Cutting the Chaos, Party style!

This weeks Cutting the Chaos deals with something close to my heart...throwing parties!! :) I LOVE a good party. I love everything about it, the preparation, the planning, the actual party, and mostly the memories that are made. I am always thinking about my kids next birthday and with all these thoughts running around in my head I sometimes feel like my brain is about to explode! Plus, I am thinking if this pregnancy goes the way all the others have, bedrest may be soon on the horizon. If this does happen, I plan on being prepared! :) We have some very special birthdays coming up that I don't plan on missing. So I give you, my very own Party Planner! :)

This is the cover sheet I just quickly threw together using my digital scrapbooking program. Everything is better when its cute, right?!

This cute little page is on the back...I just liked how it looked :)


Now on the inside I have a bunch of dividers and then inbetween each divider I have plastic sheet protecters for putting print-outs, ideas, clippings from magazines etc.



Here are my tabs:



Party Details - this includes the theme for the different parties (ie Monster Party for Britton, PJ Party for Skylar, etc..). It also includes estimated date, guest lists and any thing else I need.



Invites - This is where I can put different ideas for invitations or if I am really on top of things where I can store the actual invitations after they are made. Also a good place to put guest lists.



Decorations



Food



Games / Activites



Favors



Gifts - I buy the majority (okay, pretty much all!) of the birthday presents at big clearance sales, like when Target puts their toys at 75% off. This is a great place to keep track of what I have bought so I actually give the gift I bought months and months ago.



The absolute BEST thing about this system is how it is allowing me to not waste and save as much money as I can. I often buy things out of season and then use them for things later. When I am unorganized I forget I have them and usually go out and rebuy more things! Not so any more!! Also, now if I find a great deal on something I will know exactly what I could use it for and I won't forget that I bought it 2 months later! :) I also run across a lot of fantastic ideas online and now when I see one I just print it out and stick it in the appropriate divider. I would love to know, do you enjoy throwing parties?? If so, what are some of your favorite tips?