How To Plan A Gathering (and stick to it!) - Part 1
So you want to host a gathering. Maybe there’s a holiday coming up or you want to throw a birthday party for your child. Maybe you’re in charge of planning a massive family reunion or you just want to gather some friends over for dinner. No matter how big or small the gathering is, there is always some kind of planning involved. And the planning stage is where a lot of people get overwhelmed (and decide to just give up on the gathering altogether). I hear ya friend, it can be extremely overwhelming! Even for someone who has spent YEARS planning a variety of gatherings, it can still be very intimidating and nerve wracking.
But I also think the planning stage can be a really wonderful and fun experience. Honestly, you’ll probably spend more time in the planning stage than in the actual gathering itself! So if you don’t enjoy putting in the planning time and energy, then you’ll be drained from the joy of hosting and the gathering won’t be worth it (or at the very least, you’ll be less likely to do it again in the future).
So, that means the goal should be to make the planning process one that you enjoy coming back to, time and time again. I am by no means an expert, but I thought that if I shared my process, it might be helpful! I’ll further explain each of these steps in additional blog posts, but here’s the basic checklist I always run through when I plan any gathering:
What are my strengths + personality as a host
Who are the guests I am inviting
What season, time of day, setting will this gathering take place in
Review all my inspiration lists + sources
Create a budget
Set a realistic timeline
Write out a list of all my fears, and then get over them
Sometimes I switch up the order of this list, but I always take into account each point. I spend time with each bullet point (even that last one) and really try to think intentionally about each one. After I’ve done that, I’ve found I have so much more confidence in hosting my gathering, and not giving up halfway through or being turned off from hosting in the future!
Because I could literally talk on this topic for hours (I’ve actually done so before, a few times), I am breaking this up into a series of posts! I’ll be diving deeper into each of my checklist’s bullet points, talking about my own process and how you can apply them to create your own process that works for you!
So stay tuned for Part Two: Thinking about your own strengths + personality as a host.