21 Hints, Tips & Ideas For Your 21st Birthday

Organising your 21st birthday can be a daunting task, especially if you have never organised a big party before. We’ve come up with 21 hints and tips for making sure your 21st birthday goes off without a hitch!

1. Make a plan – Multimillionaire Brian Tracey tells that writing your goals onto paper will increase the chances of reaching your goals by 1000% and that writing an action plan to achieve them will save 5 minutes for every minute you spend planning, and yet only 3% of adults write them down. If you want your 21st birthday to go down without a hitch we recommend think of everything first and work out what needs to be done.
2. Set a Budget – The next thing you need to do is decide how much you are going to spend. If you start spending without a budget you are going to spend more than you can imagine and worst case scenario, run out of funds to make your party a hit!
3. Check the date – Make sure that your friends aren’t having parties on the same night as you before you confirm the date. It will be a catastrophe and make it hard to get numbers to your party.
4. Make it on a Friday – I will let you in on a little secret in the hospitality industry, Saturday’s are busier than Fridays. These days everyone wants to have their party on a Saturday. As venues usually only have 1 room to offer this pushes the price up greatly, so schedule your party for a Friday night and ask your venue what kind of deal they can offer you, your DJ might be able to give you a good deal too.
5. Choose the right location – Location, Location, Location! Ok. You’re not buying real estate here but it does make a difference. Make sure most of your friends and relatives don’t have to spend too much time searching for parking or have to travel too far, and keep in mind where you might be travelling afterwards.
6. Find the perfect venue (on the net) – Location, room hire cost, drink prices, capacity, these are the things that you are going to have to think about when choosing a venue. It’s not real easy trying to find the best venue, we suggest checking out some of the great new aussie search engines for venues on the internet, they will tell you all the important details you need to know without having to drive from venue to venue asking questions.
7. Consider the weather – If your holding your 21st at home and possibly outdoors you might need to consider the weather. Look on the internet and see what the weather was like last year on that day!
8. Make sure it’s fully equipped – If you’re holding your 21st at home then you might be a little under-equipped for party supplies such as tables, chairs, marquees, wooden dance floors & outdoor heaters to name a few things. I was at a home wedding recently and unfortunately it was raining and the tarp they had just didn’t cover the place well and it was freezing. I recommend if it’s at home or outdoors, consider getting a professional marque and heater to keep the place warm. Check out Harry the Hirer for an excellent service that will have your private party more organised than some venues!
9. Let the neighbours know – If you’re not close with your neighbours it might be an idea to visit them and let them know, or at the very least write up a letter to warn them of the noise and reduce the chance of the police knocking on your door.
10. Get your invites out early – Plan ahead and get your invites out early, your friends will need to schedule that date into their calendars and make sure their available.
11. Request an RSVP – If you want to be certain that it’s going to be a real success request an RSVP and make sure you have the numbers before a set date before you give the go ahead.
12. Choose a theme – This might sound a little cheesy but it doesn’t have to be a costume party, perhaps something as simple as everyone needs to wear a hat, or some sunnies, another idea is for people to dress as something that starts with the first letter of their name.
13. Create a Facebook event – If you’ve got a facebook account, this is an easy way to get in touch with your friends. You will be surprised how many of your family and friends might already be online, and it’s very simple to create an event in your calendar and invite everyone along.
14. Design some cool invites – Invites can be more than formal letters to inform everyone the details of your party, have fun with the invite, perhaps add some humour and make it something that your friends will talk about.
15. Choose a new outfit – This is usually the thing that mostly girls will do, in fact they’ll buy an outfit for every occasion, but if it’s your 21st, then guys this is for you too! You need to be looking sharp on your special day so don’t be out dressed by your friends.
16. Decorate the venue – Whether you have hired your venue or it is at home, you might be expected to decorate it yourself. There are plenty of $2 shops around that have heaps of cool things to decorate your venue such as balloons, streamers, birthday banners and more.
17. Prepare for the speech – Time keeps moving forward and eventually it’s going to be time for your 21st speech. We know you’re not looking forward to it so choose your friends wisely. Maybe you could limit their speech time to 2 minutes each and this way there is less chance for social desctruction.
18. Make a slideshow – This is the story of your life, so make it something special and put together a slide show. Perhaps you have a willing family member who will help out. If you need a projector, speak to your venue or DJ supplier, in most cases they will have one that you can hire for a little extra.
19. The Cake – Every 21st birthday needs to have a cake, so make sure you choose the one that suits you best. The most common thing that often occurs is that people will choose a cake that looks good but doesn’t taste as good as it looks. Sometimes the simplest cake can be the best choice, like an ice cream cake or chocolate mud cake, ice cream and chocolate are two things that most people are bound to enjoy.
20. Get it catered! – Well this does sound obvious but what we are really suggesting is that you don’t do it yourself. You want to relax and enjoy your 21st birthday and let everyone else take care of you.
21. Get a rockin? DJ! – Well we are here to help you with that, but what you can do is if you have specific music you like from your home collection or you are very specific about what you want just make a simple list with about 20 songs for the DJ and tell him/her to squeeze them into the schedule. This way the DJ has a good idea of the type of music you like and you have some level of control over the music.