40 Ways to Stay Calm and Organized Before Hosting a Large Party or Event

39. Give Structure to Your Days

You will not be able to get everything done in a day or a weekend. If you try to do that, it will surely come back to bite you in some way. So, leading up to the event, take out a calendar and begin to give yourself tasks for each day of the week.

Remember to give yourself a realistic amount of work to do each day, and schedule time for breaks. Of course, you life does not revolve around the party. You still have to go to work, school, and take care of the kids. Plan everything else you need to do in any given day, too. If a notebook doesn’t feel like enough to help, you should consider buying a planner that will have sections blocked off for each day.

38. Set Realistic Expectations

When you are imagining your future party in your head, you might have flashes from The Great Gatsby, where everyone is wearing gorgeous clothes, there is a live band, and everyone has a glass of champagne. Sure, that would be great. But chances are that you aren’t a multi-millionaire living in the Hamptons. If the expectations you put on this party are too high, you are are going to end up feeling disappointed.

Instead of expecting too much to happen at the party, keep your expectations low. Just hope for the bare minimum to go well. And if it’s better than what you expected, you can walk away feeling like it was a massive success, even if there were a few issues along the way.

37. Remember to Take a Break

Party planning is hard work, and if you get “in the zone”, you may find yourself going day after day without giving yourself a break. Remember that rest and relaxation is important for your mind and body to recover. In fact, you will do an even better job after giving yourself some time off.

36. Stick to a Budget

During the party-planning process, you may feel tempted to grab some last-minute items that you find in the store. Even if it is just $10 here and there, those small purchases begin to add up, and suddenly, you have spent way more money than you originally intended. So, before you get started, give yourself a budget.

In order to stick to the budget, it might help to make a spreadsheet or a list of all of your purchases. Also keep all of your receipts, and don’t be afraid to return items later, if you realize that it was too expensive. If you find it hard to stick to a budget, consider buying yourself a Visa gift card, or keep cash in an envelope that can only be used for party supplies.

35. Ask Your Friends and Family for Help

One of the great things about planning a party is that your friends and family are most likely just as excited as you are for the big day. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. In fact, they will probably be thrilled to participate!

Sometimes, when we work alone, it’s hard to be self-motivated. But if you are working with someone else, they are holding you accountable, and it may make the planning run a lot more smoothly.

34. Create a Pinterest Board

One of the best places to find party-planning ideas is Pinterest. You should get an account, and start to create boards where you save all of the best ideas for your party in one place. This way, you can go back to your board later for reference, and know exactly what kinds of items you want to include at your party.

The best part about Pinterest is that you can dream out your ideas and spend time thinking about what you really want before you make a final decision. This is a much better planning process than showing up to a party supply store and feeling the pressure to buy something. If you want to do things in the most budget-friendly way possible, have a list of key items that you need, based on your inspiration.

33. Consider Hiring an Event Planner

You may want to do all of your party planning on your own, but remember that none of us are super-human. We can’t be in multiple places at once. And if you are planning to book a venue, hire caterers, and get a live band, the whole process might make your head spin. Event planners plan parties for a living, so they already know how to help you.

Depending on the size of your event, hiring an event planner may be too expensive for your budget. However, it is still worth looking into the prices of people in your local area. In many cases, hiring a planner can help prevent you from making costly mistakes, and the investment may even itself out.

32. Pick a Reliable Venue

If you are throwing your party outside of your home, it means that you will need to pay for a venue, or ask someone if you can use their space for the party. Before you actually have that event in that space, make sure with 100% certainty that you will actually be able to do it. For example, some people find a large house on AirBnB, and assume that they can rent it out for a few days and have their wedding there.

This is not true at all. Many AirBnB hosts have a strict guest cap for a very good reason. You can’t cheap out on venue space. There needs to be an actual contract, and it may even require event insurance, in case something goes wrong. Also be mindful of the chance that it may rain. Will you guests have anywhere to go if the entire event was outdoors?

31. Read Your Contracts Carefully

Whenever you rent an event venue or hire vendors to help with your event, you will have to sign a contract. Unfortunately, a lot of people out there are in a hurry, and they hastily read a contract and quickly sign it before they fully understand what they are getting into. For example, if you go overtime with the amount of time you spend at the event venue, they typically charge you an additional $250 per hour.

If you feel intimidated by this process, and it can be very stressful to sign a document that may make you liable to pay for damages, if they occur. Do not be afraid to ask if you can take the contract home to read carefully before you sign it. No one should be rushing you into it. And if you don’t feel totally confident with interpreting the legal language, ask a friend to help.

30. Avoid Becoming a Bridezilla (Or a Party Version of Her)

When women plan their wedding, they often get so stressed out, that people call them a “Bridezilla”. Unfortunately, it happens to the best of us. It usually happens when women get super overwhelmed, or they have incredibly high expectations of how the day is supposed to go. The same thing can happen with an event or party, only they never give a name to that state of being. (Maybe “Partyzilla”?)

Always try to keep yourself in check. If you have a bad attitude or start to get passive aggressive with the people around you, it ruins the fun for everyone. Even though it’s your “special day”, remember that’s it’s not all about you. In fact, it’s so much more to do with your guests having a good time. If you feel yourself starting to get stressed out, take a step back and ask someone for help in a calm way.

29. Always Expect Something to Go Wrong

Optimism is great, but when you are planning a big event, you should always be prepared for the worst case scenario. This way, if you are totally prepared, you will not panic. Always make sure you have a first aid kit on-hand, in case anyone gets hurt. Also plan for inclement weather, and anything else that may go wrong.

Ask someone close to you to be the go-to person in case of an emergency. This way, if you suddenly realize that you cannot pick up a cake on time, or you accidentally burn a casserole, you can ask your partner to go in your place.

28. Don’t Settle With Your Vendors

When you are prepping for your event, you should always “shop” for vendors before settling for one. It’s not always wise to go with the cheapest option, either. You will have to set up appointments to do taste tests, and look at samples of their products before you say “yes” to hiring them for the gig.

If you think that a vendor is maybe 90% perfect, and there is only a slight issue, don’t be afraid to speak up. Maybe their food was delicious, but a tad too spicy. Let them know what you prefer, and they should be willing to work with you. After all, you are looking to hire them, which makes you their client. You have every right to ask for the things you want. Just make it clear ahead of time, and don’t spring any last-minute changes on your vendors.

27. Don’t Make Too Many Last-Minute Decisions

Maybe you were the kind of person who procrastinated in school, but when it comes to planning a party, you really need to stop doing any kind of last-minute decisions. For example, imagine that you don’t know what to wear the morning of the party. Guests are on their way, the caterer is ready, and the band is waiting for you to arrive…But you’re still looking in your closet.

Okay, that’s an exaggeration. Hopefully most of you would never do that. But any last-minute decision will only put stress on you, because you will be under a huge time crunch. It is far better to have a plan at least a month ahead of time so that you can smoothly work through everything one at a time.

26. Prep “5 Minute Tasks”

While you are preparing your schedule for the event, you may have a list of tasks that are quick, easy, and could be done any day of the week. You may want to set those errands aside on a list of “5 Minute Tasks”. These are perfect for doing when you realize that you have a lot of extra time on your hands.

For example, if you gave yourself two hours of party planning, and you get everything done in one hour, then you can go back to your list of five-minute tasks, and start getting a lot of things done at once.

25. Organize Your RSVP’s With Facebook Events

Even if you sent paper invitations, you still may want to send a Facebook Event, too. This serves a few purposes. One is that it’s easier for people to respond with an RSVP. Another is that it will send all of your guests a push notification when the party is about to happen, which makes them less likely to forget.

Having a Facebook event page can also give you a place to update your friends quickly and easily just in case there is a change in venue, dress code, or anything else. On top of that, a lot of people like the ability to see who is coming to the party beforehand.

24. Write Lists

When you are planning a big event, lists are your best friend. It doesn’t matter if you keep the list on your phone, or in a paper notebook. Just keep track of everything you need to do, and cross off those items on that checklist as time goes on. The more items you cross off your list, the more productive you will feel. Once it is all over, you will feel very proud of yourself for having accomplished everything.

Even though we are in a digital age, you may want to consider buying a planner specifically for the special event. This way, you can look back at all of your progress like a memory keepsake, and maybe even turn it into a scrapbook of memories.

23. Prepare For Anything That Might Cause Backlash

Unfortunately, someone may get offended by one of your party ideas. You may end up with a nasty e-mail, or a passive-aggressive text message from someone who is unhappy about one of your choices. Sadly, haters are gonna hate. Instead of getting really upset, prepare yourself for the possibility that this may happen.

If you get a sassy message from your Grandma asking why you don’t want to party in her back yard, just take a deep breath, and politely thank her for her gesture, but that you would prefer to have it a different venue. No one should have the power to ruin your special day just by causing a bit of backlash.

22. Be Careful of Food Allergies and Vegans

Whether you are hiring a caterer or cooking on your own, you always need to be mindful of food allergies and diet restrictions. The last thing you would ever want is for someone to end up in the emergency room because you used peanut oil to cook your food.

You could include the note about food allergies in your invitations, or message everyone individually. If you give out a second invitation on a Facebook group, that might also be a great place to ask if anyone has any dietary restrictions. Your guests will seriously appreciate your thoughtfulness.

21. Ask Your Friends and Family for Feedback

During the party planning process, you may feel tempted to surprise everyone with a grand reveal. However, these can sometimes come back to bite us, if our idea of fun doesn’t exactly jive with everyone else. It may be a good idea to ask your friends and family for feed back. In a lot of ways, it can make the process more exciting for everyone after they get a bit of a sneak peak.

However, there is a fine line between receiving feedback, and letting someone else’s opinion completely take over. If you really have your heart set on doing something, it is sometimes better not to ask for an opinion. There is a saying that there can be “too many cooks in the kitchen”, because too many conflicting ideas might ruin a party.

20. Over-Budget For Time

One of the biggest mistakes people make when planning an event is not giving themselves enough time to accomplish everything they need to do. You should always over-budget for time if you want to avoid any drama. Imagine how much time you think it will take to do something, and give yourself double the amount of time to accomplish it.

This way, if you over-budget for time, you will never get too stressed out of there is a traffic jam, a long line in the store, or a sudden family emergency that takes you away from your planning schedule.

19. Have an End-of-Day Ritual

Sometimes, when you have a lot of work to do, it can be really difficult to “turn off”. Your might feel as though you have too much to do, and you refuse to stop and relax. This is unhealthy, because your mind and body needs time to rest. So in order to prevent burnout, make sure you give yourself an end-of-the-day ritual so that your mind and body knows that it is okay to relax.

Your end-of-the-day ritual could be pouring a glass of wine, making a cup of coffee, or lying down to watch Netflix. You may also want to leave the physical location where your planning was happening, and close the door. This makes it easier to calm down and let yourself rest until the next day.

18. Give Yourself a Planning Space

When you are party planning, chances are that you will be doing this work from home. If you have never worked from home before, you may not realize how that lifestyle can quickly consume your whole life. You might find yourself staying up all hours of the night searching Pinterest on your iPad. Instead of doing this, give yourself a strictly designated “work space” in your house.

Whether you have enough room to make an office in a second bedroom or you need to sit at the kitchen table, figure out a way to seperate your relaxing space and the place where you do all of your planning. Then, once it’s time to wind down for the night, leave that physical work space so that you are now “home”, and ready to put work behind you for the day. Having that physical space change will help your brain switch gears when it’s necessary.

17. Expect to Forget Something

No matter how hard you try to be perfect, you are bound to forget something. We are only human. Having last-minute things you need to run out and buy can be one of the most stressful parts of having an event. So, assume it will happen, and get ready for it. Put aside $100 in the “forgetful fund”.

The day of the party, wake up early enough to give your party setup a once-over. Then, once you remember the thing you forgot, you gave yourself plenty of money and time to go to Walmart to pick up the things you forgot to buy. If you realize that you cannot leave the venue without everything falling apart, appoint a designated “runner” for the day who is willing to go on errands for you.

16. Don’t Cook Everything in One Day

If you are cooking on your own, there is going to be a lot of food prep that needs to be done. Most people only have one oven in their house, so when you are cooking one thing at a time, some items will get cold while the others are heating up. If you don’t plan everything ahead of time, it will become a huge nightmare. Make yourself a list of prep time, and try to make a cooking plan is as smooth as butter.

For example, let’The day before the party, prep all of the cold dishes that can be kept in the refrigerator overnight like salads, cole slaw, or potato salad. You could also prepare home made dough, fillings, and casseroles. Then, when the day of the party arrives, it’s just a matter of putting a few things in the oven, grabbing stuff out of the fridge. If you are ordering food from a bakery or caterer, make sure the timing of that coordinates with the time your guests will be ready to eat, too.

15. Remember To Keep Your Priorities Straight

Throughout the event planning process, you are going to be so busy, that your family and friends may end up taking a back seat. It’s true that you may need to say “no” to some of your social life in order to have time to plan the event, you should not forget to spend time with your children and spouse. This is especially important if your party-planning is going on for a month or longer.

Try to carve out time to spend with family and friends, and give them your undivided attention when you are with them. Let them know that you need to take time to get the planning done, and they should respect that. After all, they are probably going to your party, too. Once they see the event in action, they will see the fruits of your labor, and be proud of all you have accomplished.

14. Don’t Forget to Eat

During the party planning process, you may get so busy, that you forget to eat. In fact, one of the biggest mistakes brides and grooms make when planning their wedding is that they forget to include themselves with the caterer. Eating is important for you to keep your energy up, and to stay focused on the task at hand.

If you are trying to lose weight before your party, you should at least be eating a lot of fruit, vegetables, and drinking plenty of water. You can still lose weight and look fabulous at your event without starving yourself. Remember that the more energy you have, the more you can get done.

13. Make a Simple Menu

When you are planning on what food to cook or order from the caterer, you may be tempted to choose a lot of different delicious food for your guests to choose from. However, this can get complicated, expensive, and increase the amount of stress you feel getting everything ready. Instead of going over-the-top, try to choose a simple menu with just one or two dinner options.

You could also provide a buffet table a few options and a salad bar. Remember to ask your guests if there are any food allergies, or diet restrictions like gluten-free or vegan. As long as you are being mindful of everyone’s dietary needs, everyone should be happy with whatever you choose. After all, they are getting free food.

12. Don’t Over-Do It With The Guest List

Remember that the more people you invite to a party, the more expensive and stressful it will become. While you may want to invite 100 people, chances are that it will not actually be possible for you to do that. So, try to stick to a certain circle of people- whether it’s your family, co-workers, or friend group.

Always take your guest list under consideration. Credit: ShutterstockRemind yourself that this doesn’t have to be your one and only elegant party. You can have another! In fact, the more you start to throw extravagant events, the better you will get at planning them. Don’t stress out too much if you can’t invite everyone you know.

11. Order Whatever You Can Online

If you don’t already have an Amazon Prime account, you should probably get one before you plan a huge event. There is no denying how useful it is to get pretty much anything you could ever imagine delivered to your front door within two days. By shopping online, this will also reduce a lot of your stress.

You won’t have to figure out where to buy the items you saw on Pinterest, because it will be as simple as searching for it, and getting it delivered. Of course, the only downside to shopping online is that you cannot see the product before you buy it. So always make sure to read reviews from other customers before you commit to a purchase.

10. Use Walmart Grocery Pickup

One of the most stressful parts of planning a party is to go grocery shopping. Even if you come prepared with a list, you might still forget something, or spend a huge amount of time wandering around the store trying to find a specialty item. If you aren’t already using Walmart Grocery Pickup, prepare to have your life changed.

If you sign up for a Walmart Grocery account and download their app, you can pick out everything you need to buy, and pay ahead of time. Schedule your pickup time, and simply show up to Walmart to pickup your order. Employees will bring the food out to you. Best of all, it’s completely free. You can also use this same service for orders from the bakery and butcher.

9. Create a Signature Cocktail

A fancy party is not complete without alcohol, but that can easily become one of the biggest parts of your budget. If you want to help reduce on the cost and stress of drinks, you should consider choosing one or two signature cocktails.

The signature cocktails could have something to do with the theme of the party, so your friends will think it is very creative. This also reduces the last-minute stress of walking through the liquor store or Costco trying to figure out how much you want to get. All you really need is either a jumbo-size or multiples of the same liquor and mixers, and you should be set for the whole night.

8. Make a Party Playlist

If you are not hiring a DJ for the event, you may want to make your own party playlist. If the party has a theme, like the 1980’s, it should be fun to go back and find some of the era’s greatest hits. Or, if the party is full of your close friends, you may all have music that you love.

Not a great amateur DJ? If you get Spotify, they already have playlists where you can listen to the Top 40 most popular songs of today. They also have pretty much every genre or mood you could ever ask for. If you have Amazon Alexa, you could have it sitting out somewhere at the party so that your guests could ask for any song they want. That is almost just as good as hiring a DJ, anyway!

7. Expect Unexpected Guests

Even if you plan weeks ahead of time, there is always the chance that you forgot to invite someone important. Or, maybe friends-of-friends heard about the event, and they bring an unexpected plus-one. Parents could also not be able to get a babysitter. There is so much that could happen where unexpected guests show up uninvited. Instead of feeling stressed out, embrace it! Meeting new people is one of the great things about having a party, anyway.

Assume that there will be extra people. Buy more food, drinks, and party favors than you think you may need. This way, you will not be blindsided by the added guests, and these people will not feel as if they have intruded on your event. At the end of the night, if you end up with leftover food, just eat it throughout the week. On the bright side, it means less grocery shopping for you.

6. Prepare Backup Plans in Case it Rains

Unfortunately, technology has not given us the ability to control the weather. If you are planning a party a month ahead of time, there is a good chance that it might rain or snow on your big day. You should try to always be prepared for that possibility.

Preparing for rain may require you to book a back-up venue if your party was supposed to be outdoors, or at least finding an indoor-outdoor space. You may also need to provide umbrellas, towels, and other items to help your guests dry off and feel comfortable.

5. Have Open Communication with All Parties Involved

If you have a big group of people working together to make your event a success, make sure everyone stays in the loop as to what is going on. Even if someone is not involved with one aspect of the event, it is still incredibly helpful to know what everyone has going on.

If the event is very large and extensive, you may want to have meetings once a week. Or, at least meet a few days before the event starts, and again on the morning of the party. Use group texts, Facebook groups, and other online tools to make sure everyone is on the same page, as well.

4. Use Free Digital Organization Tools on Facebook and Google

We are truly blessed to live in a time when we have free digital tools at our disposal. Google Docs and Sheets are like free versions of Microsoft World and Excel. But they are arguably even better than Microsoft, because sharing those files with your friends is as easy as sending them a link. You can also access those files on any device, so long as you log in to the Google account.

There are plenty of free digital tools at your disposal for free. Credit: PexelsIf you are planning a party with a large group of people, you should really consider getting everyone into a digital group. This helps keep everything organized when you have a lot of aspects of the event that are going to be confusing. Facebook also has groups that can act as a way for your to communicate and share pictures and posts with a team of people. This way, everyone has the opportunity to see what everyone else is doing. This makes it far less likely that there will be any confusion.

3. Create Several Versions of Your Event Timelines

You won’t always get things right the first time around. Just because you wrote out a timeline of events for your party doesn’t mean that it should be set in stone. Try to write out a few different versions of your event timelines, just to see if there may be a better way to organize your time.

Remember that the better the party flows, the more fun your guests will have. If you are hiring vendors to provide catering, entertainment, and music, it is especially important to plan out when they are going to arrive, set up, and be ready for your guests. No one wants an awkward in-between time where no one is sure what to do next.

2. Buy in Bulk

When you are throwing a huge party, the last thing you would want is to run out of food and drinks. If you have a membership to a big-box store like Costco or Sam’s Club, this would be the time to fully take advantage. Buy based on the number of people who RSVP, but always add a few extra items per guest, just in case there are any last-minute additions to the party.

Keep in mind that a lot of people love to take advantage of the free food and alcohol when they go to a party. So people almost expect there to be an over-abundance of good eats. There is never such thing as “too much”. Just keep your receipts, because if you have unopened cases of items that you no longer want, you could always return them after the party is over.

1. Don’t Send Your Invitations Too Late

If you are having an upscale party, you may want to send paper invitations on top of your digital invites. No matter how you decide to notify your guests, make sure you give them enough time to respond. People will have to take time off of work, arrange for a babysitter, and buy clothes to wear to your party.

Typically, you should give people at least one month’s notice before a large party, and request that they RSVP at least two weeks before the event. This will also give you plenty of time to plan out the festivities.