Top 5 Party Planning Tips for Busy Moms

Kids, work, school, activities. Let’s face it, being a Mom is more than a full time job. I’m all for finding ways to save time and I bet you are too. Here are my top 5 Party Planning Tips for Busy Moms.

Work in small increments. Just have 5 minutes here, 20 minutes there to work on planning your kid’s birthday party? That is plenty of time. Get a pad of paper and write down the guest list in 10 minutes. Carry the invitations and envelopes around with you to fill out and address when you have a spare 5 minutes. Plan the menu in 15 minutes along with a grocery shopping list.
Order party supplies online. It can seem more convenient to get your party supplies from the store in your town, but they may not have everything that you are going to need. That will mean more driving around to find the cups that match the plates that match the invitations, etc. So many online party supply stores offer free shipping that you will end up saving both time and money (for the gas you would use driving around).
Plan ahead. One of the most time consuming things is trying to pull it all together at the last minute. Ideally you should start planning your child’s birthday party about 8 weeks ahead of time to ensure getting the invitations in the mail and allowing for shipping if you are ordering everything online.
Enlist help. As Moms, we tend to want to go the superhero Mom road showing that we can do it all without breaking a sweat. In actuality though the people that most have it together are the ones with helpers working in the background to make sure everything gets done. Delegating tasks to immediate family members is a great time saver.
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. It is tempting to go all out for a big shindig, but the more important thing to have fun celebrating. The small details are not important, it is remembering why you are having a party in the first place. If you can’t find matching napkins, don’t spend hours trying to track them down. Get something close and move on.

I hope that these ideas help you save time when you are planning your child’s next birthday party.

Shannon Weidemann is best known as the Partyelf. Sign up for her email newsletter and receive a party planning checklist to help you save even more time.