Some Random Business Thoughts as the Holidays Approach
Feeling the rush yet? You should be feeling hyped or pressure, whichever applies, by now. The holidays are coming and the parties are getting hectic. Before we even talk about handling with the stress, let’s talk about why we want this kind of business stress in our lives as party planners.
Being hectic, being pushed to the limit, being at our wit’s end means there’s BUSINESS. And, that’s what we want right? With increasing demands comes increasing competition. Competition for what, you ask? Competition for just about everything: supplies, manpower, clients… Name it, it’s there. So what exactly is the best party planning business strategy for the holidays?
DRIFTING.
Inspiration for this post came when I saw a clip of a drifting car on television. Seriously, those drivers know what they’re doing! They take their powerful vehicles and just rush full speed ahead… The thing about drifting cars that really amazed me is their ability to keep the competition from passing them by blocking the entry points. They steer and brake with laser-like precision, their moves are calculated in a way that they make no mistakes.
The service business during the holiday rush can be compared to this. If your “machine” can handle the pressure of rushing full speed ahead of the competition (you have enough manpower, resources and supplies) and you have a system that could effortlessly let you handle a multitude of clients every single week, you won’t be scared to leave your competition in the dust.
That thought was my metaphor for business, if you do want to go into the real drifting scene, you might need a good auto insurance partner to help you out.
Budget Travel Plans for a Bachelorette Travel Party
Some bachelorette’s would rather travel than hold a party. What are the pros and cons of holding your bachelorette party in an unfamiliar but exciting city?
Pros: It’s an adventure and you can really have the time of your life visiting landmarks with a few close friends.
Cons: You can only bring a few friends (and most of them will have to bring their own pocket money), and you need to go budget everything!
The first budget tip for travelling with your friends is to join a travel group that’s looking for more members. Package tours are a lot cheaper than the ordinary plans, and there are a lot of ads in classified sections looking for new recruits to their package tours. Here are some of the things that you should consider when travelling with a group:
- Are the other members easy to get along with or will they shush you all the time when you excitedly exclaim your delight at travelling to a new location?
- Are the travel arrangements flexible? The operators of group tours will be the ones to find the best accommodations and fares for you, but this fact will make it a bit difficult to stray off the group to do some adventuring on your own.
If you decide to go at it alone without a travel group, the things you need to take note of are accommodations and transportation.
For example, in a huge city like New York, it’s pretty difficult to find a budget hotel to stay in if you don’t plan ahead. And, if you use your money on too many cab rides to travel around just looking for a place to stay, you might spend all your pocket money on just transporation. There are a lot of budget types that are modern and filed with state-of-the-art amenities like private baths and cable television.
*This post is a part of the advertising campaign of our sponsor Newark Airport Shuttle.
What’s in a Party Planner’s Home Office?
So… what’s in your home office?
They say that a party planner mst be organized so that she knows which file goes where, which project proposals go to which folder… Sure, a computer is good for these things but there are certain files that need hard copies; as in, papers in shelves.
A fashion designer’s office will be filled with fabrics and hangers, manequins, lint brushes and maybe a space for a laptop and a chair…
A publisher’s home office will be filled with magazines of past issues, manuscripts from writers and a corkboard with a timeline…
A party planner’s home office will be filled with…. EVERYTHING and more.
She will have a space for party supplies, a gallery of framed photos from previous party set ups, a shelf full of books on crafts, and a tableful of crafts. There will also be places adorned with a multitude of corkboards in several colors (color coded for a semblance of organization) and several phone units.
Is a busy party planner disorganized? Absolutely not! A disorganized person will have difficulty looking for things because everything’s a mess. A party planner knows where everything is and sometimes, the only reason why she does not fix her stuff is because she doesn’t want to search through organized boxes for the things she needs A.S.A.P.
There is order in disorder. And to someone who thrives in this kind of world, it all makes sense. The best office furniture for a party planner will comprise a very long multipurpose table, which can be her desk, her craft work space, her computer area and her doodling/brainstorming place. She will have a swivel chair with wheels so that it’s easier to move from one end of the table to the other.
A home office is where the party planner works her magic and it’s very entertaining watching one navigate through the multitude of stuff in it.
A Party for a Dieter: Mind the Carbs and the Cals
Dieters have special needs for a party. For one, the food must comprise low carb and low calorie recipes that are garnished well to look yummy and tasty, but still healthy! Here are a few recipes that you can use when the celebrant is a dieter and not up to eating the sugar-coated cakes and pastries that are staple in non-dieter’s parties.
Vegetable Quiche without the Crust
You will need:
one tablespoon vegetable oil
one chopped onion, chopped
10 ounces (one pack) chopped spinach, must be thoroughly drained
eggs beaten (5 medium pieces)
three cups cheese (grated)
one fourth teaspoon salt
one-eight teaspoon ground black pepper
What you need to do:
1. Oven must be preheated to 175 degrees C.
2. Lightly grease a 9 inch pie pan.
2. Sautee onions and spinach in extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onions until soft. Stir in the spinach and sautee until dry.
3. Combine the eggs, cheese, salt and pepper in a bowl and add the sauteed vegetable mixtue.
4. Scoop the mixture in a backing pan
5. Bake until eggs have set, approximately 20-30 minutes. Wait 10 minutes to cool before serving.
Party Tip: You may ask a nutritionist to do a sort-of peptalk about dieting, or to discuss the new methods of losing weight like alli weight loss
