Pick A Date & Time

date

 

Choosing  a date

Sounds simple doesn’t it?  Just pull out your calendar and point to a day and magically it is decided or maybe not so fast.

Lets start with this example:

You want to throw an open house for Christmas.  Christmas falls on a Thursday and the weekends (Saturday/Sunday) prior are on 12/13 & 14 and 12/20 & 21.  So, great you can have the party on either Saturday, right? Might work but have you considered how many of your projected invitees will be obligated to attend family or work Christmas celebrations on those dates?  Generally speaking, the prime date for all parties would me the Saturday (12/20) before Christmas in this scenario.  So, maybe your best bet for a better turn out would be on Saturday, 12/13.  Another option would be the Friday’s or Sunday’s before but remember; a lot of folks work those days and they might not get off in time or be too tired to party or they don’t want to attend two parties on the same weekend.  The Sunday’s prior to Christmas have other potential issues; church, family time and/or the fact that many folks have to get up and work the next day (Monday).

The prior scenario (Christmas) is just one holiday to be considered when choosing a date for your soiree.  Always consider all holidays, likely days off surrounding holidays and the actual holiday date.

Example: 

You are planning a sweet sixteen for your daughter and her birthday is on 2/13, which this year falls on a Thursday.  In this instance it might be wise to set 12/14 (Valentine’s Day) as the date as it would fall on Friday (allowing kids to better attend since this would not be a school might) and better yet, you could incorporate the birthday with valentines.  A win-win in my book in less of course, your daughter hates hearts then its back to the drawing board!

Other dates to avoid or consider:

  • President’s Day
  • Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)
  • Ash Wednesday
  • St. Patrick’s Day
  • Palm Sunday
  • First Day of Passover
  • Holy Thursday
  • Good Friday
  • Easter Sunday
  • Last Day of Passover
  • Labor Day
  • Cinco de Mayo
  • Mother’s Day
  • Memorial Day
  • Father’s Day
  • Independence Day
  • Labor Day
  • Rosh Hashanah
  • Yom Kippur
  • Columbus Day
  • Halloween
  • Election Day
  • Veteran’s Day
  • Thanksgiving Day
  • First and last day of Hanukkah
  • Christmas
  • New Year’s Day

Seasonal issues:

Summer- great for kids events, sports and outdoor weddings but will compete with everyone else thinking the same thing, so,plan to save the date to ensure optimum attendance.

Fall-Back to school, late family vacations and of course, football. Might be too late in the season for outdoor affairs, depending on your location.

Winter-Usually to cold and wet for outdoor events. Jam packed with holidays that require obligatory attendance.  Requires careful planning to pick the best date.

Spring-Rain, Lenten season, baseball/soccer, graduations.

Time Considerations:

If you choose a time for your event that falls over regular eating times then you must consider feeding your guests as appropriate.

If you are serving alcohol, you really should provide your guests with appetizers, lunch or dinner. You should also be able to provide your guests with safe rides home.

If your event spans a great deal of time or alcohol, you may want to consider more than one meal.

If kids are present, consider having a kids buffet table.  Having cake and punch is NOT going to make the parents happy.  Kids require more than just sugar or they are likely going to misbehave.  This goes for some adults too.