My 7 Top Tips to Plan Any Party

And the 5 planning steps you need to follow to make party planning a breeze!

I have hosted many parties over the years, but I’m never the life of the party. It is just not my personality. I prefer to be the one in the background, planning, doing the work and setting up. I have no problem doing the work beforehand, and during the event, I will even do everything myself. Just don’t ask me to make a speech, then I cringe away. I’m sure the fellow introverts can relate.

I’ve picked up quite a few tips and tricks in all my party planning! So for this month’s party feature, I’m sharing my best tips to help you organise a party with the least effort.

My 7 Top Tips for Party planning

1. Give yourself enough time to plan! It takes time to get everything prepared and ready, so be sure to give yourself enough time to plan the details.
2. Host the party at home if you can. I know it’s become a craze to have a party venue, but it will save you some money by hosting at your home. My friend Katrina from Frugal Fun Mom also wrote a post on hosting at home; head over to see how she hosts two parties on one day to save even more!
3. It is excellent to DIY a party, but don’t be afraid to outsource some of the work! We can sometimes get carried away and try and do everything ourselves; I know I do. But to take some weight off your shoulders, it is ok to ask for help, even from friends or family.
4. On the same note as above, try and borrow from friends or family instead of renting or buying. I’m talking about tables, chairs, glassware, etc. I borrow items for parties all the time, saving me a lot of time, trouble and money.
5. Instead of throwing a bunch of sweets into Party Favour packs, try and give the kids something educational. For our John Deere/Farm themed party, I gave them green bean seeds with instructions. And similarly, for the Wild Animal/Safari themed party, I included toilet paper roll binoculars. The kids will have a lot more fun playing with something and learning from it, plus you will save the parents some trouble.
6. Don’t worry too much about the amount of food you need to prepare. My kids are still small, so the parents and siblings come along for the parties, and the number of guests quickly add up. And then we start to worry that there will be too little and add more, therefore more work for us and more money to spend. At most parties, I have seen that there is way too much food. So I have learned not to stress about the food. I put out what I had planned originally, and there has always been enough. You can take food off of your list of things to worry about.
7. Be innovative. Don’t always follow the traditional party norms or methods. Do what you think will work the best for the day and type of event. Also, be creative with decor, food and activities. Think outside of the box! And if you are having trouble with that, ask a friend, or send me an email. I would love to help you brainstorm!

The 5 planning Steps

1. Decide on your theme

Every party nowadays has a theme. So what if you don’t want a theme? A theme will help you plan the rest of the party, so I do like to work with a theme or concept. It does not have to be something like Great Gatsby or Toy Story. You can even choose a colour or a style! But for me, the theme is the one binding element that brings everything else together. Choosing a theme will also help you decide on colours, decor and even food!

Let’s say you choose succulents as your theme. Yes, your theme can be this abstract. For colours, you can select soft greens, grey and maybe a touch of purple in there. Your invitations and other printables can include watercolour succulents, and your table decor and favours can be actual succulents in little pots. While for the food, you can decorate cupcakes to look like desert roses. This could also work well for a baby shower, bridal shower or a birthday tea.

Can you see what I mean? A theme makes it easier to plan, and will help you a lot! Choose a theme/concept/colour or something to tie everything together.

2. Complete your Party Planning sheet

Now you can plan everything from start to finish, and to help you out, I’ve designed a party planning sheet! This will give you space to write down everything you need to plan your party. There is space for the guest lits, food, decor, activities and more. And the best part, you can choose between a couple of designs. You can download the different planning sheets right here:

3. Create an invitation and invite your Guests

Even though we are moving towards everything digital, I still love a good old-fashioned paper invite. But I do love how easy it is to create an invite yourself these days. You can use any free photo app on your phone or download a ready-to-use invite. You can hand out the physical invites or send them electronically to family or friends who do not live close to you. Technology has made this step easier and whether you choose to DIY or download, make sure to give your guests enough time to rsvp for the event.

4. Detail Planning

With this step, you can really go into detail with the planning. Your theme has been decided on, you’ve invited your guests and you’ve completed your planning sheet. Now you should focus on each section and plan in detail. If you need printables, design or download them. If you are ordering food, place the order well in advance. Make notes of all the little things you need to remember for each section. Like who are you borrowing chairs from? How will you serve the drinks? Think about the setup at your home or venue. Write it all down or use an app to keep track of everything. This is the phase I like best!

I also have some cute succulent gift tags for you, which you can download right here:

5. Setup on the Day of Party

For my children’s parties, as we have them in the mornings, I get everything ready the evening before. Take out your table cloths, shine the glassware and get everything out of your cupboards and prepared to set up the next morning. This saves a lot of time! It also helps a lot if you have help, but if you do have people helping you set up, make sure to give them clear instructions if you want things set up in a certain way. It is always fun for me to see how everything comes together!

But be sure to give yourself enough time to set up; it often takes longer than you think. And you don’t want to still be in a rush when your guests arrive. Set up sooner rather than later so that you have enough time to take photos of the decor before your guests arrive. This will also give you a good indication of where you can take photos during the party.

After all the Planning and Preparation, you get to enjoy the party too!

After all the hard work and planning, you should enjoy the party! Take time to chat with your guests and have a great time! If you want to save this post for future, please pin it here.

I’ll be back soon with an outdoor update and an easy way to give life to an old planter.

Till next time!

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