Dreaming of throwing your child a big birthday bash? One mom shared how she managed to do it with the help of a party planning checklist.
In this article, you’ll read:
- Mommy Jennifer’s experience on planning her son’s birthday party
- What’s inside a party planning checklist?
It was the year 2012 when my son was about to turn 7 – it was summertime and we need to make preparations for his upcoming birthday.
Before we started doing any preparations, my husband and I decided to make a to-do list for the party. Things should be organized so we won’t miss any detail.
Party planning checklist
Budget
This is the first thing on our list. We need to have a specific budget to work with. It may be a special day, but we need to consider other things that might help us not to overspend for this event.
Date
My husband and I consulted our family on what would be the most convenient date for all of us even to our guests who will or might attend the party. This should be done before planning anything else. Having a specific date will also help you determine an estimated number of guests that will come.
Determining the specific date will also have an effect on the rate of the venue that you are about to rent. Usually, event places are cheaper for bookings that will fall on weekdays; they charge more for weekend events. We decided to have the party on weekends, so that majority of the guests will be able to attend.
Image from the Author
Venue
Since it was summer during that time, we did some ocular visits to the nearest private pools around our area. We ended up choosing one that doesn’t cost that much but is neat and secured. We wanted to make sure that all our guests including us will be comfortable during that event.
Safety is also a concern for us during that time. It is a swimming pool that we are going to rent so have to make sure that there will be someone looking over all of us.
Invitations
By sending out invitations early, my hubby and I will have a shortlist of persons that might attend the gathering. The number of guests will be determined soon they make their confirmation to attend our party.
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Giveaways
After we sent out the invitations, we looked for the appropriate souvenirs to give our guests. There’s a lot of them to choose from at Divisoria, but my husband insisted on doing it himself. Do-it-yourself souvenirs are cheaper as long as you are creative enough to look for the materials you’re going to use.
Food
We need to decide on the food that we are going to serve to our guests. We considered getting a caterer and did a food-tasting with them and checked out how they will decorate our son’s birthday party. However, we figured out that we can’t afford to hire a caterer because we will exceed our budget for the party.
Image from the Author
So we made a decision to just cook the food and just rent the tables and chairs. I asked my mom, cousins, and titas for help since they will all be invited and they gladly said yes.
Program
With the date, venue, invitations, souvenirs, and food done, we thought of activities that will add more fun to the celebration.
We looked for a host or magician that will conduct the entire party program and also perform some magic for the kids. We also had a candy corner and hired our photographer friend to make sure that all the moments will be captured.
By the way, we purchased the game prizes at Divisoria. There are tons of toys around there that can be given as prizes from consolation to top prizes. We just looked around first before we bought them.
Cake
This is the last thing on our list because I bake. So I just asked my son what specific cake design he wants and I made it happen.
The day itself
Image from the Author
Now comes the event. For me, it all boils down to proper execution. We made sure that all the decorations we wanted were placed, the food is properly cooked and all the persons needed for the party ( host, photographer) arrive on time.
The guests should all be seated where they are assigned before the party starts. Anyway, that’s the only time that our guests will be sitting that way because, after the games and program, they have all the time to enjoy themselves in the pool.
Few days after the said gathering, we got some great feedback coming from our guests. All of them said that we threw a great party because it was well planned. Our food choices also got good feedback from the guests. It just shows that anything can be done very well without spending too much. It will just require your time and creativity.
Image from the Author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jennifer Parajes has been married for 15 years. She is a mother of two – her eldest is a 16-year-old boy and her youngest is a 17-month-old girl. She does event planning and makes personalized cakes for a living.
