Sunday, July 25, 2010

Birthday Planning

(I love my mommy's Popsicles!)

The time has come... My little man is almost a year old! Although I am not a party planning aficionado
 (I planned my wedding in a different city than the event, in about 5 months, strictly using the internet...yes I bought my dress online!!) BUT, I decided that I would give my all for my man!!

So I turned to the Google and the Blog World for inspiration. And boy was the inspiration there!! I started to get overwhelmed so I put together a party planning template to help organize.

My Planning Template Sample (The items that are crossed out are completed) I use this document as a working list. You can print it or save the template on your computer and make changes to it from the computer.


This came about 3 MONTHS before the big day, now I know that is a little crazy! But it is his First Birthday! And I am not the craftiest person out there so I wanted plenty of time to pull it all together!

Step 1: Choose a THEME
                This should be something that interests them not you! The theme does not have to be an "object," it can be colors or a location, anything that inspires you and makes your guest of honor happy.
*I chose a Blue Bird theme because my little man loves birds!

Step 2: Get Inspired
              As you can assume, I go straight to the internet and the blog world to start looking for inspiration. There are plenty of extremely creative people out there to "COPY" ideas from. It doesn't have to be exactly their ideas but rather a platform to work from. It is very important that you not only put your ideas on your planning template but also bookmark the site where you found the idea! It is not fun to faintly remember something but not be able to find it! I even copied pictures and pasted them on my template to keep the inspiration flowing.
*I found a lot for a red bird theme party and not much at all for a blue bird so I made my own, which was much more fun!

Step 3: Send Invitations
            You are going to want to send the invitations at least a month in advance. Especially, if you are inviting people that are out of town. If the guests are coming from out of town make sure to include some hotel locations where your guests can choose to stay that are close to the party location.
**If this is a party for a youngster it is important to keep the guest list limited. You want the party to be enjoyable for the child, having a lot of people around might be overstimulating for the child or even scary!

Step 4: Place Orders
            Anything you need to order to have on hand for crafting or anything you need for the party that you will not be making on your own should be ordered in plenty of time for the party. I suggest at least a month in advance, unless you want to have to pay express shipping costs. Also, cake and balloon orders need to be placed in advance especially if it is a 'busy' time of the year; graduation season or holiday season. 

Step 5: Start Crafting
             Depending on how many decorations and how much effort is needed to complete these decorations is determinate on when you start. Make sure you have a place, out of the way, to store the decorations. This point can and will be fluid. You may make changes as your creativity flows and as trial and error direct you.

Step 6: Food Preparation
            Again, this depends on how elaborate your plans are as to when you start. Within the last week, start purchasing and prep-ing items that you can to open up time for last minute complications. You want to be stress free before and during the party so this prep time is essential.

Step 6: Enjoy!
            Now you have spent all this time preparing there is no need to spend the entire party stressing! It is after all a child's birthday party not the Royal Ball! (unless that is your party theme!) :) Your child and guests will enjoy the party if you are enjoying the party!

**Stay tuned for more Blue Bird Birthday details!

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