All About Color

Mardi Gras is a festival of colors. This should be emphasized not only in your decorations but also in your invitations and even in utensils. Look for banners, streamers and paper ribbons that can be used as decorations. Cover the backyard with different colors to perfectly capture the Mardi Gras feel of New Orleans.

Hold a Costume Party

The appeal of Mardi Gras is not only on the celebration of Fat Tuesday. It is also a celebration of freedom and self expression. Include in your invitation a note that they can come in any costume they want. A good idea to have a ballroom party but since you’re going to have it in your backyard, let your guests choose the type of dress they want to wear.

To encourage your guests, prepare a special prize for guests who wear something outrageous or really unique for the party. Include this in your invitation so that they can prepare the costume.

Masks and Beads

Mardi Gras parties in New Orleans are never complete without masks or beads. Have a small budget for different types of masks and beads or you can encourage your guests to bring their masks for the party. Also, have a special prize for someone who comes in with interesting concept for masks. You can order the beads you need for the party online. It could be a bit expensive for authentic New Orleans beads so look for bargain beads so that you can still have fun without spending too much.

Food and Music

Fat Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday which is a day of fasting. Inform your guests to bring something for the party while you prepare barbeque and drinks for everyone to enjoy. To keep with the spirit of New Orleans Mardi Gras, music should be jazz or blues.

Get the Gears

The best thing about a firefighter themed party is that decorations and supplies will never be a problem. Almost every party supplier has this type of decorations for the party. This means your decorations, plates, spoons, forks and even party games could come from a single provider. With the supplies already in hand, you don’t have to think too much on the decorations and utensils as everything you need is already there.

Invite a Firefighter

Most parties hire a mascot or a clown to make the party more interesting. This could be a good addition to the party but you can make things a lot more interesting by asking a real firefighter to come visit the house. He or she could come in their uniform and it would even be better if they show up with a fire truck. This type of preparation could take some time and some clearance before a firefighter agrees to visit your house but it could happen with enough preparation.

Play Some Games

You could always have traditional party games with the kids. But if you want something related to firefighting, here’s a good idea. Have the kids group into five and give each team one bucket. The objective of the game is to successfully transfer water from one location to the other. They would have to line-up so that they could easily pass the water bucket and reach the destination faster. The first one who reaches the line wins.

A Simple but Memorable Souvenir

The best souvenir for a birthday party with a firefighter theme is the hat. Fortunately, this could be a part of the supplies offered by the party provider. Order as many as possible so that each guest will have something to remember about the party.

New Year’s Party in a Bar

If you’re celebrating New Year with your friends, why not consider going out and enjoy the party hosted by a bar? Large cities often celebrate their New Year with concerts and there are bars that will be open for the New Year party. Instead of spending on decorations at home, you and your friends can have fun with everyone else in a New Year party.

Sparkling Themed Party

For those who will be celebrating New Year at home with their family, think of a sparkling or a light theme.  New Year should put everyone on a light or happy mood so any dark material should be removed. If you will not have a theme for the party, focus on the light colors so there would be fun atmosphere for the party.

Food and Drinks

Compared to Thanksgiving where there’s Turkey as traditional food, you’re given an open hand on what to prepare for New Year. But make things a little special on the food by baking or ordering a cake that would commemorate the New Year. There are also foods believed to bring good luck for the New Year: pork, fish, legumes, greens and grapes are only some of the food that you can prepare as a sign of good luck.

New Year parties always involve alcohol. This is natural for adults but parents should make sure that their kids will not access this type of beverage. If you’re having kids in the party, prepare two separate places for drinks so that the alcoholic beverages will be separated.

Cleanup

Cleanup is always ignored by hosts and they end up their New Year cleaning up. Avoid this problem by preparing utensils that can be easily disposed or cleaned. Also, seek help for cleanup so that you can rest early on the first day of the year.

But a buffet table is not just placing food and utensils in a table. You have to know where to place the food and utensils so that they will be accessible.

Establishing Flow

Flow is very important in a buffet table. You don’t want your guests going back and forth in your table because they have to get something important. To prevent this, map the utensils in your table so that you’ll know which utensils they have to get first, the order of food they will choose and the final utensils they might need before going back to their table.

Food Placement

Expect your utensils to be stacked so they would actually be higher compared to the food you’re preparing. But this doesn’t mean you just place your food on the table dwarfed by utensils. Prevent this by placing your food on a platform so that it would be elevated. This will give your guests a good idea on the food you are preparing while they are waiting for their turn at the buffet table. Don’t force yourself for expensive tableware – use books, bowls or anything that will elevate the food. This way, the plates will stay the same which provides a natural look for your table.

Smart Buffet Planning Tip – Post-Its

Planning your buffet table is not that difficult with the help of post-its. Here’s what you do: bring out the utensils you’ll display on the buffet table. Since you can’t cook or prepare the food yet, you can place post-its on the plates where the food should be served. This method is very simple but very effective since you’ll know how they should be placed on table. This will also prevent you from forgetting your planned menu.

Have the Right Time Frame

A party this big should never be rushed. You should start planning at least three months before the day of the party. Some even start planning 4-6 months before the party especially when they are organizing everything for the party. If you’re just planning a simple block party, three months should be more than enough.

This time frame is essential because you are not just setting the date that you want. You need to have a date that everyone would agree – including your local home owners association and government. If you think your party would block the road for a few hours, you need to ask permissions. Have the permissions in written format to avoid inconvenience. You don’t want your party to be stopped just because you didn’t have anything signed by the local authorities.

Distributing Help

As already indicated, a block party is a big party which means you can’t do it alone. If you have three months before the big day, you can easily ask for help from your neighbors. Their help is not necessarily something that will push them to spend. Ask around for some help with regards to utensils, tables, chairs and even grills. They can also help on the big day as you ask one or two men in the neighborhood to deal with the grills. Others will naturally help on the day through decorations.

Planning for Food and Entertainment

Once you have taken cared of the permissions and help from your neighbors, the remaining challenge is on food preparation and entertainment. A DJ is a perfect complement to a block party because you just have to hire one or two people and they can easily create the party mood. When it comes to food, think of it as an afternoon barbeque. Many on the menu will be grilled so preparation is relatively easy.

Final note: aside from asking for help, formalize the activity by sending out invitations especially to your neighbors who are helping you plan the event. This is a good way to remind your guests about the big day of your block party.

It All Starts with a Photo Paper and a Bit of Research

The internet is the best source of everything you need for a movie-themed party. If you can’t find an online supplier, you can download photos from the movies and use them as your invitation. Print the invitation in a quality photo paper. This is the first mistake for those who wanted to go cheap in a party as photo papers is very susceptible to heat, water and even dust. You need quality photo paper to at least protect the photo from being destroyed.

Looking for High Resolution Photos

While a simple “Google Image” search will yield the photos you need for the invitation, you need higher resolution photos if you want to print banners or streamers for the party. Instead of looking for photos through search engines; look for their official website. Use their free wallpaper downloads – these are perfect as banners and wallpapers for the party. You may have to spend a little bit for large print format but it’s a good way of getting the right atmosphere for the party.

Utensils, Bottles and Souvenirs

This is your biggest challenge for the party – how to come up with designs for utensils since you can’t order locally or online. If you still have time, you can request some party supplier to help you with this task. Customization will actually cost you but try to bargain with the owner or manager. Since you have come up with the idea, you can trade the design with some discounts. You can also ask them for some assistance on designing the cake.

While you can gather and print out the invitations, banners and have the utensils and souvenirs, it’s still necessary to use your creativity to bring them together. While planning what to print or download, know what you will do with the image to improve the atmosphere of the party.