Tips For A Great Birthday Party

Invites

Make sure you send out your invites with plenty of notice, so that your guests are free to accept your invitation. However, don’t send them out so early that they’ve forgotten about the party by the time it rolls around! 2 to 3 weeks notice is ideal.

Theme

Choosing a theme will add lots of fun to any party, and makes for the most memorable shindigs! Select a few key elements associated with your theme (4 or 5 is plenty) and display them throughout your house. For example, if you were having a 1970s-themed birthday party, you might have lava lamps, bean bags, old records and some retro vases or glasses. Most importantly, make sure you give your guests clear instructions on the theme, so they can dress appropriately. Offer a few suggestions to get the ball rolling, and perhaps even offer a prize for best dressed to the creative juices flowing!

Some popular themes are:

• Gangsters and molls
• Devils and angels
• Hollywood/celebrities/models
• 60s/70s/80s/90s parties
• Themes around a specific letter or colour

Timing

Timing is crucial if you want to ensure your guests turn up and stick around. Are there any big gigs or events on the planned date of your party? The fact is your guests may have prior arrangements they can’t get out of, so if possible try and move your celebration to a date when everyone is free.

Having a fancy dress party? These are best held on a Saturday or Sunday, so your guests have plenty of time to get home from work and get into costume. The more time you give your guests to get ready, the better they’ll look!

Food for guests

Be a good host! If you know your guests will be drinking, supply food to limit the effects of alcohol and ensure everyone has a good time. Finger food is an excellent choice for food since it’s very affordable, plus it allows for lots of mingling and chatting. By hiring a finger food caterer to supply the food, you can ensure you won’t be stuck in the kitchen all night missing your own party!

Choosing a birthday caterer

Guests love their food, so make sure you have the right birthday catering company looking after you. A few questions you should be asking of them are:

• How long have they been catering for? More experience guarantees a smoother experience and happier guests!
• What's the food like? Is it tasty?Many birthday caterers offer a free sample of their food to let you decide, so see if yours does.
• Is there plenty of variety? Choose a birthday caterer with lots of menu options, so that you can be sure all your guests are looked after. Veggie/gluten-free/etc options are a must nowadays.
• Do they fit your budget? Go for someone with options in your price range.
• Does your caterer come recommended? Do you know anyone who has used them before? This gives a good (though not foolproof) measure of how they will perform on your birthday.
• Do they offer all the birthday catering services you are looking for? eg. beverages, staffing, delivery, equipment hire, etc? This will make things much easier for you as you'll have less to organise.
• Are the staff helpful? Ask lots of questions when talking to your prospective caterer for the first time. Helpfulness and friendliness are generally part of a company's culture. If the first person you talk to isn't the sort of person you want helping with your birthday, chances are their wait staff won't be either.

How much finger food is the right amount?

Our menus offer a good guide as to how much food we recommend. The important thing to remember is that any function starting at noon, three or six P.M will typically mean that your guests will be hungrier. It’s in line with our normal meal times and people will often use this as their meal without eating prior. People love a “free feed” so it’s a good idea to increase your allowance to 12 pieces per person around these times.

Water

Not everyone loves an alcoholic drink or a fizzy drink. If you don’t have water on hand you may end up with guests continually asking for it, which means you'll be in and out of the kitchen constantly. By simply having a couple of jugs of water lying around, or even buying a 5 litre cask, your guests will have plenty of options. Water is also great towards the end of a night when some of the “love a free drink” crowd may want to sober up a little before leaving your place.

Glass vs. Plastic Glass Hire

Plastics: costly but simple. If you buy the short stem plastic wine glasses you can use them for all drinks, plus the shorter height of the glasses also reduce the chance of them toppling over and spilling liquid everywhere.

Glassware: some companies will require you to wash all glasses on return or they charge on top of their hire fee. This makes clean up time longer so when they say FREE GLASSWARE, check on the conditions. If you opt to have your function fully catered with our wait staff then you can simply pay them extra time to do the clean up for you.

When should staff arrive?

We recommend our staff arrive thirty (30) minutes after your invite time. It’s a great idea to simply have a few chips, dips, nuts etc for the "on time" arrivals. Also make sure you put your oven on in advance of our arrival, so we can get straight into it and start cooking immediately.

Bar tips

Serving beer, wine or champagne may seem cheaper when you’re doing your sums. However, if you add some bottles of sprits (scotch, bourbon, vodka etc) plus mixer per 40 guests, you can halve your beer purchase and it can work out cheaper! Plus, having mixer drinks in a bar is a great way to impress guests.

Alternatively, see if you can bundle your beverages with your birthday catering, to save money.

Security

Most birthday parties are made up of friends and family. However, bigger parties (over a hundred guests for example) may include friends of friends, or even gatecrashers. There is always potential for this, especially with 18th and 21st birthdays. To avoid issues, there are a couple of simple steps you can take. Most parties don’t need these measures, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

• Lock all doors to rooms you don’t want people entering
• Store away any valuables
• Issue wrist bands if you are worried about too many uninvited guests turning up

Forget smokers at your own peril

Have a designated smoking area (undercover for all weather conditions) and make sure you leave enough ashtrays for them. If you forget the smokers you can end up with cigarette butts everywhere!

When should you have the cake and toast?

Best time to do this is at 10:00 P.M when all guests are there and not leaving yet. A 21st function could take up to 40 minutes. A toast is also a great time for sweets if you plan on going on for a little while. A handy hint when choosing a cake: if you choose a chocolate mud cake, you don’t need plates and forks as it cuts onto a napkin for finger service.

Where should the gifts go?

Designate a "private area" for your gifts on arrival. Put them away as you receive them. This way everything is safe and secure.

A few final tips

Let the neighbours know if you think the party will kick on late into the night. If your guests’ cars will end up blocking the street make sure you designate clear parking instructions on the invite, to avoid blocking your neighbours in.

Do you have enough toilets for all your guests? And it’s always important to ensure there is no chance of running out of soap and toilet paper!

Remove vases/statues/valuables from high traffic areas like doors and hallways.