Whether it’s a wedding, baby shower, graduation, birthday, you’ve planned some sort of gathering. You have the date set, the invitations have been sent out and the venue is rented. A number of people have taken time out their days to help you celebrate this wonderful occasion. We can all remember a get together that we’ve attended, where the food was disappointing or the music just was not right for the mood. Planning a celebration is difficult as is. Even with the help of others, it can seem as if you’re juggling too many things at once. However, plenty of folks have showed up to your event, so the least you can offer is a nice meal and a good time and nice center pieces. If you want the best flowers or roses try Roses Only. To help ease the stress of party planning, here’s a step by step list to help you create an amazing time for your next function.
Music
One of the best parts of a party is the music. No matter which type of party you are having it is always a great idea to pre plan the music you are playing. It not only avoids those awkward silences, it can completely change the mood of everyone around you. The music should reflect the demographics of the people around you. Maybe even go online and look for some nice speakers and lights if you feel it is necessary. If the venue is big than a good speaker system will definitely be necessary.
Protecting Valuables
If the party is going to be in your house and alcohol is involved anything expensive that can break should be moved to a room that no one will use. Their is nothing worse than having an amazing party and then all of a sudden you hear a CRASH. Then you realize your grandmothers one hundred year old vase is now a pile of shards. When something like that happens it can ruin the whole mood and may even make you want to end it. Your best bet is to take anything that you cant live without and put it in a bathroom you know that no one will be using.
Choosing the Right Food
A lot of people tend to skip this step in event planning or have never even considered it as a step, but doing it can really be a life-saver. Before even calling catering companies, make sure to send out a quick survey to your guests. On the survey (spread via email), make a few questions listing possible dinner options. For example: Mediterranean, barbecue, soul food, or Japanese. Have them select the option that they would like the best, or the options that they would prefer in order from greatest to least. You can do this for the main course, horderves, beverages, and so on. In addition it helps to ask questions regarding extra options that you should supply. Questions such as: Do you eat meat/pork/gluten? Do you or your plus one have any food allergies, if so list them below. How many children will you be bringing? While not required, asking questions like these shows your guests that you are considerate of their unique dietary needs and can make their experience at your party an even more welcoming and comforting one. Once you acquire your data, you can make a composite list of your findings and accordingly choose what will be on the menu at your event.
Dress Code
Having a dress code is not only fun but extremely helpful to the guests attending. If you have a dress code than there will be no confusion on what the guests are going to show up in. It could be pretty embarrassing if a guest shows up in a suit while everyone else is wearing casual clothing. My personal favorite is a Hawaiian theme. It creates for a relaxing environment and everyone basically looks ridiculous. It gets rid of all the competition of who has the nicer belt or custom suit.
Bring Enough Food
Bring enough food! I repeat! Bring enough food! Each of us can probably recount a horror story where we stood in line forever at a party, paper plate in hand, stomach impatiently grumbling, to only be turned away once you get to the front because the host ran out of food. To avoid this, make sure you anticipate the number of people attending the party. Then assume that each person will eat at least one plate per hour that the event is going on. From here you can measure how many plates you’ll end up serving. If you know your guests or have served them before, keep extra back-up of the food that ran out quicker last party.
Party planning will always be one of the more tasking duties to accomplish in life, however with these few tips, hopefully you will have a well planned party that all guests can enjoy.
