Today is day 3 in our party planning process {to start at the beginning click here}, and it’s a very important day: choosing the guest list. There are a lot of decisions that need to go into deciding the guest list. Here are some of the important things to consider:
How large of a venue do you have, or want to rent out? (We’ll talk more about that tomorrow.) The size of your venue will help to determine how many guests you can invite.
Will you allow kids at the party?
Are you going to allow your guests to bring a +1?
Will this be an invite only party or will it be an open invitation for everyone to attend. If you know there isn’t a lot of money in the budget for a large venue and a lot of food and drinks, then you probably shouldn’t allow it to be an open invite.
What is the “feeling” you want the party to have? A large and loud party, a quite and intimate party, or somewhere in between. Deciding on the mood you want your party to have will also help you determine the number of guests you should invite.
What kind of theme did you decide on, is this going to be a dress up, or a costume party? For theme parties it is important to tell your guests what the attire is so that they can dress appropriately, so make sure you are inviting people that will have fun with the theme and go “all out” with their costumes.
Create an A and B guest list. If you send out your invitations and a lot of the people on your “A” list can’t attend, then invite guests from your “B” list. Having an A and B guest list is just like having a contingency plan for you guest list. It allows you to not go over on your invites, but it also gives you the ability to still have the right amount of attendees.
So who will be invited to your holiday parties this year? You know it’s going to be the talked about party of the season!
