Planning a Nigerian party can be very stressful and time consuming. There are so much to plan and organize. It is same with planning a birthday photo/photography shoot.
in order to ensure nothing is left out, it is better to write down the planning steps and follow them through.
So to help you, we have put together our free printable party planning checklist to help you stay informed and well organised. We have taken parts of stress of by making a list of everything you need for your party – now, all you need do is just up to you to tick it all off as you go along.
In a well-arranged manner, you will find our top tips on how to plan a party below and you can download our free party planning checklist at the end of this post.
Before then, let’s begin with the tips needed to planning your party.
1. Choose your party theme
This is basic because you can’t really plan anything until you have chosen your party theme. But there are so many themes to choose from that you can feel a bit spoilt for choice!
Most parties fall into one of the following four categories so we’d recommend browsing party themes by category to help you narrow down your choice. Choose from:
2. Define your budget
Next step will be to define how much you want to spend. This is really important because the cost can really add up when you impulse buy. The best way to avoid over-spending is to set a budget and stick to it.
How much should you spend on a party? This is up to you and depends on your expectations. Once you have set your budget, the real planning can begin.
3. Set a date, choose your venue and prepare the guest list
These are the nitty gritty details that are best sorted out early on. Throwing your party at home and limiting the guest list to a reasonable number is one of the best ways to throw a party on a budget, but if you can afford to be a bit more extravagant why not hire a venue?
Just make sure you let people know when it will be a couple of weeks in advance so that they can save the date (which brings us to our next point…
4. Send your invites
There’s no point planning a party if you don’t give people enough notice to save the date. We’d recommend sending your invites about three weeks before the party to avoid people making conflicting plans. Personalised invitations can be a nice little touch if you’re celebrating a really special occasion like en engagement or a baby shower.
5. Stock up on party supplies and decorations
This is where the real fun starts! Decide whether you want to go simple or all out (why wouldn’t you?) and pick decorations that match your party theme.
Paper decorations like fans, pom poms and honeycomb decorations can look super stylish and it doesn’t take a creative genius to make them look good! Stick to a few main colours to guarantee your party decorations look perfectly colour-coordinated.
6. Order a birthday cake
If you’re planning a birthday party, you mustn’t forget this!!! Order it a couple of weeks in advance to make sure it’s ready on time and if you’re making your own, it’s a good idea to do a trial run on new recipes to avoid any baking disasters!
If you’re no Mary Berry, you could always buy a pre-made supermarket cake and jazz it up with some cute cake bunting like the cake below.
7. Plan your party food (but don’t buy anything)
Whether your on a budget or not, plan out what party food you’ll need in advance to make sure you’ll have enough to feed everyone. If you’re sharing the role of caterer, planning things out in advance will help you organise who’s bringing what.
8. Buy a birthday present
This is a no-brainer but don’t forget to buy a birthday present! And when you do, top it off with some cute wrapping and a stylish gift tag like these ones from our gorgeous range of neon party supplies.
9. Purchase your party food and pick up the cake
Three days prior to the party is enough time to make sure you have everything you need (and make extra trips to the supermarket if necessary) and make sure everything is still fresh by the day of the party.
10. Decorate the venue and get the party started!
Thanks to your amazing organisational skills (and our handy party checklist), everything should be sorted by the day of the party! All that’s left to do is decorate the venue, get ready and have fun!
Download our free party planning checklist here