Cooking Party Invitations : It's TIME to Celebrate!

My sis and I had so much fun making Monkey's cooking party invitations!  Well, I had so much fun.  Guess I can't speak for my sister...

I love to make my own invites to save budget money for fun things like the kitchen timer we attached to each invite.

I fell in love with these timers from World Market back in the spring when I first spotted them, and I have been watching for them to go on sale.  They finally did, and I was able to snag them for $1.50 apiece!  See, it pays to plan ahead!

We found 4 different types of timers (pear, carrot, strawberry, and lettuce), so I wanted to incorporate those words into the invite.  This is what we came up with:

It's TIME to celebrate

Monkey's 7th Birthday

LETTUCE bake up a BERRY good time

Join us

(date)

(time)

Wear something you won't CARROT all about getting messy

Take a PEAR of cupcakes for your siblings at home

I often get the sibling question, "How do you handle whether or not to invite siblings?"  I find it hard to leave out siblings with our close friends, because we are also close to the siblings.  However, for this party, I gave Monkey a 10 child limitation (crucial for a cooking party, IMHO).  But...I felt kinda bad about having to exclude siblings, so I decided that we would send home cupcakes for them.  As a side note, since we tend to have parties at home (which are smaller and more intimate), we usually have a park and cupcake play date on our girls' actual birthdays and we invite everyone in the class, siblings and all.  That's definitely a "more the merrier" occasion.

When it comes to school friends, I feel it is perfectly fine to only invite the friend and gracefully ask for siblings to stay home ("Due to space limitations, we cannot accommodate siblings this time.  Thank you for understanding").  I have a friend who has decided not to attend anymore parties unless both her girls are invited, because it leads to hurt feelings.  I can see both sides of the issue, and it's definitely tricky, but I feel like I can make a party more special if it is a smaller group of kids.

What do you think?

Make sure your next party flows seamlessly: Create a timeline

This is a snap shot of part of the timeline for Monkey's cooking party.  I wrote the time, activity, and the room we will be using.  Having a visual timeline helps me to make sure the party will flow from one area to another and will ease in setting up for the party.

Below that information, in blue, I added the things that will need to be set up for the activity.  This way, I can quickly look and see what I need to do to prep for each activity.

Even if you don't follow your timeline exactly during your party, just having an idea of what you want to do and when will help.

Note:  This is not an activity to do the night before the party, or even the week of the party.  This timeline was written 2 months before the cooking party, during the brainstorming phase of planning. Brainstorming is much easier when there is no impending deadline.  See my timeline suggestions here.

Time to Think About Halloween Costumes!

Why not organize a costume swap?

Check out this great site for details!

Or, if you want to buy your own, check out hip2save for this costume deal.

Happy hunting!

WEEK THREE: Brainstorm Your Guest List and Choose Your Theme

Print this guest list at top party ideas

This week's 15 minutes includes finalizing your theme and brainstorming your guest list.  It's an easy-breezy week, if you did your homework.  If you haven't gotten around to brainstorming your party theme, do that first.  Once you've brainstormed possible themes, and mulled the possibilities over for a few days, pick the one that most speaks to you.  The more excited you are about your theme, the easier the planning will be- and the more FUN.

Once you've chosen your theme, grab a piece of paper or print out a guest list template and fill it out.  If the one above doesn't strike your fancy, a simple google search of "party guest list" will bring up several images that you can click on and download for free.  You could create your own, but try not to get bogged down in the perfection of what your guest list looks like.  I quickly scribble mine in my party planning journal and it looks like this:

I simply erase or strikethrough my list as guests RSVP.

You're just brainstorming your list this week- you will finalize it in a couple of weeks after you've had time to reflect on the size of party you want to throw and which names you want to add or delete.  So, set your timer for 15 minutes and try to beat the clock as you create your guest list.

Have fun!

Want to start from the beginning?  Here's what we've done so far:

WEEK ONE:  How to plan your party in 15 minutes a week
WEEK TWO: Brainstorming Party Themes

Don't forget to leave yourself breathing room in deadlines!

I am making something for some very special people for a very special occasion.  The occasion isn't for a few more weeks, but I decided I wanted to finish this project by this Thursday, so I could take it to them when I see them this weekend.

But..life stepped in and put the kibosh on that.

While working on my french memo board Monday night, I realized that I did not have enough ribbon to finish my project!  I went to JoAnn's on Tuesday morning to buy more, only to find that they didn't have enough in stock.

This has been such a powerful reminder to me to always leave breathing room for the unexpected.  Though I may not meet my Thursday deadline, I still have plenty of time to complete the project for the big day.

So, my advice to you is: Don't wait until the last minute to start your projects.  You never know when you will have a sick child, run out of supplies, have a work crisis, etc.  Giving yourself a self-imposed, early deadline will help to ensure you have plenty of time to meet the REAL deadline!