A inviting and attractive dance floor can often be one of the focal points of your event or party, so make sure you get it right on the night. Most venues have a dance floor already but you may need to rent one from an event hire company if your party is to be held in a marquee or an unusual venue.  You may even need to hire a dance floor if you are catering for two different generations of dancers. Teeny boppers won’t want to mix on the dancefloor with their sedately waltzing grandparents! Read more »

Decorative ribbon ideas can be used as a cheap and delightful way to enhance your party or event in all sorts of different ways. Satin, chiffon, velvet or gingham ribbon comes in hundreds of different colours and is available in a multitude of varying widths. Beautiful multi-coloured or matching ribbons are perfect for decorating banqueting chairs, floral arrangements, table-centres, napkins, formal cakes, wedding favours and even entrance ways  Check out these ribbon ideas for your next event. Read more »

The location of your party venue is important, as is the amount of available parking and access. Make sure that your venue is well within range of main arterial routes, especially  if you have a number of guests coming from afar. Try to choose a venue with a good setting if your guests will be arriving in daylight. Be very cautious about picking a venue way up a narrow country lane if you are planning a Christmas or New Year’s Eve party, what can appear ideal in summer may become impassable in winter snow. Read more »

If you nervous about choosing wine for your party but fortunate enough to be holding your event at a reputable venue it may be as well to simply hand over the responsibility of choice to the sommelier or banqueting manager whose job it is to match the right wine with the food and the occasion. If however you want to have the fun and satisfaction of organising the wine yourself read our brief wine summary.

Classified by regions and type, wines are to be found under recognisable names such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Rhone, Loire, Alsace, Rioja, Barolo, Chablis, Chardonnay, Reisling, Muscadet, Sauterne, South African, New World, Australian, Rosé, Champagne, Sparkling Wine and Port Wine. Read more »

Confetti cones are ideal not just for wedding petals but also at parties to hold coloured sweets or chocolate dragees for your guests. They are very easy and cheap to produce yourself- so here’s how to make confetti cones.

Buy a piece of Perspex cut to 8 or 10 inches square, depending on the size of cone you want, and glue some kind of handle to it so that you can hold it easily. Next buy several large sheets of handmade paper, in whichever colour you want, and spray the paper (unless it is already very stiff) with a household starch, then hang the paper to dry for at least a day. 

Once the paper is completely dry, layout it out flat and using a very sharp craft knife cut right round your Perspex square as many times as you can to create stiff squares of paper. These squares can then be carefully rolled into a cone and glued down one edge. When the glue is set and you have a batch of nice solid to handle, perfectly formed confetti cones you can then decorate them with small bows or flowers etc. You may have to practice once or twice to get the perfect shape but you will soon get into a creative rhythm.

See below the selection that we made ourselves to test out our theory – these confetti cones look great don’t they and they really were very straight forward and great fun to make!

Table and seating plans are one of the major planning tasks, epecially for large events, parties or weddings. Putting the right guests at the right tables can at first appear complicated to sort out, especially if you can’t get your guests to confirm quickly whether or not they are attending you event. However  if you break the whole project down into a logical piece by piece exercise it is not nearly so daunting. Follow these simple rules for table and seating planning and you won’t go far wrong. Read more »

There are lots of wonderful decorative butterfly ideas that can transform the look of your party or wedding. Using a butterly theme is perfect for summer parties, especially when combining butterflies with floral decoration. Check out these butterfly ideas shown below for your next event. Some of the photos show very realistic looking butterflies - please don’t worry these are not in fact real butterflies they are simply convincing imitations made from feathers and then hand painted. Clever aren’t they! Read more »