You’ve decided to throw a party, but not sure how to make it a success. All you need for a fabulous party is a strategic plan of attack. My eight step party guide is the foundation for a can't miss strategic party plan. Below you will find a quick check list with hints that will help you in quest for the perfect party.

______1. Decide what type or style of party you’re going to have. Are you going to have an elaborate or simple party, adult or kids party, birthday party, anniversary party or a just for fun party. Although all party types follow the same party planning principles, some parties will require a little more involved planning. Depending on how elaborate or special your party is going to be you may need to hire people or arrange for special services as well as rent space or equipment. When deciding the type of party keep in mind how much you want to spend. The more elaborate or larger the guest list is the more your party will cost. The answer to these questions will help you to determine your budget in the next step.

______2. Decide on a Budget. Budget is the key to all parties. You do not want buyers regret the night of the party. Fun should be the only thing on your mind, not what you spent on the party. Set a realistic budget and add about 20% more. Inevitably, you will decided something is must have. Make a list of all the things you will need for the party and assign a budget amount to each one. Be sure to include these items in your budget: party facility, food, drinks (caterers, bar staff), entertainment, rentals (chairs, tables, linens), invitations, decorations, party favors, flowers, photographer and any other items you may have to buy or make for your party.

______3. Set a date and pick a place. When considering a date keep in mind any other events that might coincide with your date. Remember nothing is worse than planning a party and setting a date, only to later find out it is the same date as some other important function. Choose a location that is easy for guests to find or provide a map. If guests can find the party it can't be a success.

_____4. Food- Drink-Rentals-Entertainment. Decided how much time you want to invest in food, drink, and entertainment. You don't want to spend all of your party time preparing the food and serving it to your guests. Make sure to give yourself plenty of time to mingle. This means you may need to hire a caterer to prepare the food and you serve it. However, you might want to hire a caterer and their bar & wait staff so you don't have to do anything but mingle. If your going to hire a cater and bar service, you will need advanced planning to interview the caterer and discuss the food and drinks you’ll want. It is crucial that you make sure to allow enough time for you to get all this done well before the party date. You will also want to book entertainment and arrange for all your rental needs.

_____5. Send out invitations. You can phone friends or email invites for informal parties and get-togethers that will be held within a two weeks or less. For more formal or in the case of children’s parties it is recommend to send printed invitations. Allow plenty of time between mailing the invitation and the date of the party.

_____6. Gather your party supplies. Go shopping for you decorations and party favors, as well as any other items that you may have missed several days before the party. Depending on your party date and the type of food and drinks you will serve, you may want shop for these items as well.

_____7. Check your list. It is easy to forget an item. Do you have food, drinks, tableware, music, or other entertainment, party favors, ect.? Make follow up calls to those you’ve hired, check on rentals, and follow up on the location make sure everything is set.

_____8. Party Day. Put up your decorations and set up table and chairs. Pick up last minute items that you may need. Prepare or pick up the food, cake, and beverages. pick and secure any items that need to be fresh and are ready prepared on the day your party (flowers). Make sure any one you’ve hired is aware of where they are to set up and how you want things done.

_____9.  Enjoy your party! Mingle, laugh and have a good time. Your strategic plan has taken care of everything.

Everyone looks for a good reason to celebrate. Cinco De Mayo is just such a reason. After all, commemorating independence is a wonderful reason to celebrate. Although Cinco De Mayo is the celebration of Mexico's Independence from Spain, it has great significance to those in the United States as well. Mexico and the United States have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect the freedom and liberty of their citizens. This wonderful celebration can be enjoyed by anyone from anywhere. It all begins with an authentic Mexican fiesta!

Planning Your Cinco De Mayo Fiesta

• Invitations – Make them festive.  You can buy invitations or create your own. Creating your own invitations can be fun and inexpensive.  Whether you buy party invitations or create your own, make sure they are colorful and festive.  Get creative with your designs. Use maracas, Mexican flags and the colors red, green and white as your part of your invitation theme since these are the national colors of Mexico.
• Decorations – Make them come alive. If you want to make this fiesta memorable, go over-the-top with your decorations! Include sombreros, Mexican colors (red, white, and green), colorful streamers and a lot of party balloons in your decoration scheme.  The more bright and festive colors used the better.
• Food – Make it tasty & spicy.  Food is the main attraction and the one thing everyone looks forward to at a party. Don't limit yourself.  Any type of Mexican food will be a star at this festive party.  Think spicy, think flavorful when you plan the food selections. Chicken molé, tamales, tacos along with chips and salsas are pretty standard fare for a Cinco De Mayo celebration.  Don't forget the sweets.  Cream cheese flan or sopapillas dipped in honey are great items for the dessert table.
• Entertainment – Make it active.  Every celebration needs entertainment.  Add excitement to the fiesta by incorporating activities as part of the entertainment. Teach your guests to do the macarena or have a piñata for the children. At any fiesta music is a MUST! Add a little musical spice by playing cumbia, salsa, or any latin music that you would enjoy.
• The Finale – Light up the Sky.  In many countries, fireworks are a traditional way to end the celebration.  Plan a firework demonstration for the end of the party.

Regardless of the decorations you choose, the food you cook, or music you play, a well planned fiesta is sure to be a great success!

Coming up with a party idea for a teenager is difficult. If I can come up with a party theme, I find it usually helps.  A friend of mine decided that her son's passion for the environment would make a great theme for his 14th birthday party.  This teenager is all about being eco-minded and recycling.  So going "green" for his party was a natural choice.

She bought recycled birthday party invitations, paper plates and napkins. They held the party at one of our local parks.  For entertainment, the kids participated in a trash scavenger hunt.  Of course, she pre-arranged this activity with the park rangers.  Yep, my friend had a good idea, one that provided entertainment for the kids and a community service for the park.

Each scavenger (kid) was given a list (on recylced-paper) of trash items: soda bottles, water bottles, papers, etc. The first to bring back all the trash on the list won a prize.  In my friend's case, she went with a green prize (as in cash). It wasn't much money, but, the teens sure enjoyed the hunt for trash.

As party favors, she gave each guest a pair of cotton gloves (used during the scavenger hunt), a few packets of seeds, and peat pots filled soil.  Her bakery made a recycle birthday cake that was unique.  No, it wasn't previously used.  It was in the shape of a recycling container including a recycling symbol with a number 14. Although decorations were kept minimal, she was able to find recycled products including napkins and plates at her local party store.

All of this she did for her son, the eco-friendly kid.  This party was a hit with his friends and one that he whole-heartily enjoyed. I heard him tell her "it was the best party ever, it was fun and not wasteful".

Side note: they recycled everything they used that day and collected.

la fiesta Quinceanera- A Young Woman’s Fifteenth Birthday Celebration

In Spanish "quince" means fifteen and "años" means year. Originating with the Aztec culture, the la fiesta Quinceañera or Quinceaños is the custom of having a special 15th birthday celebration. Later the celebration was incorporated into the Mexican and Latin American cultures.  Through the years these cultures have added their own traditional elements to the celebration.

Historically the celebration has been referred to as Quinceaños and the celebrant as the Quinceañera.  Many today refer to both the party and the participant as Quinceañera.  Although this is a cultural celebration, the symbolic atmosphere surrounding this coming of age party offers a way for any family to recognize the importance of family and community in the transformation of a young girl in to a young lady.

A Quinceañera - Where It Begins
Traditionally, the quinceañera begins with a very important ceremony held in a church where a special mass is celebrated. During this ceremony, the priest presents the young lady as an adult member of the congregation.  This begins the formal recognition of the young girls transformation into adulthood.

After the church service (similar to a Bat Mitzvah), the young lady continues on to a reception similar to a sweet sixteen party. Since community and friendship play an intricate part in this celebration, she is accompanied by seven female attendants (damas) and seven male attendants (chambelánes) as she makes her entrance at the party. Every component of this celebration plays an special part in the symbolic nature of this young girl's emergence into adulthood.

Appropriate Attire For A Quinceañera

In keeping with the formality of the celebration the attire is also very formal. The young lady shows her respect and honored status by wearing a beautiful ball gown usually with a petticoat or hoop slip. Pure or soft colors, such as white or pastel colors like pink, blue or yellow, are often the dress colors chosen.

Customarily, the quinceañera girl chooses to wear a white dress and has her damas wear a pastel color in the same style of dress. With cumber buns that match the damas' dresses, the chambelánes wear tuxedos. Although these are the more traditional colors, this celebration is defined by the personality of the young lady.

Many young 15 year olds want their special celebration to be unique. So, you may see them wear dresses that are red, purple, or even a mixture of colors.

Invitations For A Quinceanera

Quinceañera invitations are just like any other party invitation. Styles can vary from very formal to theme invitations and sent several weeks in advance of the party.  Invitations should be sent no later than a month before the quinceañera.  This will give guests plenty of time to find a formal outfit for the party.

Formal invitations are sent inviting special friends to be the attendants for the celebration. These invitations are sent several months prior to the celebration.  This allows for coordination of all the participants as well as time for dress and tuxedo fittings.

Accessorizing The Quinceañera

You will find accessories hold great importance in this celebration. Some important accessories are gloves, scepter, tiara, a quinceañera doll, as well as ring or bracelet. A tiara and scepter signify not only that she is a princess, but that she reigns over her past childhood and looks forward to being a responsible young lady.

The quinceañera doll is usually given to her by her grandparents and will often be made of porcelain and have the same style and color dress as hers. The doll symbolizes the last doll she will ever get as she has now stepped into womanhood.  This is only one of many symbolic gifts given to the quinceañera.

Her "padrinos" (godparents) present her with a very special gift of honor; usually a bracelet, necklace or earrings.

Celebrating the Quinceañera – Decoration, Music and Photo Ops

The party can be a very lavish affair or a simple get together. Decorations can be anything from balloons to streamers as well as candles and flowers. Yes, even themed quinceañera parties, such as a 50’s theme, can be found at these celebrations. Basic traditions still apply. However as with any party, each girl has her own unique way of celebrating her fifteenth birthday. Some young ladies choose a horse drawn carriage to take them from the church to the reception area. Others may choose a limousine which can transport all her attendants.

The celebrated young lady often takes her first waltz or dance with her father. After she has danced with her father, the quinceañera is free to dance with her chambelánes or even her damas. You may even find a bit of a new twist on the dance floor with a choreographed dance done by the quinceañera girl and her damas and chamblanes. This is often done to more contemporary music played by a live band or by a Disc Jockey. Video is recommended for this part as photographs don’t capture the fun movements of the dance. You will also want to make sure that you have hired a photographer for formal pictures of the young lady with her damas and chambelánes as well her family.

Treats For Quinceañera Guests – Party Favors, Food and Drink

Most quinceañera celebrations are catered. While any food can be served for the party, Latin food is often served. Items such as enchiladas, peccadillo, and tamales make great choices. The main attraction at the food table is the cake which is ornate and similar to a wedding cake. Some cakes have cute cake toppers, while others are elaborate multi-tiered cakes with artistic ornamentation. Beverages run the gamut from  punches to soda and from wine to champagne.  You will often find punch fountains, champagne fountains and even chocolate fountains at these celebrations.

Just like any birthday party you will find party favors. Decorate the tables with party favors such as little mint tins with the name of the young lady and the date, chocolates that go with the theme, or even place cards held up with commemorative take home candles. All make sweet gifts to say thank you for celebrating this special day with me.

A quinceañera is a very special tradition that many Latin cultures hold dear. It is a time to say goodbye to their young daughter, cousin, sister, or friend and say welcome to the beginning of adulthood and responsibility. It holds religious significance as well and often the priest will ask the young lady’s friends to commit to her, to help her in making good decision as she grows older. It is a time to say goodbye to her childhood and embrace her newly found womanhood.

While rooted in Latin American tradition, you can have a quinceañera party for any one who's turning fifteen. Taking the basic idea of this tradition and making one of your own for your teen, will make an outstanding party any teen will proud to have. Since "quinceanera" is merely Spanish for fifteenth year, all you need is a beautiful party dress, some attendants and of course a soon to be fifteen year old and viola! A quinceañera party is well on its way.

A special thanks goes to:

Get The Picture Inc , an Austin Texas Photographer, who shared their beautiful photo of a Quinceanera with tiara.

Ella Park Bridal, a Wedding and Quinceanera dress company in Newburgh Indiana, who gave a gorgeous example of a Quinceanera gown.

Festive Ice Sculptures and The Chocolate Fountain Co., a provider of awesome chocolate fountains in the Watford Ontario area, for the fantastic photo of the chocolate and fruit table.

The Kentucky derby is not just a horse race, it’s a party!  You can throw a derby party, just as exciting and fun as the race itself.  The actually Kentucky Derby is held the first Saturday in May, but you can have a derby party any time.

A derby party should follow the traditions of the real derby after all those traditions have been going on since 1875.  So what are the traditions?

A Mint Julep drink (iced bourbon, sugar syrup and mint ) is one of the traditions. So, be sure to include that as one of your cocktails.

Ladies, get out your favorite hats and wear them in high-style as this is a huge tradition.

Good food is the best tradition. However, it isn't stringent as to the kind of food. An easy way to feed your derby party guests is with finger foods: such as, shrimp cocktail, bacon wrapped prosciutto, finger sandwiches and crudities.

Since the derby is know as the running of the roses, you must have roses! Use a few real or paper derby hats (these are felt hats that men wear) lined with water proof paper or another container and fill with water and  roses as decorations.  Not good at arranging flowers? Have your florist create a rose centerpiece for your food table or a few arrangements with roses that you can use for decorations.  Don't forget to decorate your tables. You can use white, black or pastel green colors for your table linens and napkins. if you’re having the party on the day of the derby, pastel green colors are great. It gives everyone a feeling of the green grass area around the race track.

Every party needs a little fun.  For entertainment, you can place "bets" on who will win the real race and use party favors as the prizes.  On non-race days create your own Kentucky Derby race. Make the track from brown felt and include horses that you have cut out from some horse theme party decorations. Place numbers on the cut-outs and have guests make up horse names.  Give guests a scorecard with each horse name and odds.  Then have them place "bets".  Use dice to move the horses around the track.  Roll the dice and see who wins.

The Kentucky Derby is a fantastic event to watch.  Having a party that revolves around the race is even better. So if you are looking for a reason to host a party, have a Kentucky Derby party.

Remember you can have a Kentucky Derby anytime.  It makes a great theme for birthday parties, anniversary parties and even retirement parties.

The thing that everyone remembers about a party is the party food. The comments that follow are often friends asking for the name of the party caterer. They say that the fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach but the same can be said of any true food lover. It's easy to impress guests and have them returning to all of your parties when you serve the right food.

How Will I Know What Foods To Serve?

Want to know what party foods are popular in your area? Ask a local caterer for help! Having been a special part of many local parties, catering companies in your area will be very familiar with local tastes. Of course, the style of food depends on the type of party. Caterers are still a huge help because they can offer suggestions for very appetizing additions to the menu. Many of those catering a party often tailor their menus to the particulars of the occasion anyway, so why not take advantage of this expertise?

Give Yourself A Break:  Hire A Party Caterer!

Not only will party catering be able to successfully satisfy everyone's appetite, professional catering services take some of the hassle out of planning a party. You read that right! Hiring a caterer for your party means that someone else is responsible for planning, preparing and delivering the food! Some party catering companies even provide wait staff and set up the food table. When it's time to focus most of your attention on a different aspect of the party, hire a local party caterer to fill the hungry stomachs of your guests.

It’s coming up on wedding season once again. Just like years in the past, I am frantically scrambling to come up with creative ideas for my friends’ bridal showers. I feel like every wedding shower is the same: table full of gifts, assortment of finger foods with punch, and lots of females in fancy pastel dresses. This year, I wanted to do something different. This year, I want to host an exciting wedding shower!

I came to the conclusion that to be able to shake things up a bit we needed to do three things:

1) Have the shower in the evening.

2) Invite the boys.

3) Serve amazing food (and drinks of course).

By having the wedding shower in the evening, the atmosphere will be more like that of a dinner party; a relaxed atmosphere where people can have great conversations instead of a stuffy "Sunday shower" environment.

Bringing the boys along allows the groom to be in on some of the special catering the bride gets so much of in the months leading up to the big day. It also gives the guys and gals a chance to mingle.  ( Tip: It is a good idea to let guests know that this is a good shower for "manly gifts" like  Bar-b-que tools).

When hosting a party in the evening, the food must be a little more extensive than hors d'oeuvres. As you probably know, I am a fan of the caterer. If you aren’t a multi-tasker who can cook and host at the same time, have the party catered or do restaurant carry out. However if you are brave enough, you could pull it together on your own. Nothing fancy required, just enough to get those stomachs full and maybe a signature dish or two. In fact, a great idea for a spring wedding shower is to serve ribs with slaw, beans and rolls and for dessert – "bridal shower" cupcakes. Many bar-b-que places will customize your order based on how many guests you are expecting. All you have to do is take it home and set it out to serve. It’s always a great hit with the male guests too!  To really take the party to new heights, add a little spirits with a beer and wine bar.

So, be on the cutting edge in your circle of friends and host a couple's wedding shower.  It is a great way to have a dinner party and honor your firends at the same time.

Everyone knows that a party is more fun if there is a theme involved. That’s why whenever hosting a party, I  try to have some kind of central idea to focus around whether it be Hawaiian themed, Mexican themed, or holiday themed. Here lately, I have been in a rut with my party theme ideas. I really needed some fresh ideas.  So, I started exploring possibilities outside of my norm. I considered weird wacky themes, outlandish themes and even considered recycling some old themes.  Then in the midst of my brainstorming, I thought of a new and exciting idea for any kind of party: Decade Themes.

With a decade as a theme, you can incorporate many aspects of entertainment into your party planning including: popular foods, clothes, games, and music. To make sure the theme really takes off, be sure and send out party theme invitations ahead of time incorporating elements of the decade. Let guests know that decade attire is required for the party. Guests decked out in decade party attire will add to another element to your party decorations, not to mention some good laughs. Think of how much fun guests will have putting together outfits for the event. You can even have a contest for the best decade outfit.

Choosing what to serve at your party is completely up to the host. Regular party food is always fine. However if you want to get creative, find or make some foods that were popular during that time. Entertainment is a must. Games are optional of course, but games such as Twister and Super Nintendo sure do bring some laughs to a room full of MC Hammer pants. Of course pumping it up with a little music, is probably the best way to immerse your guests in the decade, as well as, entertain them.  To add that special musical ambiance to the party hire a band that plays a variety of songs from the decade. If you can’t find the right live entertainment for your party, a good decade music list from your Ipod will work just fine.

A decade theme party is a fun and unique way to throw a fabloulous shin-dig.  So pick a decade and let the good times rock and roll.

Ok, we know that Valentine’s Day is the worst day of the year if you are single right? Well this year, why not do something to make it fun for all of us single people. Everywhere you go its couples, couples, couples so, I decided this year I would throw a party for Valentine’s Day. Yes… a social mixer. Not only for single people, because that might be awkward, but just a fun party for everyone to meet new people and make acquaintances.

Here are a few party ideas that will help you throw your own V-Day Celebration.

Invitations are great for this type of party because it symbolizes formality and event importance. Read the rest of Valentine's Day Mixers… Singles can have fun too! »

My daughter just celebrated her first birthday and my husband and I wanted to come up with a birthday party idea that would be really special for our daughter and memorable for our family and close friends. It was obvious Elisabeth wouldn't comprehend all that was taking place. Nevertheless, we wanted to come up with a memorable first birthday party idea.

We felt that many parents set a dangerous precedent with kids parties that are "over-the-top" with clowns, games, moon bounces, expensive party favors, catered food and the like, but we wanted her party to be about celebrating her. So, we took the theme of her nursery–ladybugs–and we asked a friend who makes cakes to come up with a birthday cake idea around that theme. Wow! Did she ever! She made a Read the rest of Ladybug Theme A Simple 1st Birthday Party Idea »