Party Planning Tips

Party Planning Tips

Want to be the ultimate hostess and throw the best Parties?It isn’t always as easy as it looks,but it can be done. There are many details to pay attention to, fromthe invitations, to the menu, the theme, and the activities.

Our tips touch on all of these subjects. Follow them to impress yourguests!

Last Updated - 12th October 2005

To make your dinner party a bit more formal, set name tags at eachplace setting to assign seats for your guests. You can use regularnote cards, and if you’re on a budget you can add swirls or flowerdesigns using glitter pens to make them more fun and attractive.

If you are inviting people who don’t all know each other, makesure to place families together, or friends next to one another. Thisway they can mingle with new guests without feeling uncomfortable.

Always have a decorative center piece. Flowers, candles and smallfigurines are always a good way to go. However, its not the best ideathat your center piece be bigger than 12 inches high. Guests needto be able to see each other across the table!

Invitations are the first part of creating a buzz and excitementfor your party! Do something special with them; you can buy pre-madeone’s at a local party store, or you can decorate them yourselfwith stamps, paint and glitter. Try something new, such as havingcustom cookies baked with the party info written on them, or sendingout a burned CD with an audio message, as well as you and your friendsfavorite tracks on them.

Consider the tastes and eating habits of your guests when planningthe menu. If you have a friend who is a vegetarian, cook up a fewveggie burgers along with the regular hamburgers. If one of your relativesis on a low carb diet, include something that doesn’t have carbson the menu.

Make sure to plan your menu out completely a week or two in advanced,depending on the type of food you plan to serve. This leaves timefor any last minute changes that may be needed.

Try to make some things the night before the party. Take a lookat your menu, and decide what can survive the night and what can’t.Most deserts and refrigerated foods, such as deviled eggs, are betterwhen served chilled, and definitely should be made the night before..As for the main course, that you will want to prepare the day of.

If you are preparing a dish you’ve never made before, alwaystest it before you serve it to your guests. A few days before theparty, bake one that you don’t plan on giving to your guests.Try it yourself and let your family try it as well. If they don’tlike it, chances are your guests won’t either.

Party games are always fun, but make sure you know the personalitiesof your guests. Some people aren’t comfortable with games suchas charades, so a board game or a word game is the way to go.

If children will be attending your get together, make sure you haveseveral things that will keep them entertained. Coloring books, toysand video tapes should be on hand.

Don‘t forget to serve your drinks. As a host or hostess, itis only polite to to refill any drinks and restock the food if itruns out.

You don’t have to have a DJ at a party to have great music.Burn a CD of music that will set a mood for the party. Put it on repeat,or put several in a multi disc changer.

Give your party a theme! If its more formal, how about a color theme?Black and white parties are becoming very popular at the moment. Ortry using a decade as a theme. Chances are your guests will rememberyour party for this reason.

If your party is outside, make sure to give your guests optionsas to what environment they’re in. There should be a shaded area,and a non shaded area, as well as an inside area. Make sure thereare comfortable chairs, and something to keep bugs and mosquito’saway. Sun screen should also be available, if its during hot weather.

At the end of the night, give your guests a small gift. It shouldbe something that helps them remember the occasion. If there is atheme to your party, the gift should definitely follow that. It caninclude a small food product, the recipe for one of the dishes youserved, and even a small picture frame that they can put picturesfrom the party in.

Allow variety in the foods you serve. For example, if your entréeis chicken with mango salsa, your dessert shouldn’t be mangosherbet.

A great way to make the setting and the food more attractive toyour guests is to have a great color scheme. Try and find two or threecolors that compliment each other, and base the look of your tablesetting around that. Your foods should also have a variety of colorsin each dish.

If you are planning a pot luck, it’s a good idea to find outwhat everyone is bringing ahead of time. If two guests are alreadybringing desserts, let your other guests know that they don’tneed to bring that particular entrée. The host should fillin any gaps in the menu accordingly.

Have an idea of how you want the course of events to go before theparty starts. It is a good idea to keep things flexible and spontaneousas well, but know what you want to accomplish and in what order. Havinga few appetizers in the living room while chatting is a good way tostart off the evening. Any other plans (such as karaoke, games, etc)should also come before the main dinner. After eating, most peoplewill be a bit sluggish and prefer to chat around coffee.

The most important part of being a good host or hostess is to befriendly and have fun yourself. Don’t let plans and technicalitiesof throwing a party get in the way of mingling with your guests. Thatshould be your first priority.

Make sure to introduce people who don’t know each other, andbring up something they have in common to break the ice between them.Don’t spend more than 5 minutes talking to the same group ofpeople, because it may make your other guests uncomfortable.

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