Wednesday, October 7, 2009

How to Plan a Halloween Party

Halloween is the first test of your holiday event planning prowess. As more families use Halloween as their 'family friendly' gathering, most Halloween gatherings have the fun, the food, and the guests, but many do not have the 'wow factor' a party like this deserves. If you want to learn how to plan a Halloween party like the pros, you need to think like a pro, and get the help of those local businesses that supply the best parties with equipment, services, and designs for any occasion, holiday or not.

Step 1

Get your guest list in order. The most wasteful thing you could do is plan for more guests than will actually arrive. imagine the bride and groom who pay for a reception of two hundred and only 75 guests arrive. Think of how much money goes to waste from such a little detail like guest count. Do not let your expectations get away with reasonable results. Know how many guests to expect and begin to plan a great Halloween party around that number to spend the right amount on a great event, but not too much.

Step 2

Plan a menu. Food and drink is what your guests rely on to get them in the mood. Great menu items, snacks, and drinks will keep your guests happy as they mingle through your other guests. Food and drink is what most parties are centered around. Whether its a full menu, a snack or two, or Halloween candy. The easiest way to let your party guests know you care is to provide them with high quality goodies and foods. Plan per head. Know your guest count. Move on to designing a visually exciting room or gathering space next.

Step 3

Design is in the eye of the beholder. Well, most of the time. If you are planning to host a party during the Holiday season this year, your guests will love you for it. Be ready, be smart, and be creative in getting the right decorations for the room, the tables, the chairs, the walkways, and the venue. Because the holidays are designed to party around, realize that your decorations can make the difference in having a good time and an absolutely fabulous time for your friends, guests, and family.

Step 4

Rent party equipment that enhances your menu, your design, or your guests. Drink machines, popcorn machines, table linens, and flatwear are things you will want to have. Can you afford to have them? Are you needing to design and decorate for a few or a few hundred? Think like a guest and you will be able to understand what your guests really want when they attend this season's holiday parties.

Step 5

Make a schedule of important dates on the way to the event. Mark each one off as they are crossed. Keep track of the budget and adjust where needed. Meet with party services that you do not control. Make your vendors give you the best rate or find another vendor. If you plan on planning your own party then you are the one in control. Take charge, plan well, design fun holiday parties this year and then leave next year to someone else if that's what you want to do.

Tips

Contact event planners in your area. Get them to divulge the best deals in town. get them to help you even if you are not planning onhiring an event planner for your Halloween or holiday party. The resources are there for you to use, use them.

Warnings

Event planners have no set fee for services. Many event planners hide extra harges and fees in their equipment and third party services. Go over each fee and how the cost was figured into the over-all budget. find out where your party planner is taking more than they should and then keep them going in the right direction.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Halloween is Coming.. Can you say 'Trick or Treat?'

That's right ladies and gents, Halloween is almost upon us. You can go right now to our Halloween Store to connect with some great costume deals. Our party and event planning would not be nearly as extra special if we did not throw our creatives into the mix. Costumes, party tricks, ideas, and skits are what make gatherings special. Create the perfect Halloween atmosphere with a few of our event and party ideas.

Contact an event planner even if you don't plan on hiring one.

Let's say you want to throw your own special Halloween event but you are not a very good organizer or have ever thrown together a themed event before. Learn from the experts where they go for the best deals, what their idea of a perfect Halloween party is and so much more. I know because I'm an event planner. I get at least five calls a week from consumers who never plan to hire me as an event planner. They don;t hire me because they never planned on hiring an event planner, just wanted some good ideas from an expert. It works if you find someone like me, someone who is willing to talk to the public and let go of some of their best ideas for free. I have had clients come back to me years later to hire me because a conversation we had earlier. I help becasue I like to help. I get hired because I know what I'm talking about, and in Houston, I'm one of the best.

Always consider who's coming before you set your plan into motion. Why would you do a 'Devil may Care' party when the guest list is filled with arriving nuns? "You wouldn't" Know your crowd, jump into their skin, find out what makes them happy, excited, scared, and hungry, becasue for the perfect Halloween event, you need a blend of all these. And you need to know how to have a frightfully good time too. Take your task seriously before the big day so that you can enjoy what you have planned for your guests as if you were a guest to your own party.