Since I missed the "Egg-citing" project in class, I will be chatting on planning from a different view....
I LOVE parties, whether they be a simple dinner party or a huge event such as a wedding! This is a known fact now amongst my family and friends so when they need help planning something I become the go to gal...which I do take pride in. Even though parties are so much fun there is a lot of planning that has to go into getting to the big party day which many people do not realize!
The last event I planned was a baby shower...probably the first of many I will do in my life!
After reviewing the actual planning guide line steps I am happy to report that I have been going about my past party planning correctly without even realizing it...phew.
Step 1. Define your goals and objectives.
The first thing I did was think about my objective and where I wanted to end up was at a baby shower where everyone was enjoying themselves and the guest of honor was happy to be surrounded with all her loved ones.
Step 2: Determine your resources and current status vi's-á-vi's objectives.
I set about thinking of the people I had who would help me accomplish my task, the budget we had to work in, the places I would like to hold the event, guest list I had on hand, favor options, invitation options and games to be played and game prizes.
Step 3. Develop several alternative strategies.
After determining the top choice of where to hold the event, I determined two alternatives in case it was not available for our needed date. Also thought of areas we could cut back on if started to go out of budget and determined those would be invites and favors.
Step 4. Make a tactical plan.
I set about breaking up tasks amongst myself and my co-hosts. As a team we would all go to book the place, choose menu, choose invitations and choose favors. Decorations would be picked out and ordered by myself and Rebecca. Ianne and Rebecca would go order the favors. I would print out the invitations and labels and Ianne would help me assemble them and prep for mailing. I would create and print out the games and order half the prizes while Rebecca bought and assembled the other half. Day of party we would all arrive early to decorate and make sure restaurant set up was as we requested.
Step 5. Implement the plan and evaluate results.
We all set about accomplishing our missions and all went smoothly with one little snafu...forgot to put time on invitation, but disaster was averted as I realized after invites were put in mail but luckily was Sunday night so quickly drafted a follow up with a theme that matched invite and dropped them in mail so people received both invite and follow up together. It was a disappointment that I could let that slip but was very happy that I reacted so quickly and corrected to best I could..pat pat on back!
We evaluated our success by the many compliments we received and the happiness of the guest of honor. Mission accomplished...love it when a plan works out!