Now the fun really starts....its time to get your home or venue ready for your fabulous event. As you are decorating, preparing food and drinks, and anticipating your guests arrival; you are probably already in the process of staging your home. This is one step in the planning process that is sometimes overlooked or sometimes done mindlessly, however it is a key step. What staging does for your event is it allows for traffic patterns that let your guests enjoy your party to the fullest. When your home or venue is properly staged, you will notice that guests can easily maneuver around food buffets, drink stations, and still enjoy being able to mingle with one another. So here are a few tips to make staging your party, no matter how big or small, as easy as possible.
• The main thing to keep in mind with staging is that you want to space out the places where most guest will congregate. For example, you will want your food buffet or appetizer table in one area and your drink station in another area of the room.
• Another thing to keep in mind is that you will probably want to move furniture around to make the room more open.
• One activity that can help if you are having trouble staging is to take a large piece of butcher paper and make a drawing of what the room looks like, where the furniture is, and where you plan to place food and drink stations. Once you have drawn this out, play around with changing up the room configuration and see what feels best to you.
• Another great thing to do when you are planning how to stage your event with your drawings is to look at traffic patterns. Get different color markers and draw out traffic patterns that your guests may use. This will let you see if people will easily be able to move throughout your party.
• Keep in mind that most of your guests will gather in circular patterns to talk and mingle, so make sure that there is enough room for groups to gather and talk.
Remember that staging is key to transforming your home or venue from the everyday to the special for your party. This step in the planning process is something you can do to ensure that all your hard work doesn't go to waste and your guests fully enjoy the event. Happy staging!!!
April 3, 2010
April 2, 2010
Food
The next step in the planning process is to determine the type of food you plan on serving your guests and the amount to have on hand for the event. To do this you will want to have a good idea of the number of guests you will be hosting and what type of food you want to serve them. Do you want to serve a buffet of snacks and appetizers, grill out for your guests, order pizza, have a nice dinner party, or a combination of these. Once you have figured out the type of food, you will want to select several recipes or talk with a caterer about the menu for your event. A few tips for the amount of food you will want to have:
• For hor d'oeuvres: guest will generally eat 3-5 pieces if you are serving these before the main meal. If you are only serving a buffet of hor d'oeuvres, guests will generally eat 4-6 pieces per hour.
• With all foods, you will want to vary between hot and cold items,different textures, and always make larger quantities of popular items to make sure there is enough to go around.
• Also, you may want to consider special dietary options for your guests. For example, you might want to serve vegan or low carb options. If you do have guests coming that may want or require such options, it is a good idea to have at least 3 different options for them.
• If you are serving a buffet of appetizers or snacks as the main food options, you will want to keep in mind the length of the party and the size of the guest list to ensure that you have several options to sustain the party.
• A good rule of thumb is one pound of food per person.
When hosting a dinner party, the overall food portions may differ slightly. Here are a few things to consider when planning your menu:
• For the main course, you will want to plan to serve 6-8 ounces per person.
• If you are serving seafood for the main course however, you will want to plan to serve only about 5-7 ounces per person.
• For soups, or gumbos, you will want to serve about 1 1/2 - 2 cups per person.
• When serving pasta, beans, rice, or potato dishes for sides, you will want to serve 2-3 ounces per guest.
• If you are serving a side salad, you will want to serve about 3-4 ounces per guest.
• Each guest will probably 1 1/2 pieces of bread at a typical dinner party.
• Generally guests will eat between 1 and 1 1/2 pieces of desserts.
• A good rule of thumb is 1 1/2 pounds of food per guest.
Remember, when planning the menu it is always best to round up when preparing food for you guests. You always want to have more than enough than not enough. You surely won't have trouble finding someone willing to take home leftovers.
• For hor d'oeuvres: guest will generally eat 3-5 pieces if you are serving these before the main meal. If you are only serving a buffet of hor d'oeuvres, guests will generally eat 4-6 pieces per hour.
• With all foods, you will want to vary between hot and cold items,different textures, and always make larger quantities of popular items to make sure there is enough to go around.
• Also, you may want to consider special dietary options for your guests. For example, you might want to serve vegan or low carb options. If you do have guests coming that may want or require such options, it is a good idea to have at least 3 different options for them.
• If you are serving a buffet of appetizers or snacks as the main food options, you will want to keep in mind the length of the party and the size of the guest list to ensure that you have several options to sustain the party.
• A good rule of thumb is one pound of food per person.
When hosting a dinner party, the overall food portions may differ slightly. Here are a few things to consider when planning your menu:
• For the main course, you will want to plan to serve 6-8 ounces per person.
• If you are serving seafood for the main course however, you will want to plan to serve only about 5-7 ounces per person.
• For soups, or gumbos, you will want to serve about 1 1/2 - 2 cups per person.
• When serving pasta, beans, rice, or potato dishes for sides, you will want to serve 2-3 ounces per guest.
• If you are serving a side salad, you will want to serve about 3-4 ounces per guest.
• Each guest will probably 1 1/2 pieces of bread at a typical dinner party.
• Generally guests will eat between 1 and 1 1/2 pieces of desserts.
• A good rule of thumb is 1 1/2 pounds of food per guest.
Remember, when planning the menu it is always best to round up when preparing food for you guests. You always want to have more than enough than not enough. You surely won't have trouble finding someone willing to take home leftovers.
April 1, 2010
Decorations
When it comes time to decide the decor for your festive event, you want to make sure to consider several things:
• Budget
• # of guests, and type of guest you are inviting
• Theme
• Occasion
• Time and Place of your event
Each of these items are key in determining the overall decor of your event. For example you won't want to spend extravagant amounts of money on an intimate dinner party, and you also don't want to skimp on the decor for a large event. The best way to determine your decorative motif is to think about the kind of event you are hosting.
If this is a theme party, you probably already have several decorating ideas swirling around in your head. Take those ideas and look at the list of considerations listed above to focus your attention on the best ideas you have come up with that fit your event. The great thing about theme parties is that many party supply stores and websites have tailor made decorations for such events. These items can make your job of decorating very easy and enjoyable. Another great thing about theme parties is that you have the ability to use your creative talents to create your own decorations or combine some of your own ideas with some store bought items.
If this isn't a theme party, and you are just having a party for the sake of having a party; an easy way to decorate is coming up with a simple color scheme of one-three colors and decorating around these colors alone. This method will give your event a simple yet chic personality.
The main thing to remember when decorating for your party is to plan how you want the party to look, the way you want your guests to remember it, and the ambiance you want to create for this event. These key points will keep you on track for coming up with decorations that reflect your personality as a hostess and the way your guests will think back to your fabulous party!!!
• Budget
• # of guests, and type of guest you are inviting
• Theme
• Occasion
• Time and Place of your event
Each of these items are key in determining the overall decor of your event. For example you won't want to spend extravagant amounts of money on an intimate dinner party, and you also don't want to skimp on the decor for a large event. The best way to determine your decorative motif is to think about the kind of event you are hosting.
If this is a theme party, you probably already have several decorating ideas swirling around in your head. Take those ideas and look at the list of considerations listed above to focus your attention on the best ideas you have come up with that fit your event. The great thing about theme parties is that many party supply stores and websites have tailor made decorations for such events. These items can make your job of decorating very easy and enjoyable. Another great thing about theme parties is that you have the ability to use your creative talents to create your own decorations or combine some of your own ideas with some store bought items.
If this isn't a theme party, and you are just having a party for the sake of having a party; an easy way to decorate is coming up with a simple color scheme of one-three colors and decorating around these colors alone. This method will give your event a simple yet chic personality.
The main thing to remember when decorating for your party is to plan how you want the party to look, the way you want your guests to remember it, and the ambiance you want to create for this event. These key points will keep you on track for coming up with decorations that reflect your personality as a hostess and the way your guests will think back to your fabulous party!!!
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