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Module: 2

Understanding Types of Parties

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As a professional party planner, it will amaze you over the course of your career how many different

party ideas and themes you might be asked to throw. Whether you specialize in a specific type of party

or you offer your services to all celebratory events, it’s essential that you know the basics of each party

type and the possibilities associated with each. Depending on the type of party you are planning, your

process can be quite different. For instance, working with a business to throw a corporate fundraising

event will look very different than working with a family throwing their daughter’s bridal shower. The

elements involved for each party will vary, some needing just a basic concept and itinerary while others

will need props, staff, vendors, and multiple other pieces that all need to fall carefully in place. As you

study the types of parties a party planner might throw, remember that all clients offer their own unique

perspectives and desires, from traditional, eclectic, and even bazaar, each party you plan will have it’s

own special qualities.

What you’ll learn in this module:

2.1 Beauty Parties

2.2 Kids’ Parties

2.3 Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties

2.4 Showers

2.5 Birthday Parties

2.6 Weddings

2.7 Cocktail Parties

2.8 Other Parties

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2.1 Beauty Parties

Beauty parties create an occasion for friends and family to meet up and get pampered together!

Whether held at a luxurious spa or in the home of a hostess, these parties focus on indulgence,

health and beauty for all of the participants.

Here is a bit of what you could expect to find at a beauty party:

massage

facials

make-up application

drinks and treats

manicures and pedicures

reflexology

waxing

spray tanning

hair treatments

eyelash enhancement

aromatherapy

body detox

and more!

There are many reasons people look to participate in beauty parties, including: bachelorette parties,

girls’nights, birthday parties, engagement parties, baby showers, office parties, house warming

parties and leaving parties—pretty much any occasion to get together and indulge.

The popularity of beauty parties is growing, and that means fantastic beauty party planners are in

high demand. In order to throw a great party, you must be fun-loving, creative, helpful, friendly,

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organized, detail-oriented and able to help your guests relax. You need to have unique techniques to

make your clients feel extra special, and to create a memorable experience for everyone in

attendance. You never know—one of today’s party attendees could be tomorrow’s paying client!

Make a lasting impression.

When it comes to actually planning a party, communicating with your clients is key. It would be

impossible to throw a party that your guests will enjoy if you don’t know what it is your guests want!

Make sure to discuss the details and get a clear understanding of their expectations. After all, there

are many types of beauty parties to choose from.

There are five main types of beauty parties that potential clients are waiting to experience right now:

Relaxation Parties, Make-up Training Parties, Mani-Pedi Parties, Beauty Treatment Parties and Health &

Beauty Parties.

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all beauty party. Each party should be designed to suit the needs

and desires of the specific participants. It is important to understand the different party types in order to

ensure the best experience for the guests. Make sure your clients have a clear understanding of the party

type in which they are going to participate.

Clearly everyone would love an elaborate, fully indulgent party, but it’s important to have a clear

understanding of the funds you and your clients have available. When planning the party, have a clear

budget and plan in mind—and stick to it! After all, if you go over budget and have to pull from your

private resources, that is money out of your pocket, and your business won’t last long.

Finally, you need to put a lot of time and thought into your business branding. Have a clear idea of what

you want to be known for and what you want to specialize in before you put too much money into

marketing and advertising. And don’t forget that advertising can’t compare to word-of-mouth referrals.

Protect your reputation and and maintain high business standards, and you’ll be sure to book clients for

years to come.

For more on becoming a beauty party planner, see our expertly designed course:

http://trendimi.com/beauty-party-planner

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2.2 Kids’ Parties

If you have ever tuned into to a half hour episode of “My Super Sweet 16”, you will have a pretty

good idea of how far some parents are willing to go to plan the biggest party in the neighborhood in

honor of their child.

But going all out to celebrate their children is not simply a trend for the rich and famous. Wal-Mart

owned retailer Asda, suggested that the average parent spends around $30,000 on 21 years’ worth

of birthday parties for each of their children. Some parents are suggested to spend more than $780

every year on birthday parties alone.

Throwing the best bash is not limited to countries like America. In fact, it is a glowing global trend.

Parents in countries like Uzbekistan are lamenting the expectations placed up on parents to not only

provide an exciting party for their children’s friends but for the parents of the other children as well.

These growing expectations are not only limited to birthday parties but have filtered over into other

traditional and non-traditional types of parties.

As a party planner, you will experience four main categories of kids’ parties. These categories include:

Kids’ Birthday Parties

Kids’ Holiday Parties

Kids’ Religious Parties

Other Kids’ Parties

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Depending on your geographic area, the bulk of your requests will often come from clients looking to

enlist you to plan their child’s birthday party. But as kids’ parties continue down a trend of becoming

more elaborate and expensive, you may begin to see a growth in parties that are not designed

specifically to celebrate a birthday.

Kids’ holiday parties often make up a minority of party planning services requested. However, you

should not be surprised if find yourself throwing a kids’ holiday party in celebration of Halloween,

Christmas or even New Years’ Eve.

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Kids’ religious parties are another service that you may encounter. Religious and cultural parties may

include first communions, baptisms, bat mitzvahs, bar mitzvahs, confirmations bris, or even aqiqahs. All

of these religious rituals are celebrated with food, family, friends and quite often, a small feast.

While many families preferred to celebrate these special moments at home, bigger parties are becoming

more common.

You will often share this section of the market with general party planners but it helps to have an

understanding of the different religious events that involve children so that you can actively market

your business to them.

A party that falls under the category of “other” is means just this. You may get requests from clients for

organizing a children’s party that is not in celebration of an event at all. You could find yourself

organizing a party for children that has no real catalyst other than simply throwing a party. While

this type of event will be rare and often dependent on your local market, it is important to keep this type

of event in mind. As a dynamic party planner, you must know how to throw a party that is not a birthday

party!

2.3 Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties

Planning and executing a bachelor or bachelorette party is a unique experience in the party-planning

industry. The reason for this is that your client and the target audience are not the same person this

time. In ordinary party planning, the client is the person whose opinion matters the most. This person is

often the host of the party, and will be the person whose recommendation will help to drive further

business. However, in the case of the bachelor and bachelorette party, the client is usually one of the

members of the bridal party, but the person you need to please most is the bride or groom.

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Armed with an effective plan of action and a thorough knowledge of the bride’s or groom’s tastes, you

can create a party experience that your clients will talk about for years to come

2.4 Showers

Showers are celebratory events that center around preparing the recipient for their life ahead. From

invitations, refreshments, favors, decorations, games, and more, the person being honored is

surrounded by those closest to her and receives surprises, advice, presents, and anecdotes related to the

celebration.

There are two very popular types of showers that are given: the bridal shower and the baby shower.

2.4.1 Bridal showers

A bridal shower is a pre-wedding tradition for the bride to be in which all of the female friends and

family who are invited to the wedding “shower” her with gifts, love, and celebration. It is common for

the mother-of-the-bride, maid-of-honor, or the bridal party to host the shower, although anyone close to

the bride can throw the party.

Often a daytime event, the party centers on a lunch or brunch and the opening of gifts that couples’ have

pre-registered for prior to the event. Loved ones give everything from cookware, china, bedding, and

household décor so that the newlyweds can begin their marriage in a home that is prepared for their life

ahead. As gifts are opened, it is the custom for the bridesmaids to compile all of the colorful bows that

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adorned the presents to create a makeshift, handheld bouquet that the bride can use as she practices her

walk down the aisle the night of the rehearsal.

At the shower, guests usually participate in a variety of games, from quizzes about the bride and groom

to activities like team challenges to create the best wedding dress out of toilet paper or streamers.

Toasted with cocktails like mimosas or sangria, the bride’s countdown of the final month or two before

the wedding is marked by this event.

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2.4.2 Baby showers and more

A baby shower, much like a bridal one, is made up of the mother-to-be’s female acquaintances and

friends who are honoring the joy surrounding the soon-to-be newborn. A lot of the festivities are the

same, although they are more baby centered gifts or items that will make motherhood more convenient

after baby arrives. A color palette of pink for a girl, blue for a boy, or green and yellow if the gender is

not yet known is the custom.

As when celebrating a marriage, the celebration of a new baby brings forth games, activities, a cake or

cupcakes, cocktails and light fare. Streamers, balloons, and flowers might adorn the room for the festive

occasion.

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Although many women opt for traditional wedding and baby showers, it is not unknown for some guests

of honor to steer in a less-traditional, structured direction. For instance, many the idea of celebrating

only the bride or new mom is considered outdated to many young couples. Therefore, they choose to

host their own “Jack and Jill” party. A Jack and Jill is a form of a shower, but includes the bride and groom

in the case of a wedding or the soon-to-be mother and father in the event of a baby. At this type of

shower, male and female guests are welcome as all guests celebrate the couple and their upcoming big

day.

When major life events like marriage or the birth of a baby are coming up, it is customary to celebrate

these events if you know the bride or new mom well. Workplace parties are often thrown in addition to

the traditional family and friend ones because work acquaintances who interact with the woman each

day want to celebrate her, even if they weren’t all included in the bridal or baby shower invites. In this

generally well accepted as proper etiquette, since many of the family-centered events are more intimate.

2.5 Birthday parties

Celebrating the anniversary of the year someone was born is the basic concept of a birthday party.

People celebrate their birthdays in fun, unique, or unusual ways each year. Traditionally, birthday

celebrations consist of gift giving, decorations, a birthday cake that has the number of candles that

coincides with the person’s age, and singing the notorious “Happy Birthday” song to honor the

individual.

2.5.1 Early years

Children’s birthday parties tend to receive a lot of attention, whether it’s in the form of a small family

gathering or a large event with friends and classmates. A child’s first birthday party is marked as a very

special occasion to the parents. The child is the recipient of a number of gifts, endless amount of family

pictures and videos, and his or her first introduction to trying to blow out the single candle on top of the

cake.

As a child gets older, his or her birthday parties become more active, focusing on themes and events,

snacks and junk food, and games and activities to entertain large groups of children at once.

Entertainment like clowns, magicians, petting zoos, characters like superheroes or princesses, and

musicians might be hired to keep the little ones engaged throughout the party.

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Depending on what the child’s interests might be, a theme is often assigned to each of those early

birthday years, from Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Power Rangers, or the Teenage Mutant Ninja

Turtles, kids’ birthday parties include decorative elements that highlight their favorite shows,

characters, and activities.

Once kids start to reach the turn of adolescence, their parties become less animated and focus more on

time spent with close friends. The number of children invited to adolescent parties diminishes and girls

will often opt to celebrate with a few good friends at a slumber party and boys might have a group of

boys over to play videogames or play sports for the afternoon. It isn’t until the mid-teen years that

children make the transition for birthdays of these early years to the milestone birthdays that will

become relevant in the years ahead.

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2.5.2 Milestone birthdays

All birthdays are meant to be celebrated and special, but when it comes to milestone birthdays, they

tend to be somewhat more special than all the rest. Depending on the age and the recipient, milestone

birthdays can be approached with a sense of seriousness, pride, humor, or even ridicule for those with a

thicker skin.

Bar and Bat Mitzvah – a Jewish tradition honoring the daughter or son on the 12th birthday for a girl

and 13thbirthday for a boy. At this age, Jewish law considers these adolescents responsible for their

actions, marking a transition from childhood antics to the ability to make reasonable decisions of right

versus wrong. Parties are surrounding the religious ceremonies and include singing, dancing, prayer

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services, and readings from the Torah. Decorations, cake, and gifts are given to honor this special stage

in life.

Quinceañera – a Hispanic tradition that celebrates a young woman’s coming of age. In other words, like

a Sweet 16, a Quinceañera celebrates the transition for childhood to womanhood, but in this culture it

happens at the age of 15. Quinceañera’s are large, elaborate parties, where the young women often dress

in gowns that rival that of a wedding dress. All of the guests are required to dress formally, and the

family often holds the party at a large banquet hall, full with catering services and entertainment like a

DJ or band.

Sweet 16 – a Western tradition surrounding the 16th birthday, which is considered a right of passage

from adolescence toward the path to adulthood. The age of 16 is relevant because it is often the legal age

that someone is able to drive and the age at which one tends to consider their future endeavors like

college and job interests. Although it will be another year before applying to college, 16 year olds can

legally have a job and feel a level of financial independence from their parents. 16th birthday parties can

be big or small, simple or elaborate, and inexpensive or luxurious. While it isn’t required to gift one’s

child a car on their 16th birthday, families who are more financially well off will often do so. Sweet 16

parties are thrown for both boys and girls, but girls parties tend to a bigger deal since many special

traditions are included like candle ceremonies, father-daughter dances, show ceremonies, and the

passing of family heirlooms.

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18th birthday - while 18th birthday parties don’t tend to have a particular blueprint quite like the Sweet

16 or Quinceañera, large parties tend to be thrown to honor the official step into adulthood.

21st birthday – throwing large-scale 21st birthday parties are very popular among this age group,

because it’s the age that one can legally drink and order alcohol and party the night away. Spending the

party celebrating with friends, at times the birthday boy or girl will take trips to popular gambling cities

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or casinos like Las Vegas or Atlantic City since they are now able to partake in the activities hosted there.

21st birthdays are the last big widely celebrated event of adulthood that calls for a party. Usually next in

line for large party celebrations are weddings, engagements, and showers (if applicable) until the

individual turns 30.

30th birthday – this age tends to be the big bash that friends, family, or the guest-of-honor throws to

commemorate a transition from adult to professional adult. This is a time that most people have figured

out where they are going with their career, where they want to live, and what they want out of life,

resulting in a milestone birthday that they can financially handle and have control over that isn’t

muddled with some of the messiness of their early-twenties drinking days and late night dance parties.

These birthday parties are often more subdued, but still can be extravagant and fun, depending on the

individual.

50th birthday – often a huge celebration that might be thrown by a spouse, sibling, or children, the

50th birthday marks a half a century that someone has been living on earth. Gag gifts like “over-the-hill”

décor or candles that won’t extinguish when blown out are often used as ways to mock the older age of

the party recipient.

Every decade after 50 – milestone birthdays continue to be celebrated as one transitions from middle-

age into the older aged years. Whether it’s 60, 70, 80, 90, or even 100 years, for every decade one grows

older family often wants to commemorate it with large-scale parties that their loved one can remember,

surrounded by the people who love them the most.

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2.6 Weddings

Weddings are considered one of the most important and celebrated events in a person’s life. The joining

together of two individuals who love each other and want to share with the people most important to

them in their lives the special occasion. Every culture has its own set of wedding and marriage

traditions.

In Western culture, traditionally, after the engagement, the bride and groom will choose members of

their friends and family to become a part of their wedding party who will not only stand by them on the

special day but also accompany them on the journey over the course of the months or years leading up

to the wedding.

While a lot of parties and celebrations surround the wedding, it’s the wedding day itself that is the

pinnacle of beauty, coming together, and the union that joins the two together as a couple. Whether a

religious ceremony occurs, or a non-religious civil union, most weddings celebrate largely with a large

dinner, music, dancing, and extravagant decorations.

Here are the most common and recognizable components included at a wedding:

bridal party – a best man, maid-of-honor, groomsmen, bridesmaids, ring bearer, and flower girl, these

close relatives or friends will stand beside the couple on their big day.

the dress – traditionally, a white, elegant, elaborate dress is worn with a veil. Accents like jewels,

diamonds, or lace make the bride sparkle all day and night long.

the cake – the wedding cake industry is gigantic, as are the cakes that they create for the reception.

From small scale cakes to towering 7-tiered designs, everyone looks forward to the cake cutting

ceremony where the bride and groom feed one another, or, if they’re daring, shove the cake in their new

spouse’s face.

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entertainment – music and dancing is the epicenter of the wedding reception, including signature

dances between the bride and her father, the groom and his mother, and the couple’s dance that marks

their introduction to the world as man and wife.

flowers - roses are traditional, but many couple’s opt for more exotic bouquets, boutonnieres, and

center pieces to decorate their ceremony and reception sites.

vendors – a number of vendors are required for the day, from photographer, videographer, DJ, band,

photo booth operators, and more.

caterers – most weddings include a cocktail party, dinner, and dessert, making the need for a caterer

and wait staff a necessity.’

With endless amounts of details being put into a wedding, they can sometimes be simple and easy and

given in someone’s backyard, or they could be elaborate and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars at a

banquet hall with vaulted ceilings and crystal chandeliers. Some modern couple’s are choosing to have

get married on a beach destination that doubles as their honeymoon, and upon their return home throw

a reception party to honor their marriage with those they love.

2.7 Cocktail Parties

Cocktail parties, also referred to as mixers, are semi-formal social events where adults get together to

talk, network, and have fun. Of course, cocktails and other alcoholic drinks are served as well as light

refreshments.

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The fashion statement of a “little black dress” is the staple of a cocktail party for women, including

clutched purses and high heeled shoes, while men will typically wear suits and ties and dress shoes.

Cocktail parties can be thrown as corporate events, themed parties, or simply a get together at

someone’s home.

Some popular themes are the Great Gatsby and Roaring Twenties, Kentucky Derby party, Mexican fiesta,

1980’s dance party, casino night, or simply just a classy, traditional, non-themed event that keeps to a

classy style and black and white décor.

Focused on class, signature drinks, elegant decorations, and fun and unique ideas, cocktail parties

usually encompass a traditional invitation of some kind, excitement over getting dressed up, and

celebrating just for the sake of having a good time.

2.8 Other Parties

If there’s something to be celebrated, then there’s a party to be thrown. While this module has covered a

large range of the types of parties one might encounter, throw, or attend in their lifetime, there are so

many more possible party types to consider as well. Whether there’s a particular theme to consider or a

holiday or milestone, getting together with the people you care about is always exciting.

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Clients may call upon a party planner for even the most rare, unique, or unexpected of occasions. Here

are some of the additional types of parties you should know about as a party planner:

anniversary – usually wedding anniversaries are celebrated with a party at 25 or 30 years of marriage

or more.

holiday – Christmas and New Years Eve are the most common holiday parties people tend to throw, but

the 4th of July, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day and other events throughout the year tend to draw individuals

looking to use the benefit of the theme to throw a bash.

costume – it doesn’t just have to be Halloween to want to get dressed up in fun, silly, or sultry costumes.

Anything from toga, masquerade, and debutante balls to superhero, decade or retro celebrations, and

more.

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block – those lucky enough to live in friendly neighborhoods will be familiar with neighborhood

block parties. Usually thrown around Labor Day or Memorial Day, they often take place outside,

celebrate Americana type food like grilling, hotdogs, and hamburgers, and can be thrown in fun

ways that incorporate fun and games for family and adults alike.

graduation – whether it’s from high school or college, graduating is a huge time for people to

celebrate the achievements of young adults transitioning into another stage of life.

housewarming, going away, or welcome home – also considered a type of cocktail party, but at

times these types of parties can be quite casual. Food, drinks, and décor will be included and often

include the giving of a gift to the loved one making the transition in their locale.

Super Bowl or other sports themed parties – men aren’t the only ones who enjoy celebrating the

big game and food associated with Super Bowl Sunday, adults and children all enjoy the festivities

associated with celebrating their favorite teams and doing it with their friends and family members.