Celebrate Spring!

Spring is such a gorgeous time of year. In Southeast Texas, where I live, the temperature at this time of year is in the mid-70s to low 80s.  The azaleas are in bloom, trees are budding; it's a time of rebirth. If the weather in your area is nice, this is the time to get outside and celebrate nature and this amazing planet of ours!  What a time to plan an outdoors party! I have visions of guests on a beautiful green rolling lawn with open-air tents set up.  Of course there would be live music--jazz for me, thank you. The decor would include serene colors like light blue and green.  Hors d'oeuvres would be on the menu; food that guests could easily carry on a small plate as they mingle with each other. Along with the music, you could hear the sounds of talking and laughing.  People just having a good time hanging out together.

   

What's Most Important?

So you're planning a party. What is most important to you: the venue, food, beverages, cake or other dessert, entertainment, decorations or something else? If you have an ample budget, you may not have to make that decision but for the majority of people, you need to decide on which aspect to spend the most money. Is it your vision to have your event at a really cool venue?  Do you want to pick a top caterer to furnish food and beverages?  Would you like a fantastic cake artist to create a masterpiece for your celebration?  How about hiring a band or other performer?  A party decorator to transform the venue into your dream setting? It's important to start with a ballpark budget with a cushion added in as chances are you will probably go over your initial estimated amount.  

Most important to me, personally, would be to make sure my guests had enough to eat and drink.  I definitely would NOT want to run out of food!! I would also want to guarantee that they had a fun experience which means planning some sort of musical entertainment, either live or recorded, and perhaps an activity.  Accordingly, I would spend less on the venue, cake and decorations but that doesn't mean those items have to take a backseat, so to speak.  Pinterest is a wonderful resource for DIY ideas.  Search for your party theme and tons of ideas could come up.  You can check out my boards for inspiration: www.pinterest.com/meetsmilestones  Many decorations are simple to create or perhaps you have a friend/family member who's crafty.  As far as the cake is concerned, I highly recommend the Costco half sheet cake.  This cake is delicious! You can order a white or chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and yummy filling between the layers.  It's less than $20!! (There might be a small charge for decorating it.) Yes, that's right! Less than $20! And no, I'm not being paid by Costco. LOL I've attached a picture of the Costco cake my husband got me for my birthday last month. 

To summarize, pick out the aspects of your party/event which are most important and plan accordingly.  It's best if you can pay as you go so you won't have be stuck with party bills for months to come.  Happy Planning!

40s Theme Party

Recently I planned a 40s-themed party for a Ft. Worth area chapter of the Lions Club. This chapter was celebrating their 75^th anniversary in 2015 so they wanted to have a 40s-themed party as they were established in 1940. I was so excited and thankful that the president of the chapter chose my company, Meetings and Milestones, to plan the party! First of all, I LOVE event planning. Secondly, I love research so this was right up my alley.  After I researched available venues in the area, the club decided on one that was conveniently located and had a beautiful room of ample size. I found a graphic designer who worked with me until we had an invitation design that the club liked that showed a couple dancing dressed in 40s attire.  The invitation included a listing of local shops I found where guests could purchase or rent 40s clothes for the party. Many guests did attend in 40s evening wear which added to the fun of the party.  I also collaborated with an event decorator who displayed 40s movie posters in lighted frames at the entryway. In addition, we booked a 40s band that provided wonderful entertainment. After dinner, it was time for dancing. Those folks can really dance! As it was also a fund raiser for the chapter, there was an auction offering several items. It was a blast! People really got into the bidding and I gave the winning bid on a poster from Casablanca! I so enjoyed working with this group and am so pleased their party was a huge success.

Planning Milestone Birthday Parties

I LOVE planning birthday parties. There are some people who would rather have a small, informal dinner celebration with just family and maybe a few close friends which is totally fine and one has to respect what the person wants. On the other hand, for those who like to party, I'm there! Milestone birthday parties are one of my specialties. I like working with the spouse/significant other or family to plan a special celebration. 

One of the common parts of a milestone birthday is the video presentation. To put this together, the family needs plenty of time to gather photos, song selections, etc. As an event planner, I can connect my clients with a professional who does these. They can be time consuming if the family puts it together themselves, but a professional knows what he/she is doing and can hopefully get it done faster and produce a better video than an amateur.

Another thing to consider would be a group activity. For one surprise party, I created a trivia game which consisted of questions about different topics (movies, TV shows, sports, etc.) from the decade in which the honoree grew up. The guests divided up into pairs and filled out the questionnaire.  Inexpensive prizes were given to the winners. It was a lot of fun & also got people talking and moving.

There are other parts to plan: Save the Date, invitations, venue, caterer/food, decorations, entertainment, etc. Most importantly, I would answer these questions: If this is a surprise party, would the person want a surprise party? If the person knows about it, what does he/she want? What is your budget? (At least a ball park figure is a must!) Again, give yourself enough time to plan all aspects so the evening will go off as smoothly as possible. There's a lot involved. That's why you need an event planner!

How to Find the Best Venue

Say you want to plan a milestone birthday party, an anniversary, retirement party or some other special occasion. How do you begin the search for the best venue? First, you need to decide on a budget (at least a ballpark figure). I spoke to a lady not that long ago about possibly planning her milestone birthday. Her budget was $5000. She was thinking she could feed 100 people a nice dinner and have entertainment and a cake, too. I did a little research for her before putting together a proposal to see if it was even possible. I called a venue I thought might come close and they did (for the rental and catering) but if she wanted all the other things, I didn't see how it would be possible to meet her budget. I suggested she think about having the party at someone's house so she could spend more money on the extras. In the end, she told me she found a place that could do it all. I'd like to know what that place is.  The point is you need to be realistic. If you'd like to spend more on entertainment and food then think about having it at a less expensive venue like a community center, clubhouse or someone's house. My husband and I got married in the backyard of a good friend. My husband wanted a smallish wedding but we still had a caterer, flowers, other decorations and entertainment.  Ideally, the venue should be easily accessible with enough parking as well. In the end, you want to select a place you like but that also stays in your budget.  What you don't need is to be paying party bills for the next several years!

High School Reunion

My high school reunion was the 2nd weekend in October. I was honored to be one of the two co-chairs. It was truly a labor of love. We worked on the reunion for over a year. This picture is of the fabulous Courtyard at Gaslight Square in Corpus Christi, TX. We were so fortunate to have wonderful vendors: Arnold Medina, DJ with Blue Moon Entertainment, Alisa Demers with Ashed Photography and the crew at Gaslight Square and Diamond Point Catering. One of our classmates, Don P., put together a video featuring pics from our high school days and another classmate, Marcie D., made a beautiful cake. People also donated items for door prizes. Several classmates made very generous donations so we were able to pay the bills! LOL

 I really get a kick out of attending my reunions. It's fun seeing people I hadn't seen in many years. We created a Facebook group during the summer of 2014 so we had a head start on finding people. In fact, due to the FB group, I got to know people I never knew in high school.  The reunion festivities were spread out over the entire weekend with an informal gathering on Friday night, the big event Saturday night and a beach party on Sunday.  During the weekend, two of the committee members volunteered to co-chair the next reunion in 5 years.  Thought we'd better not wait a full 10 years!

Gay Wedding Institute Training

Last Friday, June 26th SCOTUS released their 5 - 4 decision making same sex marriage legal in all 50 states. This could bring a large boost in business to wedding professionals in Houston. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been working with the Gay Wedding Institute since January of this year to bring their training to Houston.  Laura from A La Carte and my company, Meetings and Milestones, are the local co-sponsors. The training will be hosted by one of the most beautiful and popular venues in Houston, The Parador. All wedding professionals including planners, florists, caterers, bakers, invitation designers, decorators, etc. who plan to assist same sex couples in planning their weddings and/or receptions would benefit from this training. The training is coming up this next week.  I'm really excited!