What kind of party?

An intimate soirée among close friends? An early-evening gathering to get to know the neighbours? A mega-bash to celebrate a fiftieth birthday? Every party has its own nature and demands. To choose the right formula, consider the seven party-planning basics  and your party should take taking shape right away:

• Reason for party
• Guest list
• Date and time
• Venue
• Dress code or theme
• Food and Drink
• Entertainment

The reason

It could be a wedding anniversary, a big birthday, the celebration of some great personal triumph, the finals of the Rugby World Cup. Or perhaps you have absolutely no good reason at all: you just want to have a party. Whatever the motive, make sure the party plans reflect this.

Guest list

Think through who you want at your party; write out a guest list. You'll be surprised how the numbers mount up, especially when couples and their children are involved. A little bit of social engineering could be useful: think who among your friends might like to meet whom  and which encounters should definitely be avoided.

Date

If this is big and special party, think well ahead. You want to be sure that all your key guests can be there, so test out some dates with them first. Saturdays are usually best, but people's diaries get booked up months in advance. It may be wise to avoid mid-summer, when people are likely to be on holiday, or Bank Holiday weekends, when they may have other plans. Also, look at the sporting calendar: throw a party on cup-final day at your peril!

Time

At what time of day do you want to hold your party? When is it going to start, and when is it going to end? Guests like to know, as they'll want to arrive when things are happening, or just about to. If you plan an early-evening drinks party, from 68pm, expect it to go on well after 8pm (if it's any good!); if you have to go somewhere else at 8pm, tell your guests in advance that there's a strict cut-off point. On the other hand, if you want your party to run all night, warn the neighbours! If you have sensitive neighbours, or limited energy, pre-warn the guests that the party will end at midnight.

Venue

Do you want to have your party at home? This often the most relaxing and sociable solution  and the cheapest. But for a special party, with a big budget, you might like to consider one of the many extraordinary and exciting party venues that are now available (use your search engine to find 'party venues'). There are countless options, from church halls and cricket pavilions to river boats and stately homes. Whatever you choose, be careful to trim you guest list to the size of the venue. Parties can fail if the venue becomes too crowded and noisy  and equally if it seems rather forlornly empty and sparse.

Dress code or theme

Guests (particularly women) like to know approximately what they are expected to wear. Make this clear when you invite them. There are several options:

• Formal, e.g. 'black tie' (dinner jackets and long(ish) dresses)
• Smart casual
• Come as you are (men will take that literally)
• Fancy dress or theme (see separate article on Themed Parties)

Food and drink

Work out exactly how you are going to do this. For food you can provide small snacks (crisps, nuts, olives), or more elaborate finger food and canapés, or a buffet meal (which allows guests to continue circulating), or a full sit-down meal. You can provide wine, beer or cocktails, but be sure also to provide a good range of soft drinks for the drivers (and non-drinkers, of course). Whatever you plan, calculate how much you are going to need, and then add on a percentage to be sure not to run out. And think through how you are going to serve the food and drink: for a large party, you may need help to pour the wine and pass round the eats. To reduce your costs, you can ask guests to 'bring-a bottle'; and, to help with the catering, ask them each to bring a dish of food. Even then, make sure you provide plenty of back-up.

Party hire

You can hire a large range of party equipment at relatively cheap rates from specialist party hire companies: tables, chairs, dance floors, marquees and space heaters, plates, cutlery, glasses, and much else. (Many off-licences will lend you glasses for free, if you order a reasonably large quantity of drink from them.)

Entertainment

Do you want music and dancing, a disco, a live band? If so, be sure to provide plenty of space, and a good dance surface. Ideally, the (noisy) dance area should not dominate the whole party: allow quieter spaces for guests to shelter from it. And if you are providing a dance floor, get your guests dancing! They may be reluctant at first, but want to really. There are numerous other possibilities for entertainment, including live music from small bands, karaoke (you can hire all the gear), conjurors, palm-readers and astrologers. Or you can have fun with DIY party games, such as charades, Who-am-I? (pin the name of a well-known character on each guest's back), trivia quizzes, wine-tasting, guess the baby (get the guests to supply pictures of themselves as babies), or a complete murder mystery evening (you can buy ready-made kits).

Invitations

For any kind of party bigger than a dinner party, you should send out invitations. This helps you to control the guest list, and tells the guests when, where, and why. You can ask recipients to respond by putting RSVP on the invitation, so you can get a clear idea of numbers. Many, however, will ignore an RSVP: if you are organising quite ambitious catering, this matters, so you should insist that guests reply (include reply cards in the envelope if necessary). You can also use invitations to tell guests exactly how to reach the venue (include a map, if helpful), and to signal the dress code or theme. Remember that party invitations really help to set the tone of the event  and that imaginative, individualistic invitations are very easy to generate these days with computer technology.

Children

If children are invited to adult parties, make sure you provide them with something to do, or somewhere to escape  games in the garden, television or videogames in a separate room, and so on.

The good host

The key to a good party? Relaxed hosts who move around the party effortlessly, greet the guests, introduce them to each other, and make sure no one is left out, and keep everyone well fed and watered. But above all: relaxed. Your mood will colour the entire event.

Bring on the professionals

If all of this is too much, you can always seek the help of professional party-planners. They can design a party exactly to your needs, and organise the venue, the catering and the entertainment. Use your search engine to discover the full range of services that are on offer.

Party checklist

IN ADVANCE, DECIDE ON:

• What kind of party you want
• Guest list
• Date and time (check this with key guests)
• Venue
• Dress code or theme
• Food and drink
• Entertainment (music, dancing etc)
• Invitations. Design them and send them.

MAKE BOOKINGS FOR:

• Venue
• Disco, band, professional entertainers
• Caterers
• Party planners
• Hired tables, chairs, dance floor, crockery, glasses etc

NEAR THE DAY, BUY:

• Food
• Alcoholic drinks
• Soft drinks
• Decorations for venue

Party pitfalls

• Clash of dates: you're throwing your 60^th birthday party on the day that your best friends' daughter is getting married.
• Party crush: you've invited far too many people and they can't breathe.
• Fraught host: it's party hell for the host, and not much better for the guests.
• Social catastrophe: your guest list contains warring factions.
• Lip-read only: the music is so loud no one can talk.
• Mean streets: the food runs out, and "worse" then the alcohol.