What the hey? This blog may cover a variety of things … but planning a party? I used a lot of technology to make the party planning almost effortless. Anything with technology qualifies, right?
**Sign up for a reminder service**: When I planned a big event, I lucked out and found a Web site that sends e-mails on milestone dates (one year before the event, nine months before the event, six months, and so on) that explained what to do in that timeframe.
**Invitations**: Most events come with an invitation in two parts: One for the service (like the wedding ceremony) and one for the party. Try to put both parts on one invitation (unless you’re inviting a lot of people to one event and not the other). That way, you don’t run into a situation where someone grabs only one part of the invitation and not the other and gets stuck not having the address to the other event.
**Manage guests with a spreadsheet**: One of the biggest problems is figuring out how many will come as vendors generally need this number to prepare. I haven’t found a formula that works (i.e. expect half to attend, expect 60% to attend). In this spreadsheet, I created columns for:
- Number of invitations: This column typically has all 1’s).
- Number invited: One invitation might cover a family of five.
- Number of adults.
- Number of children: Especially for occasions where children have their own food. stations — if not, you may not need this unless you need to account for babysitting.
- Out of town: This can help with determining how many will attend as out-of-towners are less likely to attend than in-towners. It also helps you track how many treat baskets you might need should you decide to do one. Treat baskets contain a welcome letter, drinks, food, flyer with weekend agenda, etc.
**Save the Date**: Since many of us like to book airline reservations far in advance for best savings — but waiting until an invitation arrives is too late — as a compromise, send a flyer or e-mail to out of town guests to let them know of the date and any information you have at the time. Put a link to the event Web page on the flyer.
**Event Web page**: This can be helpful with directions, things to do, places to stay, answers to awkward questions (Are my children invited, too? May I bring a guest?), an explanation of the occasion or service (for those who may not be familiar with cultural or religious traditions). E-mail the link to friends and family. Include a map or link to one, photos (before and after event), files such as the program, explanations of traditions, etc.
**Directions**: Verify on the major mapping sites (Google Maps, Mapquest, etc.) that the directions are available and accurate. We had guests who got lost even though we provided directions. A phone number on an invitation is rare, but it may help to have a mobile phone number for this possibility or include a map (I had one on a Web site, but maybe this calls for plain ole paper).
**Dress code**: For most formal occasions, assume the dress code is never jeans. An oxymoron like “Dressy casual” might confuse more than help. We tried to work with that by establishing an event Web site that had FAQ.
Part II digs into the nitty gritty of preparing for the event itself.