Planning the perfect birthday party, whether for yourself or someone else, can be incredibly stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. There are a lot of different factors in play when it comes to planning the perfect birthday party. To avoid needless stress and worry, use the how-to guide below when planning your future birthday parties.
The When and The Where?
The date, time and place of the party are perhaps the most important things you have to decide. Of course, it would be ideal to try and come up with a date that everyone can make; however, this is not always feasible, and you won’t know who can make it until the RSVP’s start to come in. So instead, choose the few people who are the most important to you or the guest of honour and make sure that they can do the date and then anyone else on top of that is a bonus.
The place is also important; you can throw the party at a house or rent out a space. It depends on how big the party is going to be and what your budget looks like. Renting a space can be costly; however, it also depends on if you want to have a party centred around an activity like ice skating or mini-golf as obviously, you cannot do these at home.
The Theme
Deciding on a theme fairly early on is a smart move, as it can affect a lot of other aspects of the party, including the invitations. A theme is fairly easy to come by most of the time, especially if you are throwing the party for someone else, as they will likely have something in mind. However, today, you can find things like decorations, food or party favours that fit within almost any theme, so deciding is arguably the hardest part.
The Guest List and Invites
Deciding on the guest list gives you a better idea of what your overall budget will be, as you’ll know how much food to buy as well as invites to send out and party favours to buy. You also will obviously need a list that you can use to send out your invites so that you don’t forget anyone. Now that the when, where and the theme is all nailed down, it is time to move on to the invites. Also, you might want to invite distant relatives and friends, especially if it is an important occasion, but you might not know how you can get in touch with them. If that is the case, you can make use of a people search site to help you get the contact information that you need.
When creating your invites, you should try to keep them within the theme so that your guests know what to expect from the party. Ideally, you should send your invites between a month to two weeks in advance to give your guests enough notice. To make it easier, you can use a service like Greenvelope; they have all of these templates that you can use to design your invites; they go out by email and then Greenvelope helps you to keep track of the RSVP’s it makes sending out the invites really easy.
The Menu
When coming up with the menu for your party, first consider when the party is being held. There may be seasonal dishes that you want to include, or if your party is held at a specific time during the day, then you may want to do a brunch or evening buffet meal. Once the type of food is chosen, you can sit down and come up with a list of dishes, try to keep them within the theme of your party as much as possible.
Next, the cake, you cannot have a birthday party without cake! If you are throwing the party for someone else, you might want to bake the cake too. If you do, try to organise this ahead of time. You could also buy a cake which is far easier, and frankly, it takes one thing off of your plate. There are a lot of different options, you can buy from a baker, bakery or you can even pick one up from the supermarket, it’s up to you.
The Decorations
Decorating comes down to personal preference; some people like to go all out, and others prefer simplicity. You should also bear in mind the age of the birthday person and the theme of the party. Whether you are planning to go big or stay simple when decorating your location, you always have the option of choosing customizable products that fit your special person’s age, preferences, and theme of the party. For instance, If you are planning a little one’s birthday party who is obsessed with one particular character, then you already have the theme dictated and you might order some balloons and food supplies with the character, a beautiful banner with the name and age of the child and that’s it. And if you are planning an adult or teenage party who wants to go big and have some exciting decorations personalizes inflatable products, customizable neon signs, and special themed backdrops with balloons can be a perfect fit. And remember no matter how your plans go good mood and smiles are the best decorations for your party. If you have old decorations left over from other events, you can try and repurpose them too; it doesn’t matter too much if a couple of banners don’t totally match the theme. On the other hand, if you are decorating, you should try to get party plates, napkins, banners, balloons, and a birthday cake, which are somewhat in keeping with the theme.
The Activities or Entertainment
A good birthday party needs something to keep the guests engaged. You can find all sorts of activities online that suit most ages and themes, or you can look into different forms of entertainment. Either way, make sure that your plans are age-appropriate.
To Sum Up Above are all the steps that you need to bear in mind when planning your next birthday party. That being said, the best thing that you can do is start planning early to make sure that you have enough time to get everything in order and ready for the party.
Find more birthday party tips in our archives.
Meg is an author at Cinnamon Hollow. She writes on a variety of topics sharing tips and ideas for daily life.