Saturday, October 5, 2013

PPP Day 5: The List

"But Clare," you say, " I don't have time to plan a small party! I have a big one coming up!" Okay, so you need some real, concrete advice to get you headed in the right direction. First identify the areas that you want to cover. We will pretend I am planning a shower, although this info would work for a birthday party, too! My list usually looks something like this:

1. Decorations (always at the top, because it is my favorite part!)
2. Food
3. Activity
4. Favors

If this is the first party you have spent time planning, I would keep everything simple. I would break down the categories by what I need to do.

Decorations:You can make some substitutions and lots of additions, but these are the things I have for almost every party.
-a banner
-a centerpiece for the table
-something to hang from the ceiling or if its too high, something else to hang on a wall
-a Scripture (I type these in Word and print them and frame them-usually in a frame from the Dollar Tree)

Food:
-a cake or cupcakes
-another sweet item (Maybe cookies, brownies or something fruity like lemon bars, depending on what kind of cake we are having)
-a savory item, you don't want the guests to all suffer from crashing blood sugar levels! (Since I prefer not to cook, this is often a tray of cheese, crackers and perhaps deli meat or summer sausage)
-something to drink

Activity:
-This could be a craft or any type of party game. I would choose *one* but not both. We're keeping it simple, remember?
-A prize, or prizes, if we are playing a game

Favors:
-This is usually a small take-home item. I would skip trying to make a bag with mixed items and choose one thing, perhaps some candy in a cellophane bag. I also sometimes mix it up and do something that is not food, I've done small individually potted plants, handmade necklaces, or a small theme-related toy from the party or dollar store. You can definitely skip this step if you need to, but I would choose to have either an activity or favors, I wouldn't eliminate both. Having at least one of these elements takes it to the next level.

Now that you have a list, you can begin to fill in the blanks. We will talk about how to do that soon!

This is Day 5 of "31 Days of Perfect Party Planning". See the rest of the days here.

2 comments:

  1. Best day yet!! But you know I love a list. Just in time to make sure I have everything in line for Gwenny's bday too:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Again.... I will make sure you are in charge of my next baby shower.... ;) Such fabulous ideas!!

    ~ Jen

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