PRIORITISE YOUR HOUSE PARTY
Hello, and welcome to my blog!
When it comes to planning a party, you MUST prioritise!!! This is my own priority list when planning a house party! Having a party is always so much fun and you don't always need an excuse, just a plan!
Hope this helps you party planners ;)
1) GUEST LIST – You need to know who is coming to your party! Is this a family celebration or friendly get together? Your guest list can ultimately change every aspect of a party, from the theme to the food and drink! Once you get this done and dusted, the planning can begin!
2) VENUE – You need to consider the number of people you’ve invited and realistically consider how big a room you will need. If your party is going to be at your house, then you need to choose the party space. For example; will the party be limited to the kitchen and garden? Will it be in the lounge? Or will it be in the dining room?! This will mean moving anything that has a potential to be broken! Make sure you tidy and clean up the room prior to the party and supply plenty of seating around the rooms allocated!
3) TIME – It’s always best to pick a day when most of your guests are free! Most people work standard Monday to Friday weeks, so a Friday or Saturday night is best. However, this depends! If the party is for a birthday that falls on a week day, you may choose to have it on the day! This all depends on who will be able to make it. Don’t be disheartened if you can’t find a time where you’re certain everyone can make it! It’s their loss for missing out on an epic party! You also need to pick the time of day and for how long, you don’t want guests still lingering on the dance floor at 2am!
4) THEME – Depending on the occasion, you can create a theme. That always gets the party started! Your theme determines the: dress code, decorations and music! Seeing everyone dressed up makes your party even more memorable, with everyone taking selfies and group pictures, you’ll be known for your awesome themed parties. Here’s a few themes to get you started: 1920’s, 1950’s, 1980’s etc. Black tie, Back to School, Cowboys and Indians, Pyjama Party, Murder Mystery.
5) INVITES – Now you have the main details of your party you need to invite your guests! The easiest way to send an invite is to cover the 5 W’s (Who, What, When, Where, Why) This basically gives your guests all the information they will need! Feel free to include any extra details that they may need to know!
6) MENU – Food is very important. If you’ve decided to cater for your guests, if the time crosses over with a standard meal time (lunch or dinner) then it’s crucial that you plan what you’re going to serve! You could do a BBQ (depending on weather), finger food, sandwiches, a slower cooker meal, cake and sweets?! Check out BBC Food - Occasions for ideas if you can't find any recipes! I guess it all depends on what theme you’ve chosen and if there’s specific food you should serve for it! Make sure you let your guests know if there’s going to be food or not so they know to eat before! You don’t want people ordering pizzas at your party!!!
7) MUSIC – The best thing to do is download an external playlist for your theme (if it exists!) But if not then compile one yourself on either Spotify or iTunes/Apple Music! You can always ask guests to bring their iPod’s and phones and swap around the aux cord! (NOTE: make sure you have speakers and an aux cord, or borrow them!) if you’re going a bit more “old school”, get people to bring some CD’s and blast the stereo, or even older school bring some old vinyl’s! Either way, make sure you have plenty of tunes for the party!
8) DECORATIONS – You may be able to borrow decorations off friends and family! But if not you can always just pop out and grab some from a local party shop or even look online for themed decorations. ALTERNATIVELY, you can create your own! Get those craft skills into action and design something elaborate. This could be something as basic as a banner but with a personal touch and a wicked theme it’d be a great spectacle to hang on the wall! Also, if you’re thinking ‘outside party’, think gazebos, outside chairs, fairy lights!! Who doesn’t love fairy lights?
9) GAMES - At your party you may want more than just food and dancing! Everyone loves party games. You can play things in teams or in pairs or even individually depending on the size of the party! It's best to plan what games you want to play as you may need to get props for the game to work! For example; you'll need a bingo caller and bingo cards to play Bingo! If you want to play games but are struggling for ideas, then have a look at Wikipedia's list of party games for some inspiration!
10) PREPARATION – One very important thing to think about is cleaning! How much do you need to clean beforehand, and then how long it will take to clean up afterwards? Make sure you have everything you will need to wipe up spills and scrub out muddy footprints. ALSO, ensure you have all utensils and servers for your food and drink. Plenty of cups and plates and napkins, and then trays to display all the food on. It’s probably best to picture where everything is going to go and you can work out what you have and haven’t got!
11) SET UP – Make sure you leave plenty of time to set up the house for the party! You don’t want to be rushing around putting things out when you should be greeting your guests. You can always put things out, tables and chairs, the day before! Another tip is to do your food the night before if possible. Finger food is easy to lay out on the day, but if you’re planning on making a pudding or cake, make it the day before to save the stress. This also reduces excessive stress if something goes wrong on the day, if you did it the day before then you still have a day to resolve the situation!
12) ENJOY – Now your party is all planned and ready, go get yourself ready and have a great time! Make sure you take pictures before everyone arrives so you know how you’ve laid everything out. This way you can see what has and hasn’t worked and if you were to replicate it then you know exactly what it looked like. Take plenty more photos and awful selfies throughout the party and be sure to share them online so everyone can be jealous of how awesome your party was!
So, there we have it! My list of priorities when planning a house party! If you want to have a look at other party planning checklists, then check out the collection on Pinterest! Most of all, you need to enjoy the experience of planning and hosting a party. Don’t stress yourself out over the process. Just remember, starting earlier is always better, to save a panic on the day!
Have a great party! x
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