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It’s coming up on the holiday season where parties are going to be thrown. And throwing a great party is exactly what a lot of people are going to try to do this year, even with the economy in the dire straits it’s in. There are some totally easy tips which make throwing a great party a breeze, and you, too, can throw a great party this year.

First, plan ahead. Start as soon as you can to make plans for your party. This enables you to make changes as need be, to get everything that needs to be accomplished done, and to give yourself enough time to get it all done without having to stress and fret over every detail. Sit down with a desk calendar or day planner and mark down when to take care of certain things. For instance, send out your invitations with plenty of time to spare. That way, if you need to do RSVP’s so you can have a good idea of how much food and beverages to have on hand, you can get the replies back in time to make your plans. Keep in mind that even with RSVP’s things change, so allow for a little leeway.

Make sure you’ve got any entertainment you’ve got planned either booked in advance or purchased early enough to ensure you’ve got what you need. Follow it up a few days later to make sure all your plans are still locked in place. Next, make sure your menu and food plans are set. If you need to split purchases across time, make sure you get items that don’t spoil first, that way you can store them as long as needed. Last, get the food that does spoil purchased and prepared. If you’re doing a catered party, make sure the caterer is still planned, and that everything is a “go”.

Then, on the day of the party, with all your plans in place and going, sit back and relax and enjoy everything as it happens. When it’s all over with, you’ll have thrown that totally great party, and gotten to enjoy it in the process.

People love parties and love them even more when everything is perfect. From the food, entertainment and even the guests, when everything works together, a party usually turns out great. But there are some key elements that make for great parties.

1.) Plan ahead for issues
Make sure you’ve got food and beverages everyone can consume. Some people have allergies and the last thing you want is to have your party interrupted by the ambulance because someone has a peanut allergy and ate some type of dip that contains them.

2.) Resolve Guest List Conflicts
While some party planners enjoy a little excitement in their evening, most guests would prefer to have a fun time. This calls for not having people who don’t get along well with each other showing up at the same party

3.) Use invitations with RSVP’s
By using RSVP’s, not only can you make sure how many are coming, but you can adjust seating arrangements, dietary issues and other little details as the responses come in.

4.) Plan Ahead For Setup and Teardown
These things don’t happen by themselves, so making sure you’ve given yourself enough time to setup is usually more important than clean up, but if you’re in a rented facility, that could be important too.

5.) Make Sure There’s Plenty Of Parking
Nothing is worse than having to walk a mile to get to the party because there’s no parking.

6.) Control
Make sure you keep control of the party and don’t let the party control you. Set the theme for the party and the tone by making sure music doesn’t get too loud and guests don’t get out of hand

7.) Keep An Eye On Your Guests
This way, you can keep track of who is where, when people leave, etc. Not only can you prevent problems, but you can get a head start on cleaning up

8.) Check On Consumables
Incidental supplies like bathroom tissue, etc. can kill a party or keep it running smooth. A quick walk around where people are lets you keep those stocked as well as letting you monitor how the party is going

9.) Stay Ahead Of The Game
Empty ashtrays (if need be) and collect empties when you pass through a room, This keeps accidents from happening and gives you a head start when it comes to cleanup later

10.) Know When To Say When
While it’d be nice to party all night long, most people have other obligations that have to be tended to the next day. Not only that, but while it’s nice to have a great party while its going on, there comes a time when even the best parties have to end.

While these are the most standard tips to having a great party, using these tips will make your party experience as host or hostess that much better. Everyone enjoys a great party, and with these tips, every party you throw will be great.

Everyone loves a party. Even those who claim they hate surprises love them, too, once their heart restarts after everyone shouts “Surprise!” But there are a lot of ways to have a surprise party that veer away from the heart stopping celebrations everyone thinks of when the words “party” and “surprise” are used in the same sentence together. That’s where finding new and innovative ways to throw a surprise party comes in.

When it comes to these types of party, most people use the “standard convention” of getting the intended surprise out of the house long enough for everyone to get in and hide. But one way to throw a surprise party that is totally unexpected is to have the ambush or “un-party” which is like a surprise party, only in reverse.

Instead of having everyone congregated together and having the guest of honor show up, have everyone begin showing up after the guest of honor gets there. This is especially effective in a restaurant environment where you go to have a “nice, quiet dinner” and people begin arriving and say “Oh, look! Isn’t today your birthday?”, etc. Since this is actually planned, the waiters begin adding tables to the group, and within 15-20 minutes, you’ve got your party assembled, but the center of attention is pretty much clueless until well after the party has begun. You can also apply this scenario to the “quiet evening at home” where friends and family merely “show up” and happen to have brought “party stuff” like munchies, beverages and even a cake. Same ideas apply, “Oh, we were just in the neighborhood and thought we’d drop in.” While all along, the plans had been in place for weeks.

Being creative with surprise parties means thinking outside the box, and ideas like this definitely brings a new flair to the old, tired surprise party. Why not throw an “un-party” for someone soon?