I want to throw a party, but my house isn't ready.. what should I do?

Tweet

I keep going back and forth about my party. I really want to throw myself a graduation party.. but our house still needs some work. Let me paint you a little picture for those who are unfamiliar with my home's history. We moved in about a year ago, just before my FIL died. The house had belonged to my in-laws for about 20 years. The in-laws were hoarders.. it took us well over a year to clear most of the junk out, and it was not done when we moved in.. 4 dumpsters later 99% of their junk is out of here, but we'll probably need 1 more dumpster to finish the garage. In addition to hoarding junk, they also hoarded cats. There were at least 20 cats in this house when MIL died 2 years ago. Many of them were inbred and unhealthy. They did not own a litter box, the cats were not litter trained. Also none of the cats were fixed and the males sprayed. Add to that, the in-laws were aging and their health was failing. They stopped cleaning or even picking up the house many years ago. When we moved in the house probably should have just been condemned.. it was probably a health violation. In the past year we've done a lot, and I now consider the house livable. But is it guest worthy? I don't think so. We still have not touched the main living room (we use the dining room as a living room), the hall between the living room and dining room, or the laundry room. The main living room isn't terrible, we ripped up the carpet so it doesn't smell, but the walls are covered in an ugly blue flowery wallpaper, and it's falling in many places showing bare plaster underneath with water spots. Not really attractive. The ceiling has a layer of black ick from the in-laws using a kerosene heater in cold months.. but the ceiling is high so we haven't been able to clean it yet. The hall between the living room and dining room is disgusting. The walls of that room are caked with nastiness from the cats.. poo, pee, snot, fur, vomit.. pure ick! The plaster is also starting to crumble. We began spackling it awhile ago, but the area is so large it has needed many tubs of spackle at $20 a pop, and we must finish the spackling before we can paint the hall. The dining room has been painted, the was the first room we did. We used Kilz primer which seals in odors and stains, then we painted over that. But hubby did not sand the walls first, and there are some spots where the plaster is thin.. it is quite obvious it was done in a hurry. The kitchen we're almost done painting, but we ran out of trim paint.. we can finish that. The laundry room is not a priority, I'm thinking of hanging a curtain so it's not visible. So this gives you an idea of what I'm working with. Now I was planning on holding off on the party until we can at least paint all the rooms so they don't look terrible. The trouble is with money being tight and us being behind on bills, paint is not a priority. Sometimes I think perhaps I should just throw the party and not care about the way the house looks. If I wait until the house is ready, I may never have a party because the house may never be ready. Then I think just take care of the important things, like the hall and finishing the kitchen. Other times I think that's not good enough and I don't want people seeing any part of my house the way it is. I don't know what I should do. I wanted to invite everyone I know to this party, and some of the people I know might be judgemental about the state of my home. If I only invite those who won't be judgemental, it wouldn't be much of a party. I've also been thinking that I want to throw a party for my son who's birthday is the 16th of this month. None of my kids have had a birthday party in years.. and my youngest, who's almost 5, has literally never had a birthday party in his whole life! But I can't afford to rent a place, having it at home would be cheap and easy.. but again, look at the state of my house. What would you do in my situation?