When to Begin Planning Your Summer Parties
When to Begin Planning a Summer Party
With the summer season right around the corner, many people across the country are beginning to plan a get-together for friends and family. Planning your summer party involves several steps along the way to help ensure that everything goes smoothly. If you want to have a good time – and who doesn’t, of course – then you should give yourself plenty of time to lock down all the details. Although this may not be an exact science, here’s how you should proceed:
Best Items to Rent for a Summer Party
There are many party planning ideas that will help your event go more smoothly, but few are more effective than renting certain items. Renting will not only save you money, but will save you time that could be wasted getting friends and family to gather up the items that you’ll need for the party. It’s always a good idea to put these on your list:
- Tent & Accessories — If you’re planning to have your summer party outdoors, then you should consider setting up a tent. This will give guests some privacy while also protecting them from the weather, though you may want to add tent accessories like heaters or fans as well.
- Tables and Chairs — Friends and family members can often help you with tables and chairs, but they’ll probably be mismatched. Renting them will give you plenty of options and they’ll all fit together quite nicely.
- Dinnerware and Tableware — With so much dinnerware and tableware involved, it’s often better to rent rather than purchase or borrow. This will keep everything matched up and simply makes the process much easier.
- Dance Floor — No matter the season, people love to get down and boogie. Renting a dance floor and some audio equipment will help keep people entertained for hours.
- Catering Equipment — if you’re planning to serve food yourself, then you should rent catering equipment such as serving trays, beverage dispensers, etc. These items will typically allow guests to serve the food themselves, too.
- Concessions — Summer parties are always better when you rent a few different kinds of concessions. Popular items include hot dog rotisseries, nacho cheese dispensers, snow cone machines, popcorn carts, and cotton candy machines.
2 Months Before the Party: Create a Concept
Approximately two months prior to the party, you should start thinking of potential party themesand concepts. While you may want to have a straightforward get-together, you can also consider party planning ideas such as throwing a pool party, game night, costume party, movie night, or some other variation. You’ll also want to discuss details such as the location, date, and time of the party.
1 Month Before: Decide on Supplies
Approximately one month before the party, you should have your shopping list of supplies locked down. This will include items you’ll need to purchase such as food and beverages along with items you may want to rent such as tables, chairs, dinnerware, concessions, children’s games, etc. If you’re going to rent a tent, you should definitely do this a month in advance so that you have time to get the proper permit.
3 Weeks Before: Send Out Invitations
You should probably consider sending out invitations as soon as possible, but at the very least, you need to give people three weeks advance notice. These days, there are several different types of websites and apps that can be used to create a guest list and send out an invitations to everyone. If anyone on your list doesn’t use email, be sure to send them a physical invitation.
2 Weeks Before: Plan the Specifics
Within two weeks prior to the event, your entire food and beverage list should be done. You should also reserve any catering equipment that you plan to rent. Be sure to at least have the decorations figured out by this point, though having them all purchased is a much better plan.
1 Week Before: Get to the Nitty Gritty
Once you’re in the home stretch, you need to dive into the nitty gritty of the party. Double check with any vendors you’ll be using, which should include the venue, event rental company, caterer, etc. You should also go over every item that’s needed for the party and check them off one-by-one to make sure that nothing’s missing.
1 Day Before: Finish Last Minute Details
Instead of waiting until the morning of the event, get as much set up the day before as you can. This includes thoroughly cleaning the event space, setting up decorations, preparing food that can be refrigerated overnight, etc. Also, make sure that the available restroom has been cleaned because a dirty bathroom will definitely be remembered.
Contact Elite Events & Rentals for Party Rental Equipment
Elite Events & Rentals handles a variety of event rental equipment in Tampa and the surrounding areas. If you need any more party planning ideas or would like to rent tents and equipment, reach out by calling (727) 791-7082 today.