I really don’t need a reason to have a party. Planning a get-together with friends to celebrate life is good enough for me and when a cause arises to plan an event whether small or larger magnitude it’s fun to jump in with both feet when you have the right tools at your fingertips.  Whether community, business or personally based, being able to successfully plan, implement and track the information needed not only for this but also future parties is critical and we’ve created five steps to help you with your event planning.

Let’s Start Planning

1. Decide On The Theme And Nature Of Your Event. Who will be invited and how many you’ll be able to house are factors to consider. Is this a personal, business or community function? A party of 20 close friends is way different than a bash for a couple hundred at a local venue and will subsequently involve way different decisions to be made. A themed event is fun when scheduled close to a community or seasonal celebration. Always remember when considering numbers for your event, often only 3/4 or even 1/2 of those invited will actually attend depending on time of year, nature of the event and even other events or seasonal celebrations occurring at that time so pad your invite list to compensate for those who may not be able to attend.
2. Consider Your Party Budget. Is it just you or a team of people planning this event? Will the party involve monies in order to implement successfully and what is that realistic number? Consider costs for things like venue, decor, food, drink, entertainment, photographer, security etc and have those discussions early in the planning stages. Will the organizers themselves be contributing or will you be charging enough to attend the event to help with costs? Do you have a dollar amount you’d like to raise to then give to a needed cause? With Eventastic you can create your tickets and choose to have the guest incur transaction fees thus allowing the organizer to retain full ticket value.
3. Pick A Venue. If not your home, pick the place that will be able to hold your attendee number goal comfortably. Better not to choose a venue which can hold 300 for a party of 100. You want your party to present full and not sparse which could give guests the impression that many didn’t ‘show’.  Choose a place that will allow for activities and event ideas and activities you have in mind in terms of decor, entertainment, age relevance and easy access.  Also, consider choosing a venue where guests will not have to taxi long distances at the end of the evening.
4. Create An Experience. These days it’s all about the guest ‘experience’. You’ll want them talking well after the event so create an experience that they’ll remember and share with others. Add some decor pizzazz whether through lighting, decorations and cool niches where guests can stand or sit to chat.  Food and drink options and choices are important considerations. Open bar? Signature specialty drinks? Circulating appetizers? Bowls of pretzels, chips and popcorn? Buffet? Ensure guests have easy access to what you offer for food and drink. Nice to have multiple bar options for large events to avoid long lineups of people trying to get drinks and not able to enjoy the fun with their friends. Clean well stocked bathrooms are a must! Choose entertainment to fit your budget yet provide an experience to be enjoyed by all. Whether DJ, live band, iPod playlist or karaoke, have music to coincide with your theme yet interspersed with classic favourites. Add a photographer to the mix so your party will live on.
5. Market , Implement & Track. It’s easy now to market, get the word out and track responses about your party or large event if you take advantage of the right online tools providing features you’ll need and relish for its success. The added cost factor of printing tickets is not necessary today and the additional manpower and energy required  to distribute info, sell and collect monies is a thing of the past for those who take advantage of time and cost saving online tools. Creative use of photos and video can serve to give the guest a taste of what they will experience in attending the event as well as highlight special guests, entertainers and even event sponsors. Collect attendee info and now save and track key information by adding questions to your ticketing that guests will need to respond to prior to checkout. Chicken or fish? Do you have any allergies we need to be aware of?

Eventastic provides organizers with simple to use, free online event planning tools helping to augment their success! Designed to help you creatively market and manage your events, people worldwide are now using Eventastic features and tools like registration/ticketing, donation and guest funding options, item and service sales options, photo and video upload capability and gamification options along with a full dashboard giving instant updates with guest or participant responses. Once complete you simply share your custom event page link by email, or posting to any social media channel relevant to the audience you are hoping to attract.  Add all your social media feeds to your event page allowing viewers to easily follow or like your pages.  Remember to add an event hashtag to your event page to assist with the event buzz you’re looking for before, during and after the event.   Start creating your party experience and buzz well before the event to intrigue guests to commit.  Try it now for free!