Tuesday, January 29, 2013

How Do I Start Planning for My Event?

Where do I start? It's usually the first question a host or hostess asks when the decision has been made to throw any sort of event. For me, an event can be any gathering. It doesn't have to be a wedding per se (although that is the ULTIMATE event, and we will touch on weddings in their own blogs), but it does need to be special. An event is your time to tell a story through theme, decorations, food, and drink. It expresses who you are and who the guest of honor is (if different than you).

Sounds daunting and overwhelming? Doesn't have to be. Start with an outline of your plans. Ask yourself the following questions:

Who is attending your event? (guest list)
Who are your guests?
Who is this event for?
Who is helping you?
Who is monitoring everything throughout the night to ensure this event is a success?

What kind of event is this? (engagement party, birthday party). Are there certain rituals that are associated with this event?
What kind of food are you serving? (make a shopping list for this)
What kind of drink are you serving?
What are your decorations?
What are your guests going to do during this event?
What are they going to sit on?
What are they going to eat on? drink on?
What are they going to listen to?

Where?
Where is this event being held (venue)?
Where should you set up everything? (food, drink, music, sitting areas)
Where are your guests going to park?
Where are you guests going to use the restroom? (gross, but necessity)
Where are your guests going to throw away trash?

When? ( I highly suggest creating a timeline for that day to keep yourself on track)
When is this event? (date and time)
When are you going to set up?
When are you going to set food out? drinks out? cake?
When are you going to end the event?

Why?
Are you doing this for your best friend of 20 years? Or are you doing this because you have the big house and was volun-told to do this event? If its the latter, consider recruiting extra help in getting this done!

How?
How are you going to pull this off, be well rested enough to enjoy your event, and have it run smoothly throughout the night?

Personally, I always had four lists for any event: a shopping checklist, a cleaning list (if using my own house), a set-up checklist, and a timeline for the day, including when to set up food/drinks/decorations, when to cook certain items. Everything was written down, so all I did was execute what I had already planned. This may work for you too.

I always made it a goal to do as little as possible on the actual day of the event. Start your cleaning projects one week out, covering the deep cleaning first, then the light on the night before or even the morning of. Prep as much as you can the day before as well, including decorations and food. Event with all this prep, an event can still be a stressful and exhausting time (although a fun one)

For really important events, hiring a Day of Coordinator is a great idea. (You don't want to be prepping in your kitchen at your best friends engagement party, do you?) Amazing DIY Events is available to help with any of your events. Services start at just $50 and can greatly save you time and energy the day of your big event! Visit us at www.facebook.com/amazingdiyevents for more information. Blogs every Tuesday- so check back with us next week when we discuss themes!

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