Party Bluprints on the Road

Party Bluprints on the Road

We had been planning and preparing for our big event of the summer – finally, it was time to party. On August 5, Dawn and I, hosted one huge party at Stingaree Nightclub in San Diego. It’s funny, you might think that planning an event across the country for 500+ guests is completely different from planning a party in your home – well, the logistics certainly are, but we stayed true to the essence of Party Bluprints, which is to design an experience to make your guests feel special.

The first thing we did was to send out fun invitations weeks in advance letting our guests know how excited we were for them to come to our private party - we incorporated the vibe of the party in the invites to set the tone right from the beginning. When guests arrived they were welcomed with a red carpet and photo opportunity on the Step & Repeat (Vera Sweeney and LTM channel leader Audrey Mcclelland; and Dawn and me).

Upon entering the club, guests were offered a signature cocktail (based on the Party Bluprints California Margarita), followed by a variety of dinner offerings.

They then rose to the rooftop to mingle with other guests and sponsors and enjoy the party music hand-selected by the DJ. As the sun was getting ready to set, Celebrity Chef Brian Malarkey, stood in the center of the rooftop beckoning everyone to gather round (see main picture to see the man in action). He welcomed all our guests, getting them all riled up for the evening’s big announcement – an opportunity for a blogger to win a dream job. Needless to say, the announcement added more energy to the evening.

It was a fabulous night full of dining, dishing and dancing. A great amount of good spirit was generated atop that San Diego rooftop and floated off into the night as we all left with a smile on our face and skip in our step. Upon saying good night, we gifted our guests a bag full of goodies, of course our book, Plan to Party, was one of them.

Regardless of the venue and/or the amount of people, it’s important to personalize your party so your guests feel you created this experience for them to enjoy. We used the same principles for this event as we do for home entertaining - Plan to Party illustrates the method behind our party planning so you can do it yourself.

Here are a few Party Bluprints Basics:

1. Use your invitation to excite your guests and provide details on the theme, what to wear, etc.
2. Make sure your space is comfortable for your guests.
3. Welcome guests with a signature cocktail – have fun naming it to fit your celebration/theme.
4. Plan a menu that allows your guests to eat well (consider vegetarian and gluten-free options).
5. Handpick music to fit vibe.
6. Thank your guests for coming and gift them a token remembrance of the party.

Lifetime Moms, thanks for supporting our big event!

Here are a few pics from the night. (Clockwise starting at upper left hand corner: LTM channel leader Stephanie Elie and friend; LTM channel leader Erika Lehmann; Dawn, me and Tonya Staab; LTM’s Erika and Audrey tweeting and talking; rooftop mingling; giddy guest; rooftop dancing; outside Lifetime Moms party cabana; center – inside the LTM party cabana with temporary tattoo artists and tattoo “ees”.)