Party decorations for all events and parties

Attractive Party Decorations to Impress Your Guests

Party decorations are like women�s dresses, makeup and accessories; it is the overall look that makes them stand out from the crowd.

Similarly, decorations like gossamers, streamers, tablecloths and hanging decorations and so on have to be co-coordinated well to make that great first impressions.

When you are planning a party, you need to choose decorations that will match the party theme, set the party atmosphere and making sure the color co-ordination appeals to your guests.

Getting started

First, choose a party theme or style before you embark on making your own or purchasing the party decorations. Have a trip to the party store or go online for party decorations ideas. List down the items available and find alternative items for those not readily in stock.

If you are planning to purchase online, take note of the delivery timeline etc. Have you started working on your party planning checklist? Have you work out your party budget yet?

Party Decorations Basics

How about taking a picture of your party venue or draw it out on your drawing board? You will have to determine where you want your guests to focus their attention as they arrive at your party venue.

Where will you designate the party games, dance floor, party food and drinks? Party music, sound and lighting areas? How much space will you need for each area and the distance between them? All these needs careful consideration and planning.

Once you have finished sketching out the areas of activities, you will then consider on the overall party decorations. Next work on taking measurements of the entire area for the main decorations such as the stage, wall scene, streamers, hangings, cut outs etc.

Do a sketch on a paper or visualise in your mind, each area for the party decorations. Starting with the gate or door, you may need balloons, personalised door signs or banners to welcome guests.

You will have to list down all the possible decoration items for each area. You will also have to consider the age group of the guests, their interests and the safety aspects (for example, for very young children's birthday party age 0 - 3 you may want to have padded play area, ceiling hangings and non collapsible standing decors).

Pay close attention to balloons, burst balloons bits when ingested can cause serious damage. Remove and throw them away immediately.

Test and test any party decorations that uses electricity, ensure that lighted candles and table centrepieces have a holding bowl or dish that do not tip over.

If you are thinking of hanging your disco ball, lights etc ensure that it is positioned such that it's away from the party guests and that it is securely hang from the ceiling.

Avoid placing any possible obstacles like tables or chairs on the games area unless the games requires it. All wiring etc has to be taped and secured at the non walk through areas.

Indoor Decorations

Whether you are holding your birthday party or corporate party at your home or a hotel, these are some individual areas to consider decorating:

Dining area

1. Seat down dining table or buffet table

2. Games or dance floor

3. DJ, music, sound and lighting area

4. Kitchen entrance area

You need to have a measurement of each area so that you can estimate the number, size, length and width of your party decorations for that area. For formal seat down dining, you will have to arrange for the appropriate table cloth length for dining table and chair covers for the dining chairs.

These are some suggestions for a seat down dining:

1. Make sure that you use matching china (it will be very noticeable that you don't have enough)

2. Your china complements the table linens, table runners and centrepieces, table confetti etc

3. Have fancy table folds for each individual seat

4. Table cloth and chair seat covers should be of matching colors and designs

5. Dining cutlery like plates, bowls, side plates, forks, spoons, knives, cutlery rests etc should be from the same set (if you are using silver, have it polished)

6. Have scented candles or glowing crystals (oil lamps are a fire hazard) to create a warm and cosy atmosphere

7. Flower centrepieces or petals to create that romantic atmosphere - you can either use fresh or silk flowers

8. Confetti - scatter along the table

9. Mini fruits baskets - you can have real fruits (exotic ones if you can find and arrange it with flowers) so that your guests can eat it too!

10. Figurines and plastic ornaments - unusual ones for example, for a Pirate theme party you can arrange fish nets with plastic fishes, crabs, prawns, octopus etc on a bowl of glowing blue crystals with dry ice creating a misty effect as centrepieces.

These are some suggestions for informal dining like buffet or BBQ:

1. Plastic table cloths and matching skirts

2. Plastic or paper party supplies like plates, bowls, spoons, forks, knives, chopsticks, napkins, food tongs, serving spoons, food trays and food covers etc

Games/Dance area

When you are decorating the play or games area, do not only focus on the ceiling area or the part of the wall that is in focus. There are many possibilities to transform the whole venue and bring the theme to "live". Here are some examples:

Some suggestions for home parties' room decorations:

1. Wall paper/wall scenes - Yes, you can transform your dinner party to a make believe dining at the top of a building facing the Effiel Tower in Paris, France. Why not purchase a wall scene that feature the famous Effiel Tower at night? Or the racing track scene with many cars from the movie "Cars".

2. Inflatables - you can have a huge inflatable for example cars from the movie "Cars" or "real car" from the movie Grease.

3. Streamers - crepe paper materials can be twisted to hang from the ceiling, around the windows and doors. Some are made of metallic materials and when lights shine on it, it can create an amazing colorful and glowing effect!

4. Cut outs - You can easily DIY cut outs. It can be patterns or words. Just go along with your creative ideas!

5. Hangings - You can easily made hanging stars, flowers, butterflies, bees etc. There are also many interesting designs available at the stores and online.

Some suggestions for corporate parties' venue decorations:

1. Backdrop/stage - A professional build up scene depicting the party theme can have pyrotechnics, dry ice and special effects like laser shows. For example to create a sea effect, have blue spot ligts shining on several long stripes of cloth held by a few people at both ends and dry ice will do the trick. Or hang a lot of balloons with confetti around the party venue and electronically burst them.

2. The real thing - some parties have the real car on display for example a corporate dinner my friend attended at a bank had seen their CEO riding a Harley Davidson bike into the hotel ballroom. I attended a party where a "ship" (made of scissors lift beneath and some wooden construction covering) sailed into the ballroom and the pirates were the CEO, GM and staff. It was really impressive!

Outdoor Party Decorations

Depending on the venue, some outdoor areas like up in the mountain need very little decorations. For example, if you are planning to transform your outdoor venue to match your Garden theme or Outback theme, you will have to put together a flower arch and sign board, a banner with a man riding a horse and a rope etc. Try designing and planning your theme close to the natural environment so that you spent minimal on decorating the whole place. Use matching nature decorations, for example, pine cones, flowers, rocks and stones for a garden theme or if you are having a beach party cum BBQ, you can have seashells, mini surf boards, shovel and buckets for decorations.

Having an outdoor party means you will be exposed to all the elements of nature, that includes insects, ants etc Ensure you have all your food and drinks covered and chilled in the ice cooler.

Another major consideration when you organise outdoor parties is the weather. You will have to put up party decorations that will be able to withstand the afternoon heat, rain and wind. When you are planning for an outdoor party, always plan for an alternative party venue should it rain heavily. If you are organising a party at night, ensure that you have sufficient lights and lighted signboards.

These are some items to consider when you decide on purchasing or making your own the party decorations:

1. Banners/Personalised banners

2. Cut outs

3. Garlands

4. Centrepieces

5. Stickers

6. Hanging decorations

7. Tissue decorations

8. Confetti

9. Door decorations

10. Signs

11. Window clings