The Enlightened Party Planner: Guides to Creating Parties from the Heart - The Six Elements of a Successful Party

By Shelby L. Phillips and Ellen F. Henneke

Does the thought of planning a party feel overwhelming, intimidating, or like one more thing you have to do? Have you ever wondered how to create a fun and memorable party? The Enlightened Party Planner: Guides to Creating Parties from the Heart is a series of books based on the notion that being of service and coming from the heart will not only make for an amazing party your guests will remember for a lifetime, but will also leave you feeling happy and fulfilled. The Six Elements of a Successful Party is based on one fundamental principal: show your guests how important they are to you! With a special blend of “heart-centered” party planning teachings, unique party plan ideas, invaluable resources and examples, journal pages, and a 30-page all-inclusive Planner Pack, this book is the perfect companion for planning any gathering or celebration with grace and ease.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781105324741

Book preview

Bibliography

Introduction

The Heart/Enlightenment Connection

Give a man a fish you feed him for a day, but teach the man to fish you feed him for a lifetime.

- Ancient Chinese Proverb -

We consider ourselves enlightened individuals, but unlike Gautama Buddha, our enlightened awareness isn’t the result of sitting for seven weeks under a fig tree after having wandered around for seven years to search for the cause of suffering. We didn’t in a flash see the light and become Buddha like. We did, however, over the course of forty years of combined experience, become able at last to extinguish all ignorance over party planning…and party planning was no longer an enigma to us. Therefore, we request that you think of us as your Teacher Guides, leading you along the path of the principles of heart-centered party planning.

Our mission, in writing this book, is to enlighten hearts, minds, and maybe even lives by teaching simple, yet powerful heart-centered party planning habits, skills, and concepts. That said, party planning is an opportunity to create memorable events straight from the heart, and this book is designed to be an uncomplicated and systematic guide to help you do just that.

Inside you’ll discover the secrets of planning successful gatherings, a treasure trove of unique ideas, valuable resources, techniques, examples, and Golden Nuggets throughout that we regard as our tricks of the trade—our pearls of wisdom; that when strung together, offer a beautiful gift from the heart.

Chapter 8, Your Upcoming Party: Continuing the Journey is where it all comes together. Every worksheet and list introduced throughout this book and more is assembled here in logical order to create our all-inclusive Planner Pack, perfect for planning a successful party from the heart with grace and ease. Thank you for your purchase. It speaks to your commitment and generosity to others. Thank you, too, for allowing us to share our love of party planning through our insights and experiences. We appreciate the opportunity and wish you a lifetime of great friends and great parties!

Chapter 1

The Pillars of Heart-Centered Party Planning

Noble Secrets, First Steps, Elements, and Other Important Things

Without friends no one would choose to live.

- Aristotle -

Something amazing happens when we invite people into our homes for a celebration. We create community and connection. These are two of the human soul’s favorite experiences.

For enlightened party planners there are reasons to throw a party beyond the celebratory occasion that calls one to action. It’s an opportunity to not only create community and connection, but to give of themselves! There is no greater gift than the giving of self and doing so by means of a party is a perfect way of saying, You’re special and important to me. Designing the party details to match the guests’ likes, wants, and needs is sure to create a delightful, heartfelt gift.

Four Noble Secrets to Successful Gatherings

The way of the enlightened party planner reveals four noble secrets for creating successful gatherings centered around one fundamental principal: Show your guests how important they are to you! This occurs naturally when you take care of them by (1) creating a safe place; (2) filling the senses; (3) being of service; and (4) acknowledging who they are for you.

Noble Secret #1—Create a Safe Place

Create a venue where you can honor and celebrate ALL of your guests, a safe place where they trust their needs are met, where they feel free to be themselves, to relax and receive.

Noble Secret #2—Fill the Senses

Our greatest enjoyment as human beings comes from delighting our five senses. So fill your safe place with wonderful aromas, pleasing and touchable decor, comfortable climate, joyous sounds, and great taste sensations. Putting forth the extra effort to provide food, beverages, music, and scents that you know are the favorites of your guest(s) speaks volumes about how much you care.

Noble Secret #3—Be of Service

Merely bringing people together and putting out some sort of food and beverage does not a party make. Never assume people will create their own good time. To be of service means anticipating your guests’ wants and needs before they want or need them. To be of service means joyfully going the extra mile and being willing and available to fulfill your guest’s specific needs.

Noble Secret #4—Give an Acknowledgement

Set your party apart from the rest by acknowledging your guests in a special way. Acknowledgments can come in many forms, such as meaningful party favors, heartfelt recognition, or momentous activities. Coming from the heart makes all the difference in the world.

Golden Nugget: Always look to see what’s missing. In other words, be on the lookout for anything you might have initially overlooked, anything that might enhance your guests’ enjoyment.

First Four Steps

Before we discuss the six elements that make up a successful gathering from the heart, here are four preliminary steps:

Step 1—Use Your Planner Pack

For easy reference, a good planner is essential to keeping your brainstorming ideas, notes, plans, and inspirations about each party you create all in one place. Each chapter of this book is designed to teach you the six elements of party planning and includes worksheets and idea starters to guide you through the process. For your convenience, in this iBook version all worksheets, idea starters, and more can be found in Chapter 8, Your Upcoming Party: Continuing the Journey. These materials create our all-inclusive Planner Pack.

Step 2—Answer These Questions

Who, what, where, when, and why are the starting points for any gathering. Ask yourself these questions and jot down your answers on the Getting Started Worksheet.

Who is invited?

Am I gathering friends or family, casual acquaintances, business associates, or a combination? How many guests can I accommodate comfortably and what spaces will I use? How compatible are those on my guest list? It may be a surprising truth that what makes or breaks a gathering is the compatibility of the guests. Mixing the right assortment of people together is important, so give your guest list considerable thought. The comfort of your guests is your primary goal and answering these questions will help you determine activities, music, and foods your guests will feel comfortable with and will enjoy. Use the Guest List and see how it adds up.

What is the occasion?

Is my celebration in honor of a birthday, marriage, anniversary, newborn, graduation, retirement, holiday, etc., or is it a just becauseparty? Is it casual or formal? Sit down or stand around? The answer to these questions will help you determine an appropriate theme and color scheme.

Where will it take place?

Will my party take place indoors or outdoors? In my home or a rented space? Once a location is decided, write down any thoughts or ideas that come to mind about your location choice.

When is the best time?

Given the type of party I am hosting, what day would be best? Given the guest list, what time of day should I begin and what would be an approximate end time? These logistics may change as you progress in the planning process, but this initial timeline is important because it’s the foundation of the party.

Why do you want to host this party? What is your intention?

What thoughts do I want to leave with my guests? What experience do I want them to have? How can I create a lasting impression? What do I want the guest(s) of honor to feel? As you start planning the details, more ideas will come to you. When they do, jot them down.

Another important question to ask is how much can I spend? The answer will set the financial boundaries for your entire planning process. Make a budget and stick to it using the Budget Planning Worksheet.

Step 3—Fill In the Quick Six Worksheet

You can transport your guests to another time or place, give them a wonderful themed experience, and assure that they feel completely honored and special through the use of theme, mood, and color, décor and ambiance, delicious food and beverages, planned activities, and whatever else your imagination can dream up. Even a simple just because dinner party can be special with a few thoughtful touches.

Still, the simplest party requires managing the details and the secret to managing details is to use efficient checklists to help you stay on course. (Yes, we did say lists, as in more than one.) Start by jotting down the ideas you already have in mind for your gathering on the Quick Six Worksheet. Divided into the six elements that make a successful party, this worksheet is a great starting point as it provides a simple formula for laying out your party particulars. This book is filled with inspirational idea starters, worksheets, and resources to help you flush them out.

Step 4—Use the Internet

The Web is the whole world and it’s constantly changing and improving, so we won’t even begin to try to catalog all the resources available to you on the Internet. The main thing is: use it. It can save you money by cutting out the middleman and make easy work of price comparisons.

When we wrote this book, the URL addresses cited were active, but because the Web is constantly changing, there is no guarantee these sites still exist. Nevertheless, you should be able to find exactly what you need with a little research.

Chapter 2

Element #1: Creative Use of Theme, Mood, and Color

Creating