Two Sweet

Planning a birthday party is very stressful now a days. I miss the 90’s when things were simple and there were no theme parties. Unfortunately we can’t go back in time and bring back the simplicity.

When I was planning my daughter’s first birthday we were in the middle of a pandemic and I was not able to host a party with family or friends. Since I missed having family and friends in the first birthday, I wanted to make it up by throwing a bigger party.

I was not able to host the party at my place as I live in a tiny NYC apartment, so I had to pick a venue. The issue with hosting parties at any venue is that you have limited time to setup. Even if you are a DIYer it’s still difficult to manage everything on your own unless you have a lot of help from friends or family.

Since it was just my husband and I planning everything, I figured it would be best to hire an event planner/decorator. I highly recommend if you are hosting a party of over 50 guests at a venue to hire someone for planning if you have the budget for it.

You save so much time and avoid stressing out on the day of the event. The most difficult process in planning the party was finding a venue and hiring a planner.

I recommend searching for planners on instagram. I looked at a couple of planners and got quotes for the decor. I wanted a candy shop/donut theme, since my 2 year old is obsessed with donuts. It should be noted, if you are hosting a party during peak summer or winter, it is difficult to find planner or venue. So I recommend contacting places at least 2 months in advance.

Depending on you budget you can even find a planner who will help you from picking out venue, food and decor. Since my husband and I already picked venue and food, we hired event planner for mainly decor, party favors, dessert and cake.

Budget and Pricing

In terms of pricing for the decor it depends on your budget. The bigger your budget, the better you can decorate/ plan the party. It also depends on what you want. In my case I was keen on having only fresh floral arrangements for center pieces. I also wanted to have a balloon wall drop. I have seen a lot of people trying to attempt to make balloon wall by themselves but it requires a skill and a lot of time if you have never done it before. Thankfully my planner managed to contact all the vendors for backdrop, desserts, pedestals, floral arrangements and party favors for kids and adults.

Set Up

Because I had hired someone to set up the entire place I showed up 10 mins before the event started. The planner arranged the timing and set with the venue staff.

Conclusion

The event looked amazing and exactly how I envisioned. My advice would be you should hire a planner if you are doing a party at a venue to avoid stress. Of course if the event is at your house you have unlimited time for set up and you can save money by doing it yourself.