Summer is a wonderful time to get your friends and family together. Even if you’re not celebrating anything in particular, it’s great to have everyone in the same room – especially if you don’t see each other very often. Big annual family parties are now a tradition for many people, so why not join them and share in the fun?
Planning the perfect family get-together can be a lot of fun, and no matter what your budget, there are some useful tips to help you get your party in place. Want to plan the perfect family get together? Take a look at these top tips and ideas.
Pick a date in advance
Availability is one of the key things that can ruin a planned family get-together. Everyone has their own commitments, as well as holidays and weddings to fit in around the summer season – which can make it difficult to get everyone together at the same time. Start your planning at least three months ahead to help you get the date in people’s diaries to help you get started. Doodle is a fantastic scheduling tool that helps you work out the best date for an event, helping you to see what the best date is for everyone before you go ahead.
Setting a budget
As with any party, you need to think about your budget before you can start planning. If you’re going to be forking out for the entire party yourself, you’re going to need to decide the party budget and stick to it. You could ask everyone to chip in to make the day more affordable and to stop the cost falling solely on one person’s shoulders. Try to keep costs down by keeping track of all your spending and your guest list to ensure that everyone and everything is covered.
Deciding on the right sort of get-together
There are many options available to you when it comes to your family get-together. Do you make it a day event with a BBQ or a day at the beach or do you do it in the evening for dancing and drinks? You’ll need to think about who will be attending as not all events are suitable for children or older people, so think about who’s on the guest list before you decide on the type of event.
Choosing the venue
The next thing on your list should be choosing the right venue. During the summer, your own garden can form the perfect location, and after this summer’s incredible sunshine so far – you could be lucky with the weather. If your garden isn’t big enough, you might want to look at some other venues – a local town hall, restaurant or bar could all be ideal locations to host your family summer bash.
Source some entertainment
The perfect family party requires some great entertainment, so what would make your party go off with a bang? For some music and dancing, you can’t beat a live band! Find out who’s available for hire, a search of the best Dorset wedding bands for hire will lead you to some good names who you can get quotes from. Just because they’re a wedding band, doesn’t mean they won’t do other types of events, and you might even get them for a cheaper rate if you book them for a daytime acoustic set. Other ideas for entertainment could include line dancing, a stand-up or even some inflatable games – there’s a lot you can do with a limited budget to entertain everybody.
Choosing the food
Food is an important part of any event, so you’ll want to think carefully about the type of food you decide to offer. A BBQ is a great idea for summer, as everyone can eat outdoors and there’ll be plenty of people on hand to man the grill. The internet is full of some great BBQ recipes that you can start preparing in advance ready for some catering to impress. Other things you can do include asking everyone to bring a dish, or agreeing a deal with your favourite takeaway to cater for the event. If your day bash is likely to extend into the evening, you might want to think about having some additional food for later on to keep everyone going.
BYOB?
One of the simplest ways to save on costs for your party is to make it a Bring Your Own Bottle event. You can ask everyone to bring their own drink or to bring a bottle of spirit and some mixers to setup your own cocktail bar. Cocktails are simple to make, so provided you’ve got some cocktail recipes to hand, everyone can have a go at making their own. If you choose to have your event in a local venue, make sure you check what the situation is regarding alcohol before you book.
Capturing the moment
When your family get-togethers are few and far between, it’s important that you capture the moment. You could hire a photographer for a couple of hours to get some great shots of you all catching up and having fun which will give you some incredible memories to enjoy long after the day is over. If someone in the family is handy with a camera, you could even ask them if they wouldn’t mind taking some photos throughout the day.
Of course, if you want to splash out a little bit, you could hire a photo booth for your party and get some fantastic and funny photos of your family all together so that they can take photos away with them as a memento from the occasion. Budget won’t stretch that far? Create your own DIY photo booth instead!
Planning a family get-together can be a lot of fun, and can be something that you look forward to throughout the year. Why wait until Christmas to see everyone you love? Get all of your loved ones together and enjoy creating some special memories this summer. Who knows, you might even start a new family tradition!
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