It's just over 2 months to go before we celebrate Summer's first birthday. We are excited and I think I am the most excited because I am itching to start the planning. Well, I have started planning already but not that extensive yet. 

Before my husband left for work overseas, we agreed on the budget and we decided to have the party in the province because most of our family lives there and we want to celebrate with the kids from our church. We've also recently agreed on the theme and I will be sharing more about that in my next posts here in the blog. 

For now, I have created the party planning checklist and I am going to share it to you. I am also going to share some of the great tips that I got from my research. 

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This is the most important aspect of your party planning. Sa panahon ngayon, the wisest thing to do is to have a budget and to stick to it. The budget will allow you to plan your event and prioritize spending based on what is important thus ensuring that you won't break the bank. Of course, you have to decide on a realistic budget. You cannot allot a thousand pesos for a thousand guests to start with.

Typically, the large chunk of the budget will go to food and/or entertainment if you plan to hire performers (magicians, jokesters, balloon-makers, singers, dancers, etc). The venue rental, decorations and even the party planner (if you hire one), will be part of the ballooning expense also. Setting a budget will allow you to stay within your target and will somehow give you a wake-up call when what you want for the party far exceeds what you need. 

Listing all items needed for your party is also good so you can compare with your budget. Make sure to allot some buffer for unexpected expenses as well. Again, the key is to stick to the budget and to not break the bank so you will be able to enjoy the party and remember the wonderful memories instead of worrying about how to pay the excess (you don't want to get into any form of debt).

Once you have decided on your budget, start planning what you want for your party - theme, activities, food, venue, entertainment among other things. List every single component of the event - from the smallest of things to the big ticket items. The worst that could happen is if you get overwhelmed and you forget to book one of the suppliers needed to tide you over the event. 

After deciding on the things that you want to see and do for the party, you can now set the date, time and venue. Consider what the party is about and who it is for. If like me, you are planning for your daughter's first birthday party, you would not want to schedule the event at night. It is also good to consider the number of guests and the area of the venue. Once you have everything in check, you would be able to come up with the best date and time as well as venue for your party that you and your guests would enjoy.

Determine your suppliers and remember to stick to your budget by asking for discounts if needed. Your chosen suppliers will not voluntarily offer discounts to you unless they really are having a promotion at the same time that you hire them. Keep receipts and read every contract you will sign down to the very fine prints.