Your Party Timeline

One of the best things that you can do when you are planning a party or event of any size is to have a written party timeline and a master shopping list.  By creating a good solid timeline and a comprehensive list for shopping, you can ensure that your party goes off without any unexpected hitches. The following is a list of seven tips professional party planners use to get you on the right track in planning your shopping list and timeline:

Tip 1, Whether you are party planning for children, adults, or a wedding or a simple birthday celebration and whatever the size of your event, you must have a master shopping list as well as a good timeline.  With a pen and paper decide on how long things will take you to do and start filling in your timeline.  While you are going through the process, is the time to start a shopping list as well.

Tip 2, Before you can start to build your timeline and shopping list, first you must decide on where your party or event will be held and how many people you will be inviting.  If you will be using an event location like a restaurant, you need to secure your space before moving along to do anything else.

Peanuts | Snoopy & Friends Winter Scarf Paper Placemat
by peanuts

Tip 3, Once you have secured your location for your party, that's when to start your shopping lists.  To start building your timeline think about the things you will need to do before the party, such as send out your invitations.  If you will be having them custom printed you will need to allow extra time for the printing before you can mail them out to your guests.

Tip 4, Once you have your date and location secured, and you have ordered your invitations, if necessary, then it is time to think about what you will be doing at your party, what type of food and drinks will be on the menu, and how long you want the party to last.  Dedicate a single sheet of paper just to your party day and list everything you will need to do, in order, by time.  For example, preparing food before guests arrive would be at the top of the sheet of paper, while giving out party favors may be at the absolute bottom.

Tip 5 In addition to your timeline for the day of the party, you will also want to formulate a timeline for the two weeks or so leading up to the event.  Here you will need to block out time for cleaning, shopping, decorating, etc…

Tip 6, As you do each of the steps above, you will start to develop a good timeline and a great shopping and supplies list of things that you will need.  This will be a great help to you and can even help you to remember to pick up things that you might otherwise have forgotten.  In addition, you will also start to see if there will be any conflicts in your timeline where you might need to move a few things around or enlist the help of others.

Tip 7, Once you have your lists generated then it is time to stick to them and make sure everything gets done.  If you are finding that you have more work to do than time to do it in, it is perfectly acceptable to ask other people to help you with various parts of the event.  In fact, most people you will find would be happy to help you.

If you will be hosting a party or event, the best thing you can possibly do for yourself is to follow these tips, and if you're like me (not a first-time party giver) then don't be afraid to add lots of ideas of your own, and develop yourself a good timeline and master shopping list.  By writing things down, you will much more clearly see what you need to do and what you will have time to do yourself.

Surprise Party Planning Tips

I can remember only one time being treated to a surprise birthday party and unlike other birthday parties given for me over the years, I can still remember every detail. Back then I lived my life as a musician so when my band members all suggested I accompany them to a party at a fan/friend's house I agreed to go along. Looking back now I knew it was my birthday, (at least I think I did) but somehow I never caught on to what my bandmates had in store for me until I was suddenly showered with the calls of "Surprise!"

I'm sure the shocked look on my face and my sudden lack of words told all of the smiling faces around me that I was genuinely surprised. Feeling congratulation slaps on the back mixed with words like "happy birthday," and "we got you this time! I remember feeling a little embarrassed, that I didn't have a clue, and it made me feel good to know that a group of R&B musicians, who as we traveled the country had accused me of being nothing all business and Zero-Party. Somehow the fact that this same group of guys would conspire to give me a surprise birthday party made me smile.

Ever since then, I have come to appreciate that particular birthday, even more, when I think about the planning that was put into it. My band members hiding that secret until the actual day of the event. I would later find out that the party was actually our friend and fan's idea, and that they were able to contact and enlist the entire band to go along with their surprise which left me feeling very grateful for a fantastic group of friends and fellow musicians. Thinking about that experience is what made me want to share these few tips with those thinking about planning a surprise party.

When it comes to planning a surprise party planning can be done that will result in a fun and enjoyable gathering for all of the people involved.  Especially if you and your co-conspirators can keep up the charade until the party happens you'll end up with one very surprised and happy guest of honor.

Even though the secret of your surprise party lays with all of the people who will be in attendance, there are some simple things that you can do, as the party planner and host, to help ensure the best possible outcome.  Here are some tips to get you started on the road to planning a surprise party that your friends and relatives will be sharing on Facebook.

First, find out from your guest of honor, or even better from their significant other, what their schedule is like within the time frame you are considering for the surprise party.  Use this valuable information to set the date for your surprise party.

Next, enlist the help of someone who can devise a fictitious activity for the guest of honor to partake in on the day of the party.  Keep in mind, the closer to your home this activity is, the easier it is for your helper to “find the need to stop in at your home for a moment” the day of the party.

Install a cloak of secrecy when extending your invitations to all of your invited guests.  Make your invitations carry instructions so that each of your guests understands that the party is a surprise and should be kept that way.  Ask them to please not share the information with your guest of honor or anyone else who might mention your surprise party plan.

Come up with a planned event that everyone who may run into your guest of honor can use it as a diversion if they need to.  However, if your guests don’t think they can “lie” to the guest of honor with a straight face, suggest that they avoid them for the time leading up to the party, whenever possible and practical.

Recommend that all of your invited guests arrive at least thirty minutes before you expect your guest of honor to arrive.  If your guest of honor generally arrives early to events, then you might want to ask your invited guests to come a bit earlier, just to be safe.  If possible, ask your guests to park down the street and out of sight.  The only caveat to this is if the guest of honor believes they are attending another event at your home on that day.  If this is the case then it won’t really matter much where people choose to park.

When you have done all of the other things suggested, then the only thing you can really do is pray and hold your breath that no one will slip-up and tell your guest of honor about your planned surprise party.

Planning a surprise party can be a lot of fun.  If you take the time to build some diversions into your plan, you are able to help those who might be asked questions by the guest of honor.  This will ensure that they are not caught off-guard and without a good, solid, quick answer to give to any questions that they may be asked.

In my only experience with a surprise party, I was caught totally and completely off guard. Knowing all the things I know now about setting up and giving a party I realize and appreciate the effort that went into the secret operation that brought a big smile to my face, and the faces of all those around me. Doing the things listed above will lead to a wonderful surprise party.

Best of luck!

Some of my Sweeter Memories

These days there is a lot of posts about how to eat healthier, losing weight and getting in shape. I'm not trying to knock these articles and posts, but sometimes when you're doing the party planning it’s fun to think back to when you were a kid.

Remember all the games you used to play? Board games like Monopoly, Life, and Scrabble? From my childhood days, I can even remember playing Tag, hide n’ seek and pin the tail on the donkey.

There seemed to always be running around, riding bikes, skating, rolling down grassy hills. Anyway, I hope you can see where I'm going with all this, let’s have a little fun. What I remember best about my birthday, and my sibling's birthdays is the candy!

What was your favorite candy when you were a kid?  Some of mine were Licorice, Chocolate, and good old Laffy Taffy?

I remember the delight of the days I was old enough to go to the store to buy candy without my parent's supervision. No mom there to tell me I couldn’t have what I could afford to buy. Lemon heads were always one of my favorites.

I'll admit that my younger brothers and I no doubt spent way too much of our allowances on candy, but it was SO much fun! We’d hide it so that our mother wouldn’t find it, and call it our midnight snack making sure to throw the wrappers straight into the trash after eating the candy. My mother laughed about that to me once a couple years ago, my brothers and I could not believe that she had known of our candy hiding secret, but she did.  We all laugh about it now but the candy had been eaten after all; she couldn’t undo that, so what did it matter if she knew then?

Halloween was, of course, the best. As we got older we got to be the kids that went around the neighborhood later than just about anyone else, so the people who didn’t want to have leftover candy would just dump their excess on us. No worries back then about poison.

Another funny memory is that just like the squirrels that used to frequent our neighborhood hiding food for the wintertime my brothers and I were always trying to find the best places to hide each individual piece. Of course, that meant that every here and there we’d find a piece that had clearly been hidden for a year or more... yuck! When our house was destroyed we move a few times before settling into a new house my parents had built. I can't help but smile thinking about the people who moved into the houses we had once lived in when they came across pieces of candy we had hidden as kids.

Despite my best resolutions these days, I still love candy. Cinnamon candies are my main weakness now, but I know how to be pretty good about it, buying a small quantity once in a while so that I get the taste without the feeling of OD-ing (Over Dosing) on Cinnamon candies. But then come those days when I have to get into my old favorites, Lemon heads still feel good on a sore throat.

Yes, it does pay to eat healthily. But everything in moderation, and that includes moderation. Sometimes you just have to revisit a few old memories in your party planning. When my own kids were still small it seemed like everything candy-wise was a gummy this or a sour that, and while I was able to migrate my taste buds somewhat to the more contemporary candy flavors nothing can match my favorite candies from the time I spent as a kid.