With my new sense of freedom and a boost in my social life I’ve been thinking of a few fun ideas of things I could do over the summer. I would really love to host a spectacular party and I’m thinking of maybe a Burlesque theme would be fun, so I’ve popped together a few pointers for planning a party. Being spontaneous about social events is all well and good, but planning your party is a good idea as it helps things to run smoothly on the night, and also means once you have all the arrangements in place you can sit back and relax and actually enjoy your night. Here is my little guide to the first steps of planning the perfect party…
1. Decide on the location – this all depends on how many people you plan to invite, is it a big party or a small gathering? What activities or party games are you planning? If the party is at home think about where the guests will sit and move breakable or personal items incase it all gets out of control!
2 Decide on a theme – I love dressing up so it’s got to be a fancy dress party for me. There are loads of great fancy dress shops in Brighton, or ordering online is just as easy too…Fancy Dress Ball has so many different costumes and themes. I love their Moulin Rouge range, which would be perfect for my party – think, Parisian Basques, Burlesque Dancer Dresses, Feathers and fishnets, they have it all.
3. Invite people – Send out invites well in advance so people can ensure they are available for your party. I’ve found a handy little app which takes the stress out of this part. You can an event on Facebook with your party details and theme, invite everyone and it also links everyone so your guests can chose which outfit they are going to choose.
4. Plan snacks and drinks around your theme – Once you have decided on your location and theme, it’s time to start planning the food and drinks. Pinterest is the perfect place for putting ideas together, so I put together boards for each idea to get an overall feel of how my party would look. This keeps everything like cocktail recipes and cupcake ideas together in one place ready to make each element. I love these burlesque fishnet cupcakes and champagne cocktails.
4. Decorations – Like with drinks and snacks I use Pinterest at this point to put together decoration ideas. I’m thinking black lace, gold shimmer and red for my Burlesque do.
5. Music – Having a playlist that suits the mood of your party is essential, so get this sorted way in advance. Music really helps to set the tone of the party so think what fits in with the theme as well as songs which get people in the mood for having fun, last thing you want is endless ballads that send everyone to sleep! 8tracks.com is great for streaming playlists too, like these Burlesque collections I have found.
What are your top tips for planning a party?
