When we become parents since then we begin receiving gifts and love for our little one. Also, we have grand plans for the first birthday party for our child, whether it is your first child or second. In this era, when usually both parents are working there is usually less time to plan our perfect birthday party.
So, today we are providing step by step information to get your event planned with as much less hassle as possible.
1. Booking the venue:
Gone are the days when we needed to roam banquet to banquet, to ask for availability, pricing as the first step. Now, initial screening can be done online from home or office. There are many websites which specialize in venue information only. For example, when I had to book banquet for my son’s first birthday for about 100 guests, I searched various websites. I gave them initial information like party date, number of guests, approximate budget per plate, choice of city area for the venue and my email id. That’s it. Within 1-2 days, I got a response in the form of emails and telephone calls from managers giving their quotes. I was even provided sample party images to help make the final decision. In the end, I chose a banquet hall different from the choices given, but this initial information was a good start to know the current market situation.
Websites like Venuelook, Venuebookingz, VenueMonk, BookVenues and Book My Function provide numerous options to choose from and even give discounts and gift hampers to attract customers.
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2 Selecting Birthday Theme
Next big task is to decide the birthday theme and make the required arrangements. These days theme parties are gaining momentum. Party Decorators are giving different theme options like Honeybee, Candy Crush game, Disney characters, Chota Bheem, Bollywood, circus, jungle, and the list goes on. It is your choice whether to have an event planner arrange themes or you yourself can go shopping.
Join facebook page of birthday party planner you like at least two months before to get an idea about the latest trends. You can also visit the page of Venuelook which is exclusively for birthday party themes.
Theme covers from balloon decoration, props, thermocol cut-outs(both wall hanging, floor cut-outs or suspended from the ceiling), games and variety of other options which depend on the budget available with you. Wish Tree is another trending option available, where guest writes wishes for the birthday boy/girl on small paper chits and hang on the tree.
3. Finalizing vendors like photographers, decorators
The above-mentioned websites along with a few others have expanded into Complete event planning sector. Photographers, Caterers, DJ, Decorators, Mehendi Artists, Florists, puppet shows, magicians, tattoo artists, are just some of the options available on them.
There are websites like book my banquet, My First Booking , who provide the best vendors to choose from. Another option is to go to websites like Urbanclap, which provide user reviews off the selected vendor.
4. Selecting Birthday Cake
Birthday cake is usually left till the last date to order since it has only 24 hours order time period. But, deciding cake design can take days. You can browse the internet for cake designs according to the theme or another category of your fantasy. Birthday cake can be ordered from your regular bakery or any well-known brand like Sir John, Mr. Brown. Choosing brands for cake is not necessary since if you have tasted the cake of your local bakery, ask if they make special cakes. Usually, all well-established bakery have cake artists who can make cake according to the picture.
4. Deciding Return gifts
For people who do not have time to go searching every shop in the market for return gift options, e-commerce has provided a solution.
Return gifts can be ordered from websites like: Returngiftwala, PartyOne returngifts, The One Shop, dholdhamaka , Friendlytoyz, Firstcry, Giftoo.in. These websites offer a discount on bulk orders, and some even take left-over return gifts back. People can find products from the range of Rs 30 to Rs 500 per piece, which are available in various cities in cash on delivery facility also.
For people who have time to spare, I would suggest going to local wholesale market like Sadar Bazaar in New Delhi for shopping once. Do your research before going and plan a full day visit. You will find the latest trends and items at a much cheaper price. Sometimes the price difference could be 5-6 times or more. This is my personal experience.
- Return Gifts in Angry Bird Theme
