Planning a holiday party is not easy because you have to deal with a lot of individuals in your home or backyard, and you have to manage every little aspect of it; choosing a menu, setting everything up, entertaining your guests and potentially, supervising the children. Below is a short list of tips and trick that will help you manage everything easier, in a hassle-free fashion.

Establish a Theme

Regardless of the number of guests you are going to host, you have to decide on a theme. This will set the tone of your party and give the entire event a befitting atmosphere for the occasion. To establish a theme, think of what everybody has in common. Will your guests be only ladies? If yes, try an Easter cocktail tasting experience with your girlfriends and get them to bring their own alcohol.

If you’re getting together with a larger, diverse group, an Easter movie themed party will make everybody happy.

Having kids over? Try a treasure hunt party that will make everybody go crazy over the prizes.

Establishing a theme will make everything easier and you will most probably be able to plan the whole event faster and more effectively.

Make a To-Do List

Throwing a legendary Easter party will involve plenty of aspects that you can easily overlook along the way. To prevent yourself from getting overwhelmed by all the planning, we suggest creating a list and breaking down everything that you have to do based on the answers to the following questions:

• Where will the party take place?
• Who are my guests and how do I invite them?
• Should I serve food? What type of food should I serve?
• Should I include party games?
• Who will watch the children if they attend?

The answers to these questions will offer you a better action plan to guide your decisions on. Follow it to simplify things significantly.

Have a Budget and Stick to It

When organising an Easter party, make sure you plan a budget and stick to it because how successfully your Easter party is going to be depends on how you manage your party-planning process. Keep an inventory of things that you have bought and things that you still need to purchase.

Before buying anything, you should take a look at what you already have and develop your grocery and supply list according to that. This will lower some of your expenses and allow you to plan your party professionally.

Here are some easy-to-follow tips:

• Create a spreadsheet. Categorise all the items and ingredients that you have on hand. Based on your estimations and needs, purchase what you lack.
• See if you can pull off a potluck party. If you don’t have that much cash on hand, consider a potluck style party. This will bring people together and will offer a great sense of community.
• DIY giftable centrepieces. Create your own decorations and centrepieces and gift them at the end of the party to your guests. They will be able to reuse them and it is a great way to save some money.

DIY Your Decorations

Easter party decorations can be easily managed at home. You don’t have to worry too much about spending incredible amounts of money on them and you can turn the entire activity into a family activity. Invite your children to partake in it and you will have great family time. Get the supplies that you need. For instance, you can find affordable ribbons and make Easter garlands out of them. Glue some pom poms on them and maybe cut out some bunnies out of colourful paper. This will offer you enough flexibility to create some decorations for children and adults as well.

Make a DIY Happy Easter Sign from supplies that you find at home. Place it on your door or even indoors, to offer a more festive vibe to your party.

Cook in Advance

Preparing a menu ahead of time and shopping for some of your supplies in advance will allow you to avoid the Easter crowd and the high food costs due to the increased festive demands. However, some of your ingredients will still have to be purchased with only a little time ahead. Vegetables and fruits will inevitably go bad if you buy them too early.

To ensure that things don’t get chaotic before your big party, you should consider preparing a big part of your menu in advance. This is entirely manageable if you look for recipes that require similar food preparations as the rest.

Include easy-to-prepare quiches, tasteful loaves of bread and slow cooker dishes. These may be the easiest options that you have at your hand. If you want to exceed your guests’ expectations, you could try some mouth-watering and fancy-looking dishes like the Easy Pineapple Upside-Down Cake.

Plan for Games and Activities

If you have enough guests over, you should consider entertaining them. Board games always make perfect party games. See what you have at home and if you lack such games, ask your guests to bring some over. Easy-to-learn and fun games should be at the top of your list. Research what people have to say on the matter and if you want, you can even purchase some games yourself.

If you want to keep children entertained as well, a treasure hunt type of activity will most likely get them going. Hide small “treasures” like chocolate Easter eggs, chocolate coins and other goodies in your backyard. Create riddles and offer them hints and clues on the treasure’s location and allow them to take home all the goodies found.

Planning the perfect Easter party is not that difficult as it initially seems. However, paying attention to several variables and planning ahead of time is necessary to pull off a fun, entertaining and somewhat fancy event. Make sure that you only invite guests whose presence you will appreciate as you don’t want to end up in a sticky and awkward situation that’s hard to get out off. And even if you lack a generous budget, research for DIY decorations and ideas that will help you make use of simple materials that won’t cost much.