Thread: Party planning...

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Hello everyone :] I am new here and you guys are awesome and very inspiring.

As the season approaches, I'm getting more and more anxious as I plan to host my very first Halloween party! It's at my boyfriend's house, where he has recently done a lot of renovation (with more to come before the party), so it will be kind of a grand opening of sorts as well as being a Halloween party.

I'm feeling a bit jumbled... I have amassed a modest collection of Halloween crap over the years and I'm sure you all can understand the lack of restraint you feel when it comes to seeing new stuff out on the shelves... "but it's only once a year!" Let's just say I've started hunting for props and supplies really early this year. My dilemma is, do I really need a theme? Would it look a complete mess if I just had random Halloween decorations? I have a few bigger props I'm getting which I will post when I am not at work. So, any ideas? Should I section themes off by room? Should I not worry about having a theme at all?

Hey and Welcome again! Although I did not do a theme for my party last year I did decorate it in the classic Halloween spirit. Skulls, black down to the floor plastic drapes in every room entrance and re-did all the lighting in my house. Kinda the creepy and witchy ambiance. This way I could use everything again for this year's party and just add some more things.

Welcome! I did a theme last year but usually don't do one. I really can't afford to buy new decorations each & every year. We have props that were a lot of work & I can't imagine not putting them out every year because it doesn't go with a "theme". My invite is usually pretty unique & I did kind of go with a vampire one last year. Thinking about a zombie invite this year and may just do a graveyard to go with. Most everything else will be from years past. Hope this helps!

My SO and I don't really do a theme ourselves. We don't even do couple costumes either. But we do try to get certain things in their own area like the bathroom is usually our blood themed area where the drinks are placed and the kitchen is the mad scientist's lab on our "autopsy" table. Considering we have been apartment living for 5 years now, we try not to overdo it either since we don't have too much space. Once we get a house and have more space, I'm sure we may start creating more theme rooms, but in general we just want to show off all our great props and decorations as best we can with the right lighting.

I dont think a theme is necessary for the entire house. You could simply place like items in the same area though if you want to avoid total randomness.

Your theme could be Halloween lol, that's what I do. I also have a lot of random crap but since it's all Halloween it works together; my friends have commented on the variety of decor, it's eye candy for them. I think you should be fine without using a theme, especially if it's your first party, I would just keep it simple. Themes can be really costly and suck the life out of you if you work too hard on one.

My hubby and I didn't really have a theme for our past two parties. We just kind of put out what we had as far as decorations and grouped things together that made sense. This year I'd like to go for a more vintage/gothic theme. I'll get a few new decorations of course...but I pretty much have what I need. I'll just change the way I display things. So much fun to plan.

One thing I've started doing this year to help me keep it all organized is, I've been writing down exactly what I want to do in each room. That way when I start going through my stuff I'll know what I need to get and what I already have. It can get a bit crazy during the planning process!

I could probably go on for pages about planning and anxiety. I have learned a lot in 18 years of doing parties, including what NOT to do. My simple recommendations would be to:

Pick a theme. Any theme, but maybe look at the stuff you have first, the available space too to help you decide.

More and bigger is NOT better. I have learned that the hard was in the last 1-3 years. I am a one man show and almost got myself in therapy in the days leading up to our parties (luckily, a great party was at the end of it to pull me out of it).

The people make the party, not the props, food, lighting, effects, drinks, music, etc. Make sure you spend time seeking out the fun people in your life and carefully mixing your "social circles". If you plan on making this an annual event, set you expections low, try to just have a fun party so that next year people will come back.

If you are not enjoying the process of planning and setting up, you aren't doing it right (doesn't mean it might not be hard work!).