Tis the season for celebrating!

Birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, end-of-school-year parties, baby showers, wedding showers…

And don’t get me wrong it can be so fun!

But also a lot.

Trust me, I know from experience. Within 6 days of each other we have my husband’s birthday and then the girls which are back to back, May 4th & 5th. Mother’s Day is usually the Sunday after too. Add in year-end school events, and more, and it can be real easy for me to start feeling overwhelmed and anxious.

But I have found with giving myself a little time to plan, like seriously, just one evening giving yourself about 30 minutes to an hour to just sit and plan helps everything to fall together and eliminates the overwhelm, panic, and stress.

Especially because who doesn’t love to go all out for someone they love?

To give them that day to make them feel extra special and celebrated

Especially if you are the party planner.

There can be so much to do that it can be easy to become stressed and forget that it’s all supposed to be for fun.

To celebrate someone!

With a little prep and planning though I can guarantee you can still have time to enjoy the party as if you are a guest and not the host… while making it all that you want it to be and maybe even more.

10 easy party planning steps to enjoy the celebration more

1. Your Planning Method First start with how you will plan your plans! Where will you keep track of your plans? Of course, I prefer a notebook or planner but there are other options such as digital planners, mood boards, or Pinterest. No matter what works best for you make sure you have a place to jot down ideas, dates, inspiration, and more.
2. Set A Budget Party planning can be so fun that we can easily get carried away in it. After all, we are celebrating someone we love and care a lot for and we want the best for them. But it can be easy to get carried away quickly. By setting a budget from the start you can prevent some guilt and even anxiety later on. Plus it will also help you narrow down some of the decisions you will make on other things below.
3. Where Seriously though, if you are having your party somewhere then you need to decide on this fast and early and then book it! Some venues may have little availability or far-out availability. Always plan your party based on your venue. The food, decor, amount of guests, will always be influenced more by your venue and the venue’s limitations than what you want to plan for over everything else. So save yourself the letdown, the scrambling to replan, and start with choosing the venue first. Book it and then start planning the rest.
4. Food If you are renting a space, many require you to have them cater the food or a business they are contracted with. So before you plan on ordering from your favorite restaurant make sure you have that as an option. Same for desserts! You may be required to go with the vendor or one of their recommendations as opposed to your own choice. But whatever you don’t forget the best part of the meal.
5. Theme Here’s where it can get really fun. First, think of your theme, and then start focusing on the decorations you want basing off of your theme. How do you choose a theme? Best advice, don’t! That’s right. If possible, like not a surprise party, have the person you are throwing the party for chose the theme. This will not only eliminate the stress of trying to get it right on your end but will also let them be included in the planning and not only celebrate them but what they like. This is especially great for kids’ birthdays. It makes them feel involved, and excited and gives them control over something.
6. Decorations Next, the decorations. Start by making a list. It can be easy to get really caught up in the decorations at the moment so make a list and stick to it. Do you need balloons? Photo backdrop? Banner or sign? Table cloths? Dinnerware? Focus on your theme and match as much as you can to not only make it easy by narrowing down the options but to visually give a great look in an easy way.
7. Who This includes not only who you are inviting but also who will help you out. Of course, it may depend on how big the celebration is going to be but you do not have to do it all alone. Is there something that someone can help you with, even if it means just one less thing off of your plate? For example, maybe you have someone pick up desserts or balloons. That is one less trip you now have to make giving more time for something else. As for the guest list, the biggest advice I can give you is do not overthink it. And yes it will be hard and most likely at first you will overthink it. But you could spend A LOT of time here if you don’t challenge yourself from the start to not overthink it.
8. Set A Timeline Go back to the planning method you chose and make yourself a timeline. How do you know what your timeline needs to be? Work your way backward from the date of the celebration. Depending on your venue and the guests when do you need to send out invites? Most often you will be within about 4-6 weeks of sending invites from the date of the celebration but this can vary depending. Next, think about what you need to order online. Give yourself plenty of time so you do not have to worry about shipping delays, items running out of stock, or scrambling at the last minute to find a substitution for whatever it may be if it cannot get to you in time. Creating a timeline with actual dates will not only help you stay on task but save so much stress by avoiding last-minute scrambling.
9. Complete Everything The Week Before Yep, you heard that right. When you set your timeline give yourself the deadline for all prep and planning and execution the week before the actual celebration. Why? Because things happen, trust me. You may get sick, have to pick up more hours at work, something needs to be repaired at your house, whatever it may be by giving yourself an earlier deadline you make room for the unexpected without allowing it to add chaos to your planning. Plus there will still be so much that you have to wait to do until the day of such as decorating. By having everything ready to go a week prior you give yourself room to breathe, relax, and enjoy.
10. Let Go Of Striving For Perfect Mostly because there is no such thing. I spent years always trying to strive for this unrealistic, “perfect” outcome when it came to planning and it only led to disappointment, mainly because what really is perfect anyways? You will have an idea in your head of how you want everything to be. But the important thing to remember is it only exists in your head. No one else knows what you want the outcome to be compared to what it is in reality, only you. They will only see what you actually present to them and most often it’s better than what they could have expected, even if it doesn’t live up to all of your hopes and dreams. Sometimes, or a lot of the time, less can be more. The best celebrations I have planned and executed were the smaller, more intimate gatherings. Those that really focused on who we were celebrating and what they liked and wanted vs the big and elaborate parties. I hope you find these tips helpful and have fun celebrating!