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I don't know about you, but I could definitely use some help when it comes to party planning. I've asked several of my blogging friends:
What tips, tricks and advice do have for making your parties successful and (potentially) less stressful?
And now I'm going to share their answers with YOU! You better pay attention too, because these guys are good.
If you've been following bugaboo for a while, you've seen Halsey from Spunky Junky before. We've done a few swaps before with stupendous results. Halsey's one of those fun bloggers you can't wait to read. She's got plenty of party-related posts, but she's also a frugal, thrifty, trendy, DIY queen. Take a look.
I have found Pinterest to be my best friend when it has come to party planning.
The sites I rely most on for either party inspiration or free printables are:
Between these two websites I have found lots of fun tutorials and ideas.
I also rely heavily on Martha Stewart for fun how-to guides.
For food inspiration I usually turn to:
(I absolutely love the beautiful stuff over on TomKat Studio! I can't wait to check out the other links...)
Grey Luster Girl is a blog I found within the past few months that continues to amaze me. Lisa has parties IN THE BAG. Let me tell you. Wowza. I couldn't possibly list every post, nor could I show every beautiful picture (unfortunately), so really, you MUST go look for yourselves. Below is simply a small sampling of the goodness that awaits you. And not only does she party, but she also sews and does accessories and jewelry and decor and... well, you get the picture.
Throwing a party is definitely a lot of work! Especially if you are doing most of it yourself. My biggest tip would be to allow plenty of TIME. Time to organize your ideas, time to execute and make your ideas, and lots of time to set up. There is nothing that proves to be more of a let down than when you spend a lot of time making something and then don't have enough time to set it up for the party. I usually try and set everything up the night before. Also, something that I constantly have to remind myself is that "you can't do everything". If you want to make a fabulous dessert table than you probably won't have a lot of time to do a bunch of activities. If you want to spend a lot of your effort on the activities than you should probably go simple on the dessert table.
(Perfect point! You can have one "focal point" (if you will) with more subdued elements branching from that. Something to keep in mind when I try to bite off more than I can chew.)
Jill has been a contributer on bugaboo a few times now - you can see her CD mini album here and her funny addition to my pumpkinspiration party here. Envirocraftiness is a blog dedicated to thrifty, trendy, non-cost prohibitive, upcycled and environmentally friendly crafting. It's a fun read with great ideas!
Hi, my name is Jill, and I have a problem. I LOVE planning parties! Every event is now a party. If it doesn't have a theme, I don't think it's something I want to be a part of. (just kidding....I think).
For me, planning begins with a theme, or even just a "feel." For example, we had a Little Miss Sunshine movie night to ward off the icy coldness in the dead of winter.
For me, planning begins with a theme, or even just a "feel." For example, we had a Little Miss Sunshine movie night to ward off the icy coldness in the dead of winter.
Or here we had a "fancy just because party".
A theme is a good place to start. Sometime themes evolve out of what it is that you want to do at said party (like the Little Miss Sunshine Party) or a couple years ago at Christmas when I threw a gingerbread house decorating party.
When planning a theme, consider your decorations, the activities, and the food.
My parties usually consist of people I see often, and because we do these semi-regularly, I skip the fancy invites and opt for something electronic (often facebook, email or texts, sometimes if I want to be "fancy" I'll send out an evite).
Parties can really be anything you want them to be! Although if it's a party by yourself, you might have taken that a bit too far!
Best. Picture. Ever.
A theme is a good place to start. Sometime themes evolve out of what it is that you want to do at said party (like the Little Miss Sunshine Party) or a couple years ago at Christmas when I threw a gingerbread house decorating party.
When planning a theme, consider your decorations, the activities, and the food.
My parties usually consist of people I see often, and because we do these semi-regularly, I skip the fancy invites and opt for something electronic (often facebook, email or texts, sometimes if I want to be "fancy" I'll send out an evite).
Parties can really be anything you want them to be! Although if it's a party by yourself, you might have taken that a bit too far!
Best. Picture. Ever.
(from this birthday fun post)
Anyway, if you're ever stumped, turn to pinterest to eat loads your time and then panic because you just wasted 5 hours that you should have used to plan your party!
Two upcoming parties that you'll see on my blog are a girl's spa night and my sister's bridal shower (that one won't be until May though!)
Thanks for letting me share my bad jokes and party tips!
Thanks for letting me share my bad jokes and party tips!
(I love the take on a more regularly recurring get-together... obviously for these types of occasions, things like invites can be a bit more casual, etc. Some fantastic ideas here for those non-kid parties! Can't wait to see the spa night and the bridal shower!)
Now you see why I'm letting everyone ELSE give you advice, instead of trying to do it myself.
*Be sure to check the right sidebar for all the fun parties I link to!
2 comments:
Great tips and links today.
What a fun series! Thank you for including me!
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