Party Planning Information Tips to Know

We all enjoy a good party—especially if someone else is doing all the hard work of planning it, preparing the food, cleaning their house, hosting the party, and looking after all the guests once they arrive.  Sure, we still need to set aside the time to attend, drive across town to get there and make sure we’re on time, or at least fashionably late, but it’s a great feeling to just be able to coast in, mix and mingle, and chat and eat.

When we were younger, it was just about that easy to host a party as well! Gatherings took little or no planning. If our parents were away and we had the run of the house, we’d get on the phone and invite friends over—just a last-minute, spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. We’d run to the store buy a few bags of chips and sodas and we were set! If we were feeling really generous and had the cash, we’d order in pizzas and bingo, instant party. It’s not so easy now that we and our friends are older and have busy schedules. But the good news is that hosting a party can still be relatively easy if you avail yourself of a little party planning information.

First, let’s start with the very basics: what type of party will you be hosting? Is it a fiftieth birthday celebration, a graduation party or a Fourth of July event—or some other holiday get-together? And do you want the party to be a surprise for the guest of honor? You’ve probably already settled these issues, but there are other “obvious” questions that may be a little complicated than they first seem. One is: what’s the general age range of the guests? And two: how many people are you inviting? These factors require planning. You’ve no doubt been to parties where there were too many guests and too little food, or where certain age categories sat around bored. You need to plan ahead so this doesn’t happen at your party.

First, age range: if you’re planning on having a lot of young kids over—say for a birthday party—you need to plan games, activities or rent a good movie to keep them occupied. Again, this is very basic. Second is the amount of guests: know how many people your house can hold without spilling guests onto your front doorstep. Figuring out the number of invitees ahead of time lets you know how much food to buy, and how many party gifts to purchase. And this brings up the crucial issue of budget: how much can you afford to spend on this party? Be realistic and don’t overrun. Stick to your budget and a lot of decisions will be practically made for you.

With a lot of parties, it’s still natural to pick up the phone and invite your guests over—and maybe that’s how you generally do it. However, special birthday parties, anniversaries, graduation parties, etc. really call for sending out initiations. If the very thought of handwriting that many invites and addresses and spending all that money on postage makes you groan, don’t worry! You can also send out mass e-mails or, better yet, send your guests online invitation cards. You may not have heard of it, but there’s a website called evite where you can sign up to get a free account. It then allows you to design your own e-cards and mail them out to all the people on your list. The site then keeps track of how many people you’ve asked to reply with a “RSVP,” tells you who says they’ll be there, tallies your confirmed guest list, shows you who has read your invite but not yet responded and who is not coming. Evite also allows invitees to jot you a little note back when they respond.

Another key decision is: where is your party going to be held? Will it be out of doors? If that’s the case, what’s the weather report like? If there’s even half a chance it’ll rain, you’ll need to be sure there are covered areas—or plan on a full-scale retreat into your house or some other building. Even if the weather will be fine, make sure that there’s shade in case it gets too hot.

If you plan to have the entire party indoors, you need to consider: where will it be held? In your home? At a rented hall? In a restaurant’s banquet room? How much room you have, or how many seats there are around the table, lets you know how many guests you can invite. Hosting a party at your home is often a natural decision, but as you know, also involves extra hours cleaning, cooking, serving and running back and forth between guests. Then there’s the after-party cleanup. Sure, renting a venue is more expensive, but it allows you to relax more and actually enjoy your party.

How much food will you need? This is a big question, and following right after it is what kind of food will it be? Also, where you’ll be eating helps determine how you’ll eat: for example, will this be an around-the-table meal or will guests wander around eating and chatting buffet-style? Will you cook all the food or will you order in catering? These are questions that must be answered. When hosting a party, you simply can’t get away from offering food. Later, your guests will be sure to talk to others about your party, and will be asked, “How was the party?” The second question will be, “How was the food?” Since food costs will constitute most of your party’s budget, it will require the most planning.

We’ve just begun to explore the many factors that go into planning a party, but we trust that the information we’ve provided here will at least be enough to help get you started, and that it will take some of the stress out of your planning.