Party Planning Basics and Entertaining tips
Have you ever wanted to throw the ultimate party but were afraid of how difficult it would be? Well, let us help you with some basic party planning tips, rules, tricks and strategies in throwing a care free party that both your guests and you, the host will remember for years to come.
We will examine the five rules of party planning and see how they can be implemented into your party planning strategy.If you follow these simple rules and include as many answers as applicable and your parties will be the talk of the town.
And the 5 rules of party planning are!
- Who? - Who is coming to your party? Is it your friends, coworkers, your boss?
- What? - What kind of party are you throwing? Is it a theme party, a sporting event or dinner/cocktail party?
- Where? - Location, location, location!
- When? - Is it during the day, evening or maybe late night? Is it seasonal? A pool party in January maybe!?
- Why? - What do you hope to accomplish with this party? (Besides a hang over, a full stomach or incriminating photos of your guests!!)
All these questions will be asked of yourself during the initial party planning stages. They will all overlap and are all equally important when making your decisions. You may not be able to answer one without the other so consider them all to put together the best plan possible with the least amount of effort and highest amount of enjoyment for you and your guests.
Who will you be inviting to your party?
Who will be coming to your party? It is vitally important to know who you are catering to. Is it for close friends? Complete strangers? Co workers or business peers? In planning any social event, you need to consider the guests, do they know each other? Is it an Ice breaker? Do you need to provide name tags? How many people are you expecting? What are their likes and dislikes? Are they heavy drinkers or heavy eaters? Do they have a demographic? Find out what you all commonly share as interests and deliver those in spades.
Understanding your guests will help to clarify your goals for your event and also help determine the kind of party that is appropriate. You wouldn't plan an elaborate outdoor pig roast for a group of vegetarians or organize a cocktail reception for a bar mitzvah would you? So be very aware of who you plan on having at your party and be considerate of their needs. All great parties cater greatly to their guests.
Please refer to our detailed article on tips for hosting a party for more tips on meeting the needs of your guests.
WOW your guests and they will always remember you, Whimper your guests and they will find a way to always forget you.
What are your party objectives?
What is the objective of your party? Does the objective meet your needs as well as your guests needs? What kind of party are you going to throw? This is a very important question in that all your decisions from here will be affected by what party you are having. If you are having a theme party, consider that you may need decorations and costumes. This doesn't have to be expensive. A great Martini party can be had simply by having your guests dress semi formal. Because every party is a the med party of some sort, find the right theme for you and your guests. Here are a few great theme party ideas:
- Do you love food? A great recipe/cooking party may be the way for you.
- Do you enjoy golf? Maybe a Sunday afternoon masters BBQ.
- Do you love Mysteries? Consider a murder mystery party where somebody plays the killer and somebody plays the victim
- Do you love wine? Have a wine tasting and dinner party. half the group brings food, the other half wine to match
Choose your party theme, it can be revolving or seasonal and make sure your guests will be receptive, (not everyone likes to get in costume) and make sure your goals are attainable.
You can find a great selection of Wine and spirits while planning your party. Our champagne gifts make a great party gesture. If this is for a company party, then come check out our corporate gifts here now.
Where will your party be located?
As in Real Estate so goes great party planning, location, location, location, is paramount. Some of the best parties you can throw will take place in your kitchen. It is functional, has running water, waste areas, and is usually moisture resistant and definitely the place where people will congregate. Of course not all parties are going to be held in a kitchen so if you are going to throw a great party at home or elsewhere location definitely matters. There are many factors to consider when choosing a location for any party: Crammed rooms, inadequate lavatory facilities, inability to sit or stand comfortably, limited access to food and or beverages are serious problems just to name a few and will certainly be a detriment to your guests overall satisfaction. We have all been to parties with too many people in too small an apartment with too long a line for the washroom meanwhile being all too ready to leave!
To make location an easy choice here are some very useful considerations to make when choosing a venue:
- Does it have the space I need?
- Will my guests be able to freely mingle?
- Is there adequate bathroom facilities?
- Is there an area to sit?
- Is it easily accessible?
- Is there transit or cabs available near by?
- Can your guests leave their vehicles should they be consuming alcohol? Consider using a drive home service in your area to keep people from drinking and driving. They usually charge a stipend, usually double what a cab would cost, to drive your guest and their cars home, This service is well worth the price. check out Keys Please! a great service! We highly recommend doing this!
If you are planning on renting a hall, a hotel room or banquet room then ensure you look at a few different venues and consider these important questions:
- Does it have food & beverage facilities? If yes, will they provide the room free if you use their Food & Beverage services?
- Are there adequate washroom facilities and are they wheel chair accessible?
- Is there an outdoor/patio/smoking area?
- At what time will you have access to the facility and at what time are you to leave?
- Do they provide any post function cleaning?
- Is there adequate electrical for decor, a DJ or a Band?
- Do they have in house Audio visual? (We don't recommend this as it is usually quite expensive and you can get reliable AV from outside sources)
- What is the room capacity?
- Is there any security? Will you need security?
When will you be hosting your party?
Choosing the right time, date or season to have your party will impact greatly on why you have a party, where you have your party, what your party is for and who you will be inviting to your party. You will need to consider some important timelines for planning your party:
- Do they fall on holidays? Is it for Thanksgiving, New Years Eve or St. Patrick's Day?
- Will your guests be available or with family?
- What is a good time for a dinner party to start? Is 6 PM too early? Is 9 PM too late?
- Will my guests be too hungry or worse yet, not hungry at all?
- Will my start time accommodate for travel, the work week or game time?
- Is my theme out of season?
- Is it fashionable? Or Worst case scenario, TOO fashionable?
- Will your party wake the neighbors? (If yes then they need to be invited too!)
Why are you having a party?
Why are you throwing a party? Many people throw parties for various reasons, birthdays, bachelor/ bachelorette parties, baby showers, holidays and office parties to name a few, but the party that can have the greatest impact on your social life is probably the house party. This kind of party can encompass a few different kinds of parties themselves such as the dinner party, cocktail party, housewarming or sporting event/celebration party. No matter which party you choose to host, you need to have a clear vision of what your party's objectives are. A great way to accomplish this is through the use of party invitations.
You can list out all your objectives to your guests easily with a well planned invitation. Make sure your party invitations are clear and list out what you hope to accomplish and expect of your guests. It is vitally important to make sure your guests understand why you are having this party. There is nothing worse than going to a party unprepared (or too early!). Save your guests the initial embarrassment of not being prepared and you will start your party off right.
Please refer to our article on Invitation Essentials for Parties for a more detailed report on great invitations!
Thesexykitchen opinion
All great parties happen at just the right time and end with your guests always wanting that little bit more, which is ok because as the host, if you can't stay until the bitter end, then there is no point in having a party at all. If you do use the five basic rules we've set forth for great party planning, then we can almost guarantee a successful event for you and your guests. Cheers!
