Why 25 steps?
The key to my system is the timeline. Once in place, I don’t have to stress that I have forgotten something. I have broken everything that needs to be done to plan a killer party into manageable, 15 minute steps.
Some of the steps will take a little longer, like making the cake. But most won’t. When I write my week of timeline (more on that later) I break even the cake making into steps. So, although I am doing more steps a week, I am keeping them short.
My timeline has 25 steps, not including the “week of” and “day of” timelines, and since I like to be thinking about parties year round, I plan parties almost 6 months in advance. This may sound like way to much planning, but keep in mind that I am only planning 15 minutes a week. Lots of the steps are just brainstorming sessions.
However, most people prefer to plan about 3 months in advance. If that’s you, you will want to complete two timeline steps a week (see the 12 week timeline below). Can you plan a great party in less time? Absolutely! The key is to follow the timeline and to not try to do too many steps at once.
Even when I have a last minute party come up, I try to focus on manageable steps. You might do onestep daily if you have 4 weeks (see 4 week timeline below). If you have less time than that, you could do 1 step in the morning and 1 step in the afternoon daily.
I strongly believe that twenty-five 15 minute sessions are much more productive than an almost 7 hour session (that’s the amount of time you’ll spend on the 25 steps, cumulatively). Parties are a creative venture, and your creative juices will flow much stronger if you allow yourself breaks and time to mull things over.
Make Your Calendar Work for YOU!
In this google age, one of my favorite things to do is to add these timeline steps to my google calendar- and set a yearly repeat and reminder. In other words, when I add the steps for my daughter’s parties, I set my calendar to repeat every year on that date, and to send me an email reminder. For parties that you will do every year (perhaps you always host Thanksgiving), it’s a good idea to map out the timeline once and make it work for you by making it automatic. If you don’t use an electronic calendar, you can do the same thing on one of those perpetual birthday calendars- the ones with the dates but no year.
If you do use an electronic calendar, and decide to make your timeline steps yearly occurring events, I suggest you also set up an email reminder. It’s just one extra click, and this ensures that your time won’t be wasted if you decide to start using a different calendar and aren’t regularly checking your electronic one. For instance, I use google calendar right now. But, being an over-zealous planner, I might decide at some point to use a different electronic calendar, or even to go back to paper. With these email reminders set up, I will still receive an email a few days before (you can set your preference to a week before, the day before, etc.) it’s time for me to do a given step. If at some point you change email address, all you have to do is go into the calendar and change the email address linked to it and you will still get all your reminders.
At this time, I have 3 recurring party timelines- one for each of my girls, and one for my annual Mother’s Day bash. I have worked out a system so that I am only planning one at a time, which means I have had to tweak the timeline dates, but since I did it on my recurring calendar, I only had to figure out how to make them all work together once. In other words, my girls’ birthdays are about 6 months apart, but my Mother’s Day party is only 3 months after one of the girls’ birthdays. So, on my perpetual calendar, my timeline gives me 6 months to plan each girls birthday, but only 3 months to plan my MD party. Clear as mud? Take a look at the timelines.
12 Week Timeline
Week One:
_ Brainstorm theme ___________________
_ Choose date/time ___________________
Week Two:
_ Choose Theme___________________
_ Brainstorm guest list ___________________
Week Three:
_ Brainstorm invitations ___________________
_ Brainstorm favors ___________________
Week Four:
_ Brainstorm décor ___________________
_ Brainstorm food/cake ___________________
Week Three:
_ Finalize guest list ___________________
_ Send save the date, if needed _________________
Week Four:
_ Plan invitations ___________________
_ Order/gather invitation supplies ___________________
Week Five:
_ Plan favors ___________________
_ Plan décor ___________________
Week Six:
_ Plan food/cake ___________________
_ Make invitations ___________________
Week Seven:
_ Make invitations ___________________
_ Address invitations ___________________
Week Eight:
_ Mail invitations ___________________ ****4 weeks before party****
Week Nine:
_ Gather favor/decor supplies ___________________
_ Make favors ___________________
_ Week Ten:
_ Make favors ___________________
Week 11:
_ Write a party week timeline (including day before and day of) ___________
_ Make decor
Week 12:
_ Make cake ___________________
_ Enjoy the party!! ______________
4 Week Timeline
Week One:
_ Brainstorm theme ___________________
_ Choose date/time ___________________
_ Choose Theme___________________
_ Brainstorm guest list ___________________
_ Brainstorm invitations ___________________
_ Brainstorm favors ___________________
Week Two:
_ Finalize guest list ___________________
_ Send save the date, if needed _________________
_ Plan invitations ___________________
_ Order/gather invitation supplies ___________________
_ Make invitations ___________________
_ Address invitations ___________________
_ Mail invitations ___________________ ****4 weeks before party****
Week Three:
_ Brainstorm décor ___________________
_ Brainstorm food/cake ___________________
_ Plan favors ___________________
_ Plan décor ___________________
_ Plan food/cake ___________________
_ Write a party week timeline (including day before and day of) _____________
Week Four:
_ Gather favor/decor supplies ___________________
_ Make favors ___________________
_ Make decor
_ Make cake ___________________
_ Enjoy the party!! ______________
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