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Your best friend is getting married. She's excited, you're excited. And you want to send her off with a big bang. But you don't have a lot of money to spend. Don't worry; most parties can be done fairly cheaply. You just have to be a bit more creative.

Planning a party doesn't take a lot of experience; just an organized outlook and the willingness to make sure things get done when they have to be done. You need to have a game plan and stick to it.

Things to do three weeks before the party:

First thing you need to do is create a guest list. Unless this is a surprise shower, ask the bride who she would like to invite to the shower. Who comes will help you decide on the theme of the party. You don't want to host a sexy bedroom shower if the bride's 80-year-old grandmother is going to be there.

Once you know how many people will be invited, you'll need to find a location to have the shower. This can be a very costly part of the planning, unless you are careful. Will there be less than twenty people at the shower? Why not find a friend of the bride, or groom, who has a large backyard and ask them if you can have the party there. Most people would be happy to oblige. More than twenty people coming? Ask around and see if anyone has access to a homeowner's clubhouse, or assembly hall they can rent for a discounted amount. Many housing tracks have clubhouses and do rent them out inexpensively.

Choosing a theme is the best part of planning a party. Does your bride love to cook? Host a kitchen shower. Is she a romantic? How about a bedroom one? Ask the bride what kind of party she'd like and I'm sure you'll get lots of ideas.

Send the invitations out. The neatest invitations are the ones you make yourself. Get a nice picture of the happy couple and have enough prints made so there is one picture for each invitation, and one extra for the bride's book. Cut the pictures into the shape of a heart, with the couple in the center. Then glue the pictures onto white paper doilies. You can leave it as is, or use stickers and cutouts to dress it up. Print the party information; date, time, location, theme, on the back of the doilies and slip them into an envelope for mailing. Simple and attractive invitations.

Plan the kinds of decorations you will have. There are many inexpensive ways to decorate a party. Helium balloons are a wonderful decoration tool. They come in many colors and you can get a lot of them for a good price, especially if you order early. Use them to decorate the front of the party location, the walkway, the party room, etc. Another pretty, and reasonable, decoration is having bud vases with the bride's favorite flower on the tables.

If you have enough time, you can make a happy couple collage. Buy a school science project display board, you can find them at office supply stores, and cover it with pictures of the happy couple as children, adolescents and adults. Asking the couple's parents for pictures you can use, or get copies of and return. When you are making this be sure to leave enough room between the pictures for the guests to write a special message to the happy couple, giving them a treasured memento for years to come.

Plan your menu. Will this be a garden party, with sandwiches and tea? Or will it be a more formal sit-down affair? Having an event in the mid-afternoon usually means appetizers and snack foods. Having it at the noon hour usually means a luncheon style party. How big your budget is will dictate what kind of foods you can afford to serve. Parties with many appetizers are, in my opinion, more fun than parties with formal service. Guests feel free to mingle, without worrying about where they have to sit, etc. Easy party finger foods are spinach dip bowls with bread, pigs in blankets, mini sandwiches, vegetable trays, fruit and cheese trays, and shrimp trays. Deserts can be as simple as a nicely decorated cake with a wedding theme.

A few days before the party, call anyone who hasn't RSVP you and make sure you've bought the food, drinks and have the decorations ready.

Don't forget to ask for help. Planning and executing a party is hard work. Asking for help will make the party smoother and more fun, both for bride and guests, and you. These are the things you need to think of when planning your party.

About the Author

Dawn Arkin love to plan parties and especially enjoys planning wedding showers. This article has been submitted in affiliation with http://www.Prye.Com/ which is a site for Wedding Invitations.