Planning Tips II

Private Parties

• If you are having an indoor party, don’t bother getting the carpet professionally cleaned unless it’s really, really bad. Vacuum, dust and put the clutter away. Make sure the bathrooms are spotless and lots of toilet paper available. People are there for the party and 10 seconds after they walk in they’ll not even think about what your place looks like as long as it wasn’t a wreck. The real mess is going to be AFTER the party. You might want to arrange to have a professional cleaning service come in the day after to help with the clean up. The bigger the mess, the better the party was, right? Besides, having the carpet cleaned after the party will help get those new stains out before the NEXT party.

• Have the number for a plumbing and an A/C service that offers 24-hour emergency response. You might even take a few minutes and call some of them to find out what their rates and average response time runs. With a lot of people coming in and out of your house, you don’t want a nasty surprise.

• Use a little creativity for setting up your table(s). Instead of a tablecloth, how about a cheap white plastic tablecloth and several boxes of crayons to let everyone’s “inner child” out. Don’t use markers unless you are sure that they will not bleed through to the table surface underneath.

• Pick a theme and then have fun with it. Decorations can be easy and they don’t have to cost a fortune. Save some cardboard rolls from the toilet tissue and paper towel rolls. You can paint them or cover them in decorative paper and then fill them with pinwheels, plastic flowers or anything else that strikes your fancy. You may want to tape over one end and fill it with sand, flour or something at hand to keep the base weighted. Instead of balloons how about cheap beach balls hanging from the ceiling? Use a little whimsy and look at a decoration from a slightly different point of view. Don’t forget to have the kids help too! They’ll love being involved and may surprise you with some great ideas of their own.

• If you are having food outdoors, a little creativity can help to make it a fun experience. To keep the flies out of the food, try putting it all under a little tent! You can find different colors of mesh material in the fabric section of a local discount store. Make sure you cut it into strips at least 6’ wide and attach a whole bunch to small poles or other stand in different areas of the tables. People can see and reach through the openings easily but it helps to keep the flies, bees and other annoying bugs out.

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