Tuesday 17 June 2014

Party planners -to hire or not to hire? That is the question

Would you hire a stylist or party planner?

There seems to be two camps and money is a huge consideration. Once you factor in cakes, food, party entertainer etc.

But here's what I've come to realise, yes hiring someone can be an expensive exercise but believe me, we party planners/stylists earn every penny of our money and are sometimes left with very little profit. I don't mean to sound negative, I just want to make people outside of the industry understand the value of enlisting a planner.

I'll start, therefore, with the obvious benefits, (which I'm sure you already know anyhow):
-You save time!!
Captain Obvious or what? I hear you shout. Seriously though, there are so many hours involved at craft shops, on the internet, painstakingly tackling glue guns and labels into the hours of the night. Making sure bows are tied to perfection, putting craft flat packs together, you get the idea. The hours a stylist puts into your party are normally not billable (think how many hours that amounts to? Many many late nights let me assure you). We generally just bill our time for the work setting up on the day. Such is the nature of this beast.

-You don't have to store anything!!
That's my biggest selling point really. As silly as it may sound, there can be nothing worse than  spending your hard earned dinero on props which  quite frankly may never see the light of day and where do you put all this stuff afterwards? Gumtree or Ebay probably have that answer.
(Unless like us you like storing tea-cups and cake stands in obscure places around your house!!)
-Style
Stands to reason that your stylist would have some beautiful items and fabulous taste.  Not to say you don't but think about it, to put a styled buffet table together from scratch to suit a theme you require table linen, runners to match, stands, jars, ribbons..the list is endless. Your planner/stylist over the years has collected enough to style something beautiful.  Experience in the field and a knowledge of  colour palettes, food décor and quantities can really be very beneficial.

-You get to relax a bit and perhaps focus on other elements of the party. Making sure you and your venue is presentable for example.


In a nutshell, I would say it just saves you a headache. I have heard many a mum say, "it's a labour of love" after planning their own parties.

Our best customers, have undoubtedly been the 'here's my date' you get on with it and invoice me afterwards ones but we recognise that not everyone has this type of budget. of course, but please  do not devalue the work. Doing it yourself nicely costs a fortune and you can not put a price on the time you'll devote to the cause.

The other benefits?
-Well tidying up for one, your stylist can deliver and pack away (this depends what you've worked out of course) saving you cleaning time.
-Mentioned above, hours and hours of prep, you don't have to spend hours liaising with a graphic designer organising printables, find the right card, labels to print on or take to a printers.  Or nip in and out and in and out and in again to craft stores such as Spotlight.
-The hard work has been done. Your stylist has spent hours finding quality products and catering and no doubt done some hard negotiating in the process.  You have the benefit of having a choice of the best suppliers, many of which won't deal with the public and you really can leave us to it.


If you hire a planner or stylist, I would strongly recommend spending a bit more and asking them to take care of the entire event, invitations,  goodie bags, food, styling, all of it...leaving you to  kick back and enjoy the party!!!

In summary, why wouldn't you hire one? :-)



1 comment:

  1. That’s a nice post! Thanks for sharing it. I am also looking for various party vendors for my party. We have booked one of party venues in Chicago. Now thinking that hiring a party planner would be beneficial as he can help in arranging it perfectly.

    ReplyDelete