Monday can be a drag, the start of a new week— most of us have a list a mile long of everything we need to do and accomplish this week and every week.  Mondays can often equate to feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and wishing it was Friday already. This is why we LOVE bringing you Marathon Momma Mondays.  Finally, something  you can look forward to on Monday! We want to share the best products, tips, and anything that will boost you moms up and make your life a little better and easier!

 Today our Marathon Momma Monday is brought to you by two of my dear and incredibly talented friends, Jackie and Ariel.

I’ve been so blessed to know these Mommas for a few years now, and they are as talented as they are beautiful!

Ariel, momma of two, has a darling Etsy shop called Mae and Jane {Click HERE}– handmade accessories and clothing for kids and babies… to die for!

And Jackie, momma of three, is the designer behind Crane Creates— she specializes in party planning and graphic design.  She actually is the master creator behind MarathonMomma.com’s logos that you see!

Between the two of them, they make one amazing duo for planning parties! My hubby and I were lucky enough to attend one of their amazing parties for Valentine’s Day.  I got to help a little bit with their most recent party, a baby shower, for our dear friend Abby.

So here is Jackie’s Top Tips for Perfect Party Planning!

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Planning parties is therapeutic for me, as running is for Laura and Heather. I love thinking of themes, colors, food, décor…and then seeing it all come together. Seriously, I want to cry when it’s over. But, like running, it is a lot of work. Party planning can be stressful, exhausting, and expensive. Here are my Top Tips for making Party Planning non threatening, fun, and inexpensive…with pictures from our sweet friend, Abby’s, shower.

Be Overly Organized

I write everything down, on a simple Word document. You can look on pinterest for super cute checklists to print out, there are hundreds. As for me, I don’t want something I have to print out. I want it on my computer, where I can’t lose it, or where my kids can’t get to it and rip it up. Here’s what mine looks like. You can use this one to frame your own and change it to whatever you want.

Shower Outline (pdf)

Say Yes

There will always be at LEAST one person who says, “Let me know if I can help.” I usually have 3 or 4 people. I used to reply by saying something like “Thanks, I’ll let you know.”  Then I’d get busy, or it would get too late to ask, or I’d forget who asked. Now when someone asks, I give them an assignment right then and there. It sometimes catches them off guard, but hey, they asked! Decide what you don’t want to do and dish it out. Here’s my list of things I “dish out” in the order that I dish out first.

1.  Paper goods (make sure to tell them specifically what you want, i.e “Colors are gold, pale pink, and white. We’ll need dinner plates, dessert plates, napkins, and forks.”)
2.  Food sides (if you don’t know what your menu is yet, tell them “I’d love some help with food sides, I’ll text you some options in a couple weeks.” Then make sure you do!)
3.  Drinks or Desserts
4.  Party Favors

People want to help you, I promise. If no one offers their help, don’t be ashamed to ask! When you have help, it’s much less stressful and sooooo much less expensive. For Abby’s shower, I asked my dear friend, Ariel, to co-host with me. Then three other friends offered to help (one even offered to do all the food!).

Use What You Have/Ask Around

You will be surprised how much you can use from your own home. After I choose colors, I walk around my house and see what I can use. For Abby’s shower, I walked around Ariel’s house too. FYI, I always choose two colors and white. White is so classy, timeless, and I have a ton of things in my house that I can use (dishes, frames, etc).

This last shower, I had a few things in mind that I wanted to use before even deciding colors or theme. Ariel has this amazing lemonade stand in her daughter’s room, and my daughter has a bird themed room…so we put these two together.

Let’s dissect this picture of one of the tables:

The only things we bought in this picture were the plates and napkins! I asked to borrow those adorable chalkboard signs; Branches I found in my yard; Birds I had in my daughter’s room; Ariel already had these awesome paper straws left over from a previous party; Name card holders were given to me by a friend; and glass bottles, I have about 40 of them. They are actually those “Starbucks Frappucino” bottles you buy by the case at Costco. Quick story: I had always wanted to buy them, dump them (because I don’t drink coffee), and use them. But I didn’t have the heart to do it. My husband saw someone in one of his classes drinking one and asked her what she did with the bottles. Of course she replied “I throw them away.” He asked her if he could have them all, and started secretly saving them for me. Then he gave them to me for my birthday! Such a great gift, right?? Anyway, email/facebook friends to see what they have that you can borrow; it’s totally worth it.

Timeline

Don’t wait till the last week to do everything! You WILL be stressed out. Make two timelines, the first of things you can work on weeks before (center pieces, banners, games, prizes, etc). The second timeline should be things you can work on a week before the party (grocery list, party favor, etc). If at all possible, set up the night before. You do not want to wait to do all set up AND food on the day of. If you can’t set up the night before, then do all the food the night before (it’s possible, I promise).

Stick to the Agenda

Since you’ve planned everything, you are officially the hostess, which means you start the party, move it along, and end it. Don’t forget to do that! About 15 minutes in, I usually welcome every one and let them know what’s on the menu. This lets them know its ok to eat now. About 45 minutes in, I do an activity or game. A little after an hour, if the guest of honor wants to open gifts then they do so…while I serve dessert. Eating dessert while opening gifts is great because some people get kind of bored seeing someone else open gift after gift. 😉 An hour and a half after the party begins, I say a little speech which includes my excitement for the mom to be (bride, birthday girl, whatever), remind them about the party favor, and thank them for coming. This, of course, lets the guests know it’s coming to an end. I think an hour and a half is perfect for a party.

Ladies, planning a party can become your new hobby. I promise, it’s fun and so worth it to see the face on the guest of honor. Priceless.

I spy Marathon Momma Laura, our cute friend Natalie, and the guest of honor, Abby!

What are your favorite party planning tips?

What themes have you seen at a parties that you absolutely loved?

For more info on Crane Creates e-mail me at

MarathonMommaLa@gmail.com

XOXO Laura

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