody stayed in London and the parties were wonderful.”
Nicky spends Christmas in his house in Gloucestershire, which was photographed for the December 2020 issue of House & Garden. “It’s definitely a house for drinks parties rather than dinner, as it’s so small I can only get four people around the table,” he says. He identifies his preferred moment in the calendar as the days between Christmas and New Year - “no one has plans then, if they’re not going away” - and his preferred hour as the evening “because you have time to get ready for it – lunch rolls around so quickly and I like a whole day to prepare. Also people are more beautiful in the evening, lamplight is kinder. I invite people to come whenever they want, from 7ish, and stay as long as they want – then there’s a continuous party with different people at different times.”
“Parties can’t look over organised – or under organised – it’s got to look as if it’s all been thrown together magically, at the last minute,” he continues, stipulating that decoration must be fresh. “There’s something rather annoying anyway about decorations being up for ages anyway, and I like just-picked ivy and holly.” He finds it in his garden, or in the lanes around his house, combines it with “dead oak, that russet oak that has still got leaves on it,” and arranges it “anywhere it’s going to improve the general look of things.” Then there are baskets of hydrangeas, Bamford Lily of the Valley scented candles, “and masses of normal candles, some real, some fake. I buy the fakes online, and I put them in the garden as well – they don’t blow out because they’re fake – so that the outside looks special too. The aim is to make it rather mystical.”
“My friend Diana Cooper always said that the best menu for a successful party is too much to drink and a chocolate pudding,” and he reveals that he makes “peculiar cocktails – because I don’t like wine and I avoid anyone else having it otherwise I’d just have half open bottles in the fridge” which he serves with sausages and “pretty pastel-coloured fairy cakes I buy at the Coop.” Also, given the time of year, “Christmas cake – with marzipan and icing – and mince pies. I worship mince pies. All those sweet things are probably my favourite thing about Christmas.” Smoking inside is not only allowed, but encouraged, “it makes the room look better, it dirties it up. Ceilings are always far too white these days because nobody smokes anymore. I paint ceilings darker in the corners so it looks like there’s been smoke – it’s very important, it cosies it,” he reveals (a vital tip for those who want the look without the habit).
Nicky’s own dress code “tends to be Austrian in those days after Christmas,” which adds both to the sense of occasion and ups the festive edge. “I’ve got an Austrian jacket, and a green velvet waistcoat that goes with it, and I wear it with either black trousers or lederhosen.” He plays music by 30s and 40s singers, such as the American jazz singer Lee Wiley, “if you haven’t heard of her, go and google her immediately. It was extraordinary how enchanting she was.” He invites “anyone who is around” and claiming never to be able to remember the names even of his closest friends, introduces people with the line “darlings, you know each other, don’t you?” Only children are excluded, “there isn’t room. And it’s more fun for their parents if they’re not there.” It also sounds safer, given that the whole sounds raucously entertaining. If you don’t have the good fortune to be a near neighbour of Nicky, you can at least use his recipe for your own party plans.
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