5 Party Planning Tips to Save Time

Whether this is your first time planning a celebration or you are a pro, finding the time can make it hard to plan and execute the perfect party.

I’m here to help with my top 5 planning tips to save you time and make the day run smoother.

1. Choose your cake

The cake is the centrepiece of any celebration. Decide on the size, style of cake and if you will be ordering your cake from a baker, buying a pre-made cake or baking and decorating yourself. If you are ordering a cake, place a booking in advance to secure your preferred baker.

Deciding on the cake details will help give you a clear direction of what decorations will style well with the cake. Cake stands are an easy way to provide height to your cake, with a cake topper adding the finishing touches without taking away from the overall design.

Shop our wide range of cake toppers

2. Assign party tasks

When planning a party enlist some help. People tend to take these responsibilities seriously and this will free up a great deal of your time. Make a list of specific tasks and assign these ahead of time. Be crystal clear with any preferences and time frames.

Ideas:

Picking up the cake or food
Greeting guests on arrival
Selecting the music
Bringing a lighter and lighting the birthday candles
Cutting and serving the cake
Assisting with clean up after the party is complete

3. Order your party decorations & tableware

This is my favourite part. Sticking to a couple of colours will ensure your party decorations look perfectly colour-coordinated and match your theme. Decorations such as honeycombs, balloon garlands and pom-poms keep set up easy but still give a real WOW factor.

Save time by avoiding the shops and having all your party essentials delivered to your door a few weeks before your party.

4. Enlist the kids to help

Most kids are keen to help, even those at a young age. Simple tasks such as packing the party favours are an easy way for the kids to be involved, especially since these can generally be prepared well in advance.

To make it easy I put the small toys, balloons, lollies etc into individual bowls and line them up on the table. I ask my children to put one from each of the bowls into each of the favour bags. We repeat this until the bags are full or we out of favours. The leftovers my kids normally nab for all their hard work.

5. Decorate the day before

Blowing up balloons that don’t require helium, placing balloon garlands and decorating tables are just some of the items that could be checked off. Most decorations can be set up in a place free from the elements the day before.

If having an outdoor party, set up and decorate the tables inside the night before, then move them into place on the day.

If you can’t set up the day before, sort the tableware and decorations into separate boxes and label where they are going eg cake table, guest tables. This makes unpacking and styling each table much quicker on the day.

Ideas of decorations you can do the day before: