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Party planning in your home can be pleasant when done with the proper amount of planning. Too many parties are thrown together on a shoe string budget without any real thought to entertainment, theme, decoration, and food. The results are an unnecessary disaster, a disorderly mess, and unentertained, uncomfortable guests.
Keys to a successful bash are simply all about planning. Organizing eliminates nearly all the hidden last minute surprises that can turn an otherwise festive occasion into a boring blowout.
Your target goal is to make certain that your guests are comfortable
and have a wonderful time.
Nothing else matters, not even the recent stain on the carpet you hope nobody notices.
It's never too early to begin planning for a party. You know all year long that your child's 8th birthday or your husband's 40th falls on a certain date that lands on a Saturday. Begin putting together the game plan for that party one year in advance.
Decide a theme. For my husband's 40th birthday party I did not want to use the black 40th theme that is prevalent for over-the-hill make-fun-of-the-birthday-guy events. I decided to use a festive, colorful theme that included no black. I hired two neighbor boys to come to the house a few hours before the guests were to arrive and blow up helium balloons in all different colors until the entire ceiling was solidly covered. It worked to my advantage in many ways: The ceiling had a very ugly brown stain where the ceiling had begun to leak and we had not gotten a chance to repair it; hubby didn't have to look at black and feel depressed; it made perfect decorations without decorating anything else inside the house; and it was easy clean up. As the balloons fell, I popped and tossed. My theme was: Forty is colorful.
Plan a year in advance. Planning this early in advance, gives you certain monetary advantages last minute party planners do not get. You can shop for paper plates, plastic forks, balloons, napkins, and decorations with your color scheme/or party theme in mind. By knowing color scheme/theme in advance you can locate most everything you need at a discounted price and store it until party time.
Store your party supplies properly. I store my party supplies the same way most people store their Christmas decorations, in plastic 20 gallon (or larger) Rubbermaid containers. I label the outside with a black magic marker written on masking tape on the outside so it's easy to find what is inside each one.
My labels look like this:
- Plastic utensils, paper plates, napkins, straws, cups. I make certain that this one is full at all times. After each party, I repurchase everything that was used immediately.
- Croquet stakes, court twine, croquet rule book, horseshoes. If it's an outdoor party, I set up a croquet field. Guests put their own teams together and start a game every single time.
- Plastic pool floats.
I inflate these with a compressor in just a few minutes. I deflate after every party so they don't get sun faded and are like new each party. If I lose any during a party, I make a note and purchase a new one to replace it right away and toss the new one into the container for the next party.
- Garland, leis. Colorful floral decorations go fabulous with a child or an adult party theme. It takes two 20 gallon containers to store them.
- Serving dishes, table clothes.
These are large plastic bowls and platters that are only used for parties or holidays. I prefer plastic because I don't want to deal with glass breakage. I've found it's a wise choice. One broken glass by the pool and we've got cut feet and that's no fun. The table clothes are plastic felt lined clothes in all different colors that basically will fit any colorful theme or plain white felt lined plastic clothes that will also go with any theme.
- Chair pads. These are colorful pads for the plastic pool chairs and the chaise lounges.
I don't leave these pads on year round because the sun will fade and they get dirty too easy.
Other party items in storage are:
- Folding tables. These are stored flat against the garage wall and brought out only for parties.
- Rolling coolers. These double as storage containers.
- Large trash cans. These are used only for parties, kept spotlessly
clean and double as storage for other party goods such as outdoor citronella candles.
- Plastic pool chairs. These are stacked out of the way until party time.
- Complete bar. When hubby and I drink, we drink spiced rum and diet coke and occasionally wine or special occasion champagne. All other hard liquor in my house is for guests.
I go through the liquor and purchase what I'm lacking as each name brand goes on sale. If Smirnoff Vodka is on sale at Walgreens, I buy Smirnoff that week. If the next week Crown Royal is on sale
at Albertsons, I buy Crown Royal until the liquor is fully stocked.
- Wine is the one thing that I collect for myself personally. I watch for wines as they go on sale or as they first come out and purchase in quantities of three: One to drink now with a
friend, one to give away as a gift or offer to visiting guests and one for permanent storage until it's at its peak drinking stage which is sometimes 10 to 15 years on some Cabernet Sauvignons.
- Margarita, Strawberry Daiquiri, Piņa Colada, Tom Collins, Bloody Mary and other mixes I purchase as they go on sale also.
- My liquor cabinet is never open to just anyone. When I have adult parties where liquor is being served, I set out what liquor is being served for that particular party.
The rest is left put away where guests cannot get to it. You can bet that I don't want just any bottle of wine within my liquor cabinet opened.
- My last party included frozen margaritas (6 gallons premixed with 2 gallons of Two Fingers tequila) and strawberry daiquiris (6 gallons) in a two agitator rental machine, 15 bottles of various
name brand hard liquors with other mixers and six cases of beer.
- Keep the food simple. Food doesn't have to be catered to be wonderful. Keep in mind that all non-perishable foods can be purchased in advance keeping in mind expiration dates and party
date and stored properly until the party, such as vacuum sealed cashews, toffee and mixed nuts, colossal green and black olives, red and green cherries, hard candies, canned shrimp, ready-made dips
and chips. The last party I threw for close to 100 or more, I served two 20 pound turkeys cooked the day of the party, six loafs of bread made into turkey salad sandwiches one hour before
guests arrived (The turkey salad was prepared the day before.), homemade shrimp dip placed inside a circular loaf of rye bread (Shrimp dip prepared the day before.), chips and ready-made Ranch, bean
and salsa dips, one 9X12 dish of stuffing (Stuffing made the day before and cooked the day of the party.), and cranberry sauce.
When guests ask me what to bring, I tell them to bring nothing, they are my guests.
My goal is to make certain my guests are comfortable and have a great time.
I do this in other ways by offering plenty of dry towels by the pool, clean rugs to wipe their wet feet on, hard candies in the bathrooms, a generous supply of soap, dry washcloths, towels, and plenty of toilet paper in the bathrooms, and trash cans within easy reach that house extra trash bags underneath the bag presently lining the trash can.
Since my last party all party supplies have been stored away and I've begun plans for my next party in 14 months. It's never too early to begin planning for a party.
Remember to RSVP and let's party!
Email Kay Chirichigno (CHAIR-A-KEY-N0)
For syndication rights or comments e-mail Kchirichig@aol.com
©1999 Kay Chirichigno
An Interview with Kay Chirichigno
By Anita Wadd
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