Friday Five: Tea Party Edition

I’m throwing a garden tea bridal shower on Sunday. Event planning is not new to me, along with being part of my job, I planned my own wedding and several events that go along with it. But I realize that party planning is not natural to some and knowing how focused I’ve been on this weekend’s festivities, I can imagine that for anyone who isn’t a “natural” it could be stressful. Without further ado… Five tips for throwing a party.

1. Stay organized. Have a place for your party supplies, keep an organized guest list for RSVPs (hello Excel!) and write things down when you think of them.

2. Prepare for everyone but expect no shows. Every bride knows that people are not always dependable for RSVPs, either they don’t RSVP or they don’t RSVP through the appropriate channel. (I saw someone RSVP to a wedding on the mother of the bride’s Facebook once.)

3. Plan to be ready to go early. Especially when people are going somewhere unfamiliar, they leave early. Try to have food ready and decorating done at least 30 minutes prior to the event. Once people start showing up, they like to socialize, so it can make set up difficult.

4. Over prepare. For events not at your home, have a bag of things you may not need that includes: Markers, tape, thumbtacks, pens, etc. For this weekend’s shower my in-case bag has tape, extra flowers, ribbon, markers and flats.

5. Enjoy yourself. This should go without saying… but it doesn’t. Even if you aren’t the guest of honor, you should enjoy the even you’re throwing. Not everything will go right, but it won’t be a big deal unless you make it that way. Relax.

Do you have any good event planning tips?

 

3 thoughts on “Friday Five: Tea Party Edition

  1. Often times the event planning starts many many months before the actual event so i take advantage of seasonal clearance sales for the upcoming party. For instance, my parent’s 50th anniversary party was in August and I was able to purchase gold trimmed serving bowls and platters as well as gold ribbon at 75% off after Christmas. Also last summer I did a little girl’s tea party with pastel colors but I had purchased Easter candy months before at clearance prices to put in glass apothecary jars. That way I had the custom colors I wanted without paying the custom color prices. A fun way to save a little bit of money.

  2. Pingback: A Garden Tea Bridal Shower | ProbablyRachel

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