Party Planning Tips...

The Mapletree Catering staff provide excellent service to your needs for any function, and can take all the effort out of "Doing It Yourself", leaving you to enjoy your function with your guests! and also offer some great advice.(if you want it).

Drinks
Generally work on an average of 5 drinks per head. This can change depending on the guests invited to the function and also the time frame in which you wish to serve in. Also make sure there is a jug of water available for the guests that would want this as an option - you'll be surprised.
Themes
For certain occasions a theme makes the night more memorable, gets people involved and makes the party distinctive. It helps with decisions about catering and music. It can be used as a means of self-expression by the party boy or girl. Are they outdoors types or intellectual types? What is their taste in TV/music/movies?
Do they have a particular cultural interest or hobby that could be a theme?
Here are some suggestions:
Hollywood – Get some guests to be paparazzi outside and take photos of people as they arrive. Present a video of the guest of honour later and introduce it like a movie premiere.
60s/70s/80s themes are good fun. Easy for everyone to costume and the music selects itself. The year the person was born is another possibility.
Fancy dress (well obviously) but note that this might not work if everyone plans to go on afterwards somewhere else.
Colours make good themes, so do letters of the alphabet. Usually the initial of the party boy or party girl’s first name.
Casinos are a good theme because you can organise themed activities and games. Activities eliminate any chance of boredom
Pool parties, cruises and discos are popular. Here are a couple of more outrageous options: wedding theme, sci-fi, car rally, etc..

Venue Hire
Consider venue hire as an option if your private premises is not large enough to cater for the guests invited etc. There are plenty of options for venue hire available, consider lawn bowling clubs, town halls, community centers and scout halls - alternatively, check your councils website, they generally have a "Venues for Hire" section dedicated to the details of reputable council owned buildings available for hire for a function.

Times and Dates
Ensure that the function is not going to be held on a special day such as a special holiday, or an important date of some important guests that you really want to attend. Consider the time of the function, and ensure that you approach the catering to suit that time of the day (eg; 6.00pm start of your function, you would need to ensure to provide adequate catering to replace most of your guests dinner).

Invitations
Ensure that the invitations to the function are sent out as early as possible, 1 month before the event, allowing possible guests to ensure they can roster time off from work duties and schedule the function into their own timeframe. An important item to include on the invitation is the dress code; to make sure that all guests know what to expect of their appearance.

Glassware
You will need more glassware than simply the amount of people attending. Guests will use more than one glass over the course of the night. Generally twice the amount is needed to ensure you are covering all possibilities, such as excess usage, more people arriving than expected, and/or breakages.

Seating
Make sure there is enough comfortable seating for all the guests arriving. Ensure this seating is to the special needs of some guests - see "special considerations".

Comfort
This is a key factor to a party. If people are cold/uncomfortable, they will generally leave the function earlier than expected. Consider the hire/borrow of a portable gas heater for outside. Think about the time of the year and of course time of the day that the function is held in. Consider an open fire, but often the smoke can annoy your guests, especially those with allergies.

Music, Lights and Entertainment
Young guests will want the music loud (for an 18th/21st - consider hiring a DJ) for all other functions, appropriate background music works very effectively. Jukebox's just don't cut it, they often get overcrowded during the event with guests queing up to place their favorite song in the list to play, this has another negative affect as it leads to some songs never appearing, as the list starts to build beyond the duration of the party. Hire a professional, a DJ, that will bring you great dance lighting effects including lights and smoke effects, and can play all your requests in an ordered managed situation, to the right mood of the night.
The DJ can also be the MC of the event to help with the speeches and anything else you require.
Consider your guests entertainment options. The use of DJ's with the music can be arranged through professional DJ's found on a simple google search or yellow pages, or perhaps even the hire of a billiard table. There are plenty of ideas to ensure your guests are entertained and many can be affordably hired.

Wet Weather and Areas
Ensure there is a plan for when it rains, don't leave it to chance, because chances are that it will rain when you don't want it to. Consider outside marquees, and tarps, for greater outside shelter if worse comes to worse. Make sure there is adequate sheltered areas available if the rain comes. Also another item to note with areas, is smoking areas. Have a set defined area for where smokers can go outside, with ample amount of ashtrays to avoid butts on the ground.

Schedule
Have a set time in mind when to start the speeches and cake As a general rule for night time celerbrations, this is often best at 10.00PM when the function is at its maximum attendance.

Decorations
Ensure the house/venue is clean, odorless and decorated different than usual and within a party theme. Consider hire and use of helium balloons. These can be most effective when filling a ceiling with the strings floating down, to create a colorful and 3D like ceiling.

Special considerations
Disabled guests, and special dietary requirement guests, including other special needs of your guest list all need to be thought about. MapleTree Catering can help you with any special dietary requirements, but you must consider disabled access etc for your guests with the venue that the function is held at.

Other Reminders
For children's parties, or even for the children at adults parties, "Party Bags" are still a big hit with the children. These can be purchased at any party supply shop.
Answering Guests Questions
Avoid the "Where do I?" questions, and have places set out from the start where guests can leave their personal belongings such as handbags, and coats at the venue. Another location that is necessary, is the gift table for functions that would be receiving gifts.