Essentials for Planning Your Next Party

Jes Gordon and Karen Bussen share tips for designing events everyone will remember

By Clare Miers

Planning your next party doesn’t have to be a dilemma. Simple expert tips from mega-event producer and party designer Jes Gordon will transform your tired shindig to an A-List throw-down. Celebrities including Madonna, Barbara Streisand, Woody Allen, and the like have commissioned her to plan their parties. Gordon co-authored Party Like a Rock Star: A Celebrity Planner’s Tips and Tricks for Throwing an Unforgettable Bash and the first chapter pushes to evaluate your purpose at a party. It’s easy to get lost in the details and become derailed from the initial party purpose.

Gordon presses for party hosts to prioritize. She emphasizes to not create so many details that it’s impossible to stay on budget or enjoy. For instance: Pick a locale that is ready to roll. “Don’t go to some worn-down castle that needs you to build walls and bathrooms and a kitchen in order to throw a party there,” Gordon says. And just the same, don’t reconstruct the walls at home to be a Chinese village, if it doesn’t come easy. Work with what you have and put the gusto into the details.

Party lighting and creating ambiance

Karen Bussen, entertaining expert and author of Simple Stunning Parties at Home: Recipes, Ideas and Inspirations for Creative Entertaining suggests, “When you’re ready to party (or whenever you just need a more festive mood), kick the atmosphere into the stratosphere: cluster your candles on coffee tables and counters, line window sills with them, float them in glasses, and light them up.”

Party decorating tips:

Retain these tips to make the most of your resources for the party of all parties:

• Welcome your guests with food and drink.  Have a simple, delicious hors d’oeuvre and a glass of wine waiting for them near the door or on a kitchen counter when they arrive. Immediately create a flow to where you want the party to happen.
• Create a party circle. Share the toasting and the hosting. Get a group of friends and neighbors together and start a moving feast or cocktail party that happens once a month at a different host’s home.
• Try new things, but not all at once. You probably enjoy experimenting with new ideas for drinks, recipes, and décor. But doing too much at once creates a lot of stress during the hours leading up to your guests’ arrival.
• Use high-quality ingredients. Whenever possible, cook with seasonal items and buy organic ingredients from local purveyors and farmers. This not only supports your regional economy and the environment, it also helps ensure that your finished dishes will be more healthful and delicious.
• Don’t be afraid to substitute. Fresh is wonderful, but sometimes not possible. Sometimes an alternative ingredient is just a smarter choice.
• Apply the “less waste, more taste” principle. Bussen recalls a friend whose mom always used to say that before leaving the house, everyone should take a look in the mirror and remove one accessory. This applies to many aspects of party planning.
• Perfection is overrated. According to Bussen, “The best parties I have given (and attended) have not been the ones that were flawless.”

Party favors

Wrap up the event with a sentiment. For a crowning touch, see online party favor sources like Favor Affair, Plum Drama, and Anya Tyler Favors, or make something homemade. A plain white paper jewelry box from a packaging supplier—with a colored label of something that symbolizes the guest(s) of honor or theme of the event—creates a quick, boxed favor to go. Fill them with special candies or anything you wish.