Making Your Party Special by Donna Thomson

Making Your Party Special
by Donna Thomson

This article includes a range of tips and ideas for party planning - from invitations and themes to food and organisation. If you have some useful tips of your own please send them to us or tell us about them on the Forum.

Themes

Colours - Choose a colour and coordinate all decorations, food, drinks and guests dress in that colour. You might even find a selection of songs featuring that colour, e.g. Blue Moon, Blue Monday, Blue Bayou, etc.
Decades - What is your favourite decade? Rock'n'roll 50's, Flower Child 60's, Disco Ball 70's, Colourful 80's, etc. You could even go back to the classic 20s, 30s and 40s and invite along your Cary Grants, Audrey Hepburns etc.
Movie/TV - Pick a favourite movie or tv show such as Star Wars or the Simpsons. You could also pick a genre such as classic movies, cartoon characters, sci-fi, etc.
Alphabet - Pick a letter (like the first letter of the birthday person's name) and theme everything around that letter. Guests come as something starting with that letter, e.g. expect penguins, peas in a pod, poets and pirates for a 'P' party.

Parties aren't just for birthdays! It's fun to get together with family, friends and colleagues at any time so why not create an opportunity for a party using one of the following ideas:

Pamper Party - Create 'centres' that small groups can rotate between for a different type of pampering. You could have someone who provides the pampering at each centre or better still, pair everyone up so they each take turn - "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours!". Some centre ideas are: foot reflexology, Indian head massage, aromatherapy hand massage or face massage, back massage, foot spa, manicure/pedicure, etc.
Summer Fun Party - Make it fun, colourful, make use of the pool and beach toys, have drinks with umbrellas, etc. Great for both daytime or nighttime.
Slumber Party - Remember your teens when you had slumber parties? Why let teens have all the fun? Have an adult slumber party with guests dressed in their pyjamas with pillow and sleeping bag in tow. Watch scary movies or a run of favourite movies, serve popcorn and hot chocolate. If you're game you could play "truth or dare"!

To encourage guests to dress up, offer a range of prizes for 'best dressed', 'most creative costume', 'worst dressed', 'most colourful', 'most outrageous', etc.

Invitations

Essentials - Make sure you include the essential details on your invitation - who's party it is, where it is, what day of the week, date and time. If the duration is limited, include the ending time.
R.S.V.P. - Don't forget to include an r.s.v.p. date and at least one contact number so guests can reach you.
Theme Party - If it's a dress-up party, make sure that you put clear details on the invitation and perhaps an incentive for adults to dress-up such as a small gift upon arrival or the chance to win a prize.
BYO - Include anything you need your guests to bring such as BYO alcohol, chairs, meat for a barbeque, plate of food, etc.
Directions - It can be very helpful for guests if you include a photocopy of a map to show the location of the venue. Alternatively you can include the page and coordinates in your local area's street directory.
Gifts - In certain situations it may be a good idea to include a gift list or register, such as for weddings. Perhaps you'd like guests to pay for their meal (or a contribution towards it) at a venue rather than provide gifts - if so, include a separate notecard with the invitation and word it nicely, e.g. "I love your company more than gifts. I've arranged a special venue to spend time with you, so in lieu of gifts it would be greatly appreciated if guests could contribute towards the meal ($x per head). Thanks and I look forward to catching up with you!" This is only suitable if you are holding the party in a venue with a per-person charge for the meal, rather than hosting a party at home.
Be Creative - Add a special touch to invitations by including something such as a small fairy wand, name badge, paper cutouts, etc for a child's party. Why not include a colouring-in page relating to the theme, to get guests excited about the party!

Decorations

For dinner parties, stick with classy decorations such as candles, flowers and floral arrangements. Make sure table centrepieces aren't so tall as to hinder conversations across the table.
Add a table runner down the centre of the table. Use this to place centrepieces on and add some decorative touches such as glitter, confetti, flowers, strands of fake ivy, flower petals, candles, etc.
Use a plain white dinner setting to go with any colour theme. Add the colour in the tablecloth, table decorations, placecards, wine glass tags, napkins, etc.
Provide a small token gift for each guest - whether this is some gold-wrapped chocolates for adults or party bags, balloons or other trinkets for children.
Children love a pinata and you can make it yourself by covering a balloon with papier mache - a simple recipe is to mix one part flour with approx. 2 parts water until it's the consistancy of thick glue. Get all the lumps out and you can add some salt to help prevent mould. Dip strips of newspaper into the mixture and build up layers on the balloon. Do a couple of layers at a time and let it dry in between. Build up enough layers to get a strong crust-like structure. Burst the balloon and remove it. Cut a flap in the side so you can insert lollies, prizes, etc. then add a couple more layers of papier mache to seal it. Decorate the papier mache with paints, glitter, streamers, etc. Add a string so you can suspend it from the clothes line or other location.
Get bulk affordable prizes for children's parties from Oriental trading stores, two-dollar stores etc. These places also tends to have themed party decorations such as paper plates, cups, tablecloth, hats, whistles, lolly bags, etc.
Make use of your computer to find and print shapes and designs that you can use for decorations - anything from stars to make fairy wands (stick onto icecream sticks), flower shapes, fairies, animals, etc. Print them out coloured or colour them yourself. For a more durable decoration, print onto light cardboard and even laminate.
Streamers are a traditional favourites and are very vertsatile, e.g. suspend green streamers (seaweed) from the ceiling and it creates an underwater scene; group streamers of the seven colours of the rainbow for any child's theme. Plait streamers of two colours together to create nice-looking decorations. Create streamer 'wigs', cheerleading pom-poms, witches hair, etc.
Balloons come in all shapes and sizes, glittery or opaque, air-filled or helium-filled. Tie a group of helium-filled balloons to a weight wrapped in gift-paper to make nice centrepieces (small balloons) or features for around the room.

Lighting

Use coloured party or Christmas lights to decorate the garden/room.
Place heaps of candles or tealight candles around to create a magical ambience - along pathways, hallways, window sills and tables (not suitable for children).
Spice up the tealight effect by placing each one in a clear glass holders or coloured glass holders of one or more colours. This adds a lovely twinkling light effect.
Make a table centrepiece out of church/pillar candles and place flowers and/or plants around the bases. Choose white or cream coloured, or colour-coordinate with your theme.
Use white fairy lights (the type with sections that hang down) to decorate the roof or an outside patio/gazebo area.
Use a long length of fairy lights to create a word or picture as a feature wall.
Hand out glow sticks so guests can create their own light fun in the dark!
For a dinner party, keep the main lights off and turn table lamps on for more subtle lighting. Try draping sheer coloured fabric over lamps (be careful of fire risks).
Don't forget to have your front entrance well-lit for guests to find your home (or other party location) and make their way to the party.

Drinks

Tie decorated name tags onto wine glasses to make it easy for guests to remember which drink is theirs.
For children's parties, use a marker to write names on each plastic/paper cup. You could also add stickers or pictures for younger children, e.g. Sam is the Teddy, Jane is the Fairy. If you have two of each sticker you can place the copy on the child's clothes so they can find their matching cup.
Make it easy for kids drinks by filling a cooler box with tetra-pack juices and small softdrink cans.
Kids love "spiders" (icecream sodas). Each child can choose the colour softdrink they'd like and an adult can add a scoop of icecream to each tumbler. Watch it fizz up! Serve with long spoons.
Have a secret wine-tasting table where guests have to guess the type of wine in concealed bottles. Perhaps the most accurate guest could receive a prize!
For children, a healthy and substantial drink is a banana smoothie. Simply add milk, bananas and some icecubes to a blender and switch on for a few seconds. Pour into tumblers. You could also add a dash of honey, cinnamon, wheatgerm, etc.

Food

Halve your selection of party food and bring the food out in rounds. As well as keeping the food fresher, it keeps some food aside for guests who arrive later.
For large groups of guests, have a barbeque, spit roast or hangi with cold salads to keep it easy.
If you'd like to stay out of the kitchen, try ordering pizza in.
Alternatively, have all the ingredients for pizzas in containers along the bench and allow guests to create their own mini pizzas using small pizza bases or lebanese/pita bread as the bases. Of course this involves being in the kitchen and wouldn't be suitable for a large party - but it would be fun!
Ask a friend to be the food host/hostess so you can be with the guests at your party. This job is great for one or two teenagers and you might give them some type of reward whether monetary or a couple of movie tickets etc.
Italian food is easy to prepare and guests can each bring a dish, such as lasagna, spaghetti bolognese, carbonara, and vegetable lasagna for vegetarians!
Buy a few loaves of bread and make an assortment of sandwiches which can be prepared in advance to save time in the kitchen while the party is in progress. Suggestions are ham and cheese, tuna or salmon spread, boiled egg and mayonnaise, roast chicken, etc.
Even better than sandwiches is making subs buy purchasing a few long french bread sticks. Simply cut down the length of the bread stick and layer the ingredients along the bread. Place the top half back on and cut into lengths - about 3 inches for children or 6-inch subs for adults.

Music

Plan your music in advance. Consider your theme (if you have one) and the mood you want to set.
Also consider your guests. It's no good playing the music you like if it makes the majority of your guests uncomfortable or gives them a headache. Guests are also more likely to dance to music they know. You'll never be able to make everyone happy though, so think of the guests you've invited and cater to the majority. You can always play an assortment over the hours with some older music for the 'oldies' and more modern music to keep the younger guests happy.
If your stereo plays mp3s, you can fit a lot of music onto one disc that you create yourself to save changing CDs throughout the night.
With new technology you can use an ipod docking station or the good quality surround sound speakers you've got on your computer.
Have one disc for soft dinner music and another for dance music.
Do you know someone who is a singer, musician or in a band? Rather than pay a lot of money, perhaps you could offer something else in exchange such as handing out promotional materials to all the guests and other people you know.
It may be an idea to put your usual music collection out of sight so guests don't take it upon themselves to play other music from your collection.

Organisation Considerations

Who will greet guests at the door? After the first few guests, you may find it more difficult to leave to answer the door so allocating someone as a doorman could be a good idea. They can point guests to the gift table, show them where to leave bags, coats, etc and then indicate where they can find the guest of honour.
Plan enough seats for guests. If you don't have enough, can you borrow some from someone else or asks guests to bring folding chairs. For a lot of guests it may be easier to hire chairs.
Consider what tables you'll need. Are guests to be seated to eat? Do you need tables to serve food on? Where will you place gifts and the cake? Do you need a table just for serving drinks?
Plan an approximate time that you will present the cake so you don't get caught up and forget about it then remember after guests have started leaving (I've done this myself!).
Will you be providing tea and coffee? You'll need a hot water urn or one or more kettles, coffee, tea, sugar, milk/cream, mugs and spoons. Will guests self-serve or will you serve? Do you have a coffee percolator your could use so guests can pour their own coffee?
Where will guests place their dirty dishes, cups, napkins, etc?
Do you have a bin that you could set up in the party area?
How will food be served? Will it be self-serve from a serving table? Will you have helpers taking plates of food around to guests? Will food be served to guests while they are seated? How will you do this to ensure the food is served hot to all guests?
Where would you prefer guests to enter the party - through the front door, side-entrance, etc.? Is this obvious to guests?
Write down the number of a couple of local taxi companies and put it near the phone for guests who may need a taxi to take them home.
Are the toilet and bathroom sparkling clean, with fresh towels, new soap and spare toilet rolls? Turn the lights on and close doors to other rooms to make it easier for guests to find. You may even place a sign on the wall to give directions to the toilet to save guests having to ask.
Find an alternative location for kitty or poochie to hang out so they don't bother guests.
Do you have enough food and drink organised? It's better to have too much than too little.
Will any guests be staying the night? If so, where will they sleep and what will they sleep on? It's a good idea to set it up before the party so you don't have to worry about it later (after a few drinks) or have beds and sheets ready to go at the end of the party.
If guests are staying overnight, you'll need something to offer them in the morning - breakfast cereal, toast, bacon, eggs, juice, tea, coffee, fruit, etc.