Whether you’re planning a Thanksgiving feast or the Holiday party of the season, you want to make sure to stay organized and understand what it takes to plan an event. Here at the Everyday Helper, we’ve planned so many events we can’t even keep tracking. With all that experience, we want to share with you our top event planning tips.
Event Planning Tip #1: Set Your Event Goals and Objectives
Before you even begin planning the event, you’ll want to set your goals and objectives. These can be something simple like having a gift exchange or establishing a theme. Once you know the “why” for the party, it will help you move onto the next steps.
For big events like weddings or religious ceremonies, you already know the “why” so you’ll need to make sure you understand everything that is supposed to happen during the event.
Event Planning Tip #2: Organize Your Team
You’ll want to get a solid team together that can help plan and prepare for your event. Your team can be family members, friends, or even a business that you hire. You should have everyone’s contact information, schedule of availability, and they should have all the information needed to help plan your event.
It’s also recommended that you have an initial meeting with your team to go over expectations and timelines. It will be a waste of your time if you organize a team that ends up not being able to make the time commitment.
Event Planning Tip #3: Create a Master Plan
The next step is to create a master plan for the event. This should include things like:
- The venue
- Logistics
- Catering management (if applicable)
- Activities
- Entertainment
- Food
- Drinks
- Music
- Parking
It might be easy to just “keep it all in your head” but to help stay organized, keep everything written down or documented electronically.
Event Planning Tip #4: Establish a Budget
Knowing your budget for the event will determine a lot of factors such as how many people attending, where you get the food from, the entertainment, and where you host the event. It’s best to select a budget that isn’t going to put you in a tough financial situation. There are many ways to keep an event affordable without sacrificing quality.
Event Planning Tip #5: Prepare For the Best and Worst
Not every event can go exactly as planned. It’s normal to experience at least one hiccup along the way but to make it easier on you, prepare for the best and worst. Consider having backup plans for all the things listed in your master plan. This way, in the event that something does go wrong, you aren’t stuck making a rash decision.
Event Planning Tip #6: Hire Help
Whether it’s your first time planning an event or you just don’t have the time to plan, it will be beneficial to hire someone to help you plan an event. Professional event planners know all the ins and outs of what it takes to successfully put an event together.
When you hire someone to help you plan an event you want to make sure that you look at their qualifications, experience, and references. If you are having trouble finding the perfect person to help you plan your event, contact us and we’d be happy to help you!
If you’d like more information or to schedule a time to talk in person with our coordinators, email Kelly at Kelly@youreverydayhelper.com or call 319-400-1853.
