There are good reasons for starting your planning early. Things can go wrong and people can let you down, but if you begin planning early, you can switch to ‘plan B’ easily. You might also have ideas as you are performing your planning and then you will have time to execute them.

Depending on what kind of party you are planning, you might have to start planning about a month ahead, but you may have to begin even earlier, if you need outside catering or specialized objects like a bouncy house. You might have to book these objects months in advance in order to get precisely what food you want or the theme of the bouncy house that you want.

Depending on where you are throwing the party and how many are coming, you may also have to request permission or even a license and you might even require portable toilets as well. How about security and sign posts? For example, it is fairly normal for organizers of wedding parties in rural Thailand to employ security, who will also provide road signs and will direct traffic.

Another valid reason for starting early is that you can buy objects that you require weekly and so spread the outlay. You could purchase the paper plates, plastic knives, forks and spoons, plastic beakers, straws and paper table cloths in the first week, the other items you need, such as the drinks, crisps and biscuits, in the following weeks, until all you have to buy in the week of the party is the perishable food such as sausage rolls, pies, pasties, sandwiches and cakes.

You may also need specialized decorations, particularly for themed birthday parties, Halloween and Christmas. Finding the correct decorations for these kinds of parties can take a long time, which is another reason for beginning your planning earlier rather than later.

Another good reason for getting started early is that you can get the invitations out early, which gives your guests the opportunity to put you in their diaries. It also gives them plenty of time to accept or refuse the invitation so that you can either invite more friends to make the numbers up or you can inform the caterers that you will require less food.

It is a sad fact that in spite of all your planning, some facets will go wrong, they always do and you will forget some things as well, people always do and the best precautions against these potential calamities are firstly to begin planning early and secondly to get a few people involved in the planning, because as they say, two heads are better than one.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on many subjects but is currently involved with Easter.If you would like to read more, please go over to our website entitled Celebrating Easter