Party Planning Checklist - Making One Keeps You Organized

Creating a party planning checklist keeps you organized. The act of writing something down compels someone to accomplish a task. I don't know why it works exactly, but it seems to hold people accountable when it is written down.

Get your party planning checklist written, and you will have a well-planned and thought out event that everyone will appreciate. They may not know the amount of work you put into it, but they will at least enjoy themselves.

Let me tell you a story of a consultation I had with a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago.

Kris (one of my best friends) called me for some help. She was planning her parents' 50th wedding anniversary, and having one heck of a time doing it properly. She should have been having fun planning such a momentous occasion (especially these days), but instead it was a nightmare for her.

She was in quite the frantic mindset because the party was less than two weeks away and she felt like she didn't have a good enough handle on the party. I sat her down and asked her explain to me what she had accomplished so far. She proceeded to pull out a handful of Post-It Notes from her purse, and she dumped the wad on the table we were sitting at.

"What's all of this," I asked her, knowing very well what it was supposed to be.

"These notes have the stuff I've been working on for the party," she replied.

I remember looking at Jill, then looking at the pile of scrap paper that was her parents' 50th anniversary party plan, and then shaking my head. This is an extreme case, but you'd be surprised how unorganized people can be when it comes to preparing for important events.

First off, you should know that Kris is a very spontaneous person; "plan" just isn't a word that has ever entered her vocabulary. She has sisters that are much more suited to planning this type of a party, but it really doesn't matter. No matter how unorganized you think you are, planning a successful party is as easy as creating a party planning checklist.

I took all of the Post-Its, and with Kris's help, we organized them into a puzzle of sorts. This puzzle was the start of her checklist. I could see that she had written down names of places, dates and times, menu ideas, theme ideas, and people's names. Everything we need for a good checklist seemed to be on the notes.

Next, we transferred the information over to an Excel spreadsheet. It's not imperative that you use Excel, or even a computer for that matter, but I always have my computer with me. You can write it down on a piece of copy paper if you have to. I just wouldn't recommend Kris's Post-It method. That can be okay if you think of something while you're out, but don't have your checklist with you at the time. Just be sure to transfer it to your checklist as soon as you can.

Once everything was transferred to the Excel checklist I had created for her, she told me which items on the list she had finished, and we checked those off. She even remembered a few more ideas she had about the menu, so we entered those in the appropriate section.

Kris now appeared much more relaxed. The completed checklist revealed to her that she was a lot further along than she had originally thought. I printed out the party planning checklist for her (yes, I always have a portable printer with me too), got confirmation from her that she would continue using the checklist for the remainder of her planning, and sent her home knowing she'd be fine.

The act of compiling all of her notes helped her to gain focus on what she needed to accomplish. I'm sure she will do the same for future important events, and I'd like to suggest that you do the same. Create the party planning checklist, and your party will succeed.