When you host a party offsite, you will want to add a few things to your party plan to help make the party a success without adding stress! My goddaughter turned 15 this summer and had her birthday party at a local restaurant. Because I love hosting parties, I offered to take care of all of the decorations for the party. That’s when I realized that I would need to prepare a little differently.

1. When you pack up what you need – organize everything by function: food, place settings, decorations, cake table, flowers, etc. That way, you can just pull out what you need when you need it. It also makes it easy to delegate…”Would you set the table please…here is everything you need.”

2. Always bring scissors and tape – even if you don’t think you will need it. And a Sharpie – you can never find a Sharpie when you need it.

3. To me, every party needs flowers. I can go overboard with flowers – and have – but you gotta have at least a bouquet. For a recent party for my goddaughter, I had 7 bouquets. 1 medium bouquet and 6 small ones. So how do you get them there? First, make sure to create the bouquets ahead of time – you don’t want to rush cutting and arranging flowers. Second, hold them together with small rubber bands – then you can just pop them in the vases. Third, pack them in a cooler bag with a cooler pack or a small bit of water. The insulated container helps prevent bruising because of the soft cushion and you keep them fresh with water.

And seriously, how cute is my goddaughter?

Please forgive the pun in my title, I was watching Sex & The City while writing this post.