Using the Internet to Pull Your Party Together


As a parent, you are probably surrounded by inspiration for parties at every turn. Whether you pick up these ideas at the parties that your children attend, from magazine articles, or from school projects your child may bring home, the ideas can be found everywhere. In this article, I'll cover a few ways I use the Internet to generate themes and specific creative elements for events.

First, I find Pinterest to be an invaluable resource. Pinners to this virtual bulletin board collect ideas from around the Internet and Pinterest makes it easy to follow the electronic trail to the original sites for more details. There are some incredibly creative people out there, and aggregating so much of that creativity in one spot makes Pinterest the first place I look for ideas. My own Pinterest boards can be found at pinterest.com/eventsbylaura .

A basic Google search is another good way to track down ideas, especially if you have a theme in mind. Entering your suggested team will reveal many websites published by hosts who have already typically done a significant amount of research themselves. Alternatively, putting your search term and as a Google Image search will help you quickly narrowed down sites that will be useful to you based on overall aesthetic or details.

Birthday Party Ideas is a tremendous collection of party inspiration. There is a huge list of party themes and ideas, and if they even break them down by age. For just about any given party, there are many entries submitted, so you can review all the parties in a given subsection and pull the ideas from each that most appeal to you.

Sometimes the real challenge can be finding excellent ideas on Pinterest but being unsure how to execute them. If you find yourself becoming frustrated looking at final products, it may help to approach the problem from the opposite direction. Looking through sites like Save On Crafts and Oriental Trading will spark ideas while giving you access to the component pieces you will need at great prices. Once you have a feel for what you’ve got to work with you can build on that.

Kara’s Party Ideas features a directory full of incredible event inspiration as well as a shop where you can start pulling all of those ideas together.  It’s an easy way to find both the creative ideas for an unforgettable event and a great spot to pick up all of the perfect details for any party.

The Internet is an incredible resource as you begin pulling your party together. Have you found other approaches or websites that you find especially useful?  Leave a comment below to share your resources.

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Ask The Party Planner is a biweekly blog written by Laura Floyd, owner of Laura Floyd Events, LLC (www.LauraFloydEvents.com).