Greets and Eats

Good food and good hostesses go hand-in-hand. I've never been to a place where the food was so great without excellent service. It is important that if you're planning on hosting a New Year's Eve bash or get-together, that you be an exemplary host.

Great hosting tips include setting the atmosphere. Provide a relaxing ambiance and promote your theme well. Don't over-do it, just do enough to set the tone for your party.

Many people don't comment on decorations, but believe me, they matter. Loud colors and over exaggerated props can damper a party quicker than flat soda. Be subtle, but engaging. A nice tablecloth and a few table centerpieces will do just nicely.

Music. Everyone LOVES music. I may be old, but loud music is such a turn-off at a party. You can't hear your conversations, it makes your head hurt, and blaring music is hard to listen to. Make sure your music is in harmony with your decorations - subtle, but engaging.

As a host, be polite. Be well-dressed whether it's a house party or elegant soiree. Have your clothes ironed and neat, and wear a smile. This may seem elementary, but many people don't understand how being a great host is just as important to the success of a party just as much as the food and entertainment. If you have guests that are not familiar with your venue (whether it's your house or the local community center), show them where the restrooms are, politely inform them on certain "house rules" such as no smoking inside, you're welcome to go out on the balcony, (if you're serving alcohol) drinks will be served at whatever time, etc. And take their coats, or inform them where they can hang their coats. If you're doing potluck, show them where they can set their dish. Thank and compliment them on bringing their dish for the party. These small things go a long way in producing a great vibe for your party, and locks in guests for your parties to come.

Now, my favorite part of the party: the food. Finger foods are nice, but if you're doing something a little more upscale, keep up with your theme - subtle, but engaging You don't want to overwhelm your guests palates with fifty million flavors and varieties. You want them to be able to enjoy the food as well as the entertainment. Make sure your menu is colorful. Have some vibrant colors and also various textures. Some people like crunchy stuff, some like soft stuff, some like sweet, sour, etc. You get the point. The purpose of a party is to invite people to have a good time. Give the people what they want. There is no greater party than having good greets and good eats.

The Gift of 2015

This is the last month in the year. So much has happened and many moves have been made. Now it's time to sit back and reflect on the year.

What events were successful? Did you start a business, and what strides did you make? What were your failures? What changes are you looking to make in 2016?

In reflection, don't forget the gift that you received in 2015. Every success and failure was a gift. See each success as giving you more gumption to move forward and be creative. Take account that your failures educated you, and gave you the opportunity to explore new ways to improve yourself. Sometimes we can get so caught up in the budgets, the guest lists, the decorations, venues, and forget the lessons we learned and how we grew from amateur to professional.

Don't miss the gift in looking at how much money you made - or didn't make. Take into account each client that failed to pay, each vendor that supplied the wrong items, and each cake that was delivered to the wrong address. Take note on how each success and failure fit into what your goals were for 2015, and how they will improve 2016 or just plain need to be discarded.

The end of the year is reflection time. Look at the good and what you think was the bad. Every experience has a gift attached. All of them teach you something about yourself that you didn't know before, and opens a level of creativity that you never knew existed. So, as you celebrate your wins, don't miss the gift in it all.

Put A Lid On It

Now that Black Friday and Shop Small weekend and Cyber Monday is done, we can breathe a little bit. Well, not really. Now we have to scramble for Christmas. Biting and chewing nails to come up with some hip and catchy Christmas specials and deals, because this is the time of year that people spend money, right?

We jump on the bandwagon quickly to sell. But what kind of Pandora's box are we opening? Do we rush to push out the deals, and not focus on how to market our businesses?

It's very important that we must market our business and push the solution to what our clients really need. Am I against sales or discounts? No, but the focus shouldn't be so much on the sales and discounts, but more on marketing the business, and building the brand. Building your brand will do more to establish trust and longevity with your clients than just pushing the sale. Promote who you are and why you are in business to give your clients that comfort that regardless of what they're in need of, you are on their top list to get it.

If you run an event planning service, offer some helpful tips during the holiday season. Put a lid on it that "salesy" catering service that costs an arm and both legs to boost your commission. Just plainly appeal to the gift of empathy and sympathy to your clients. Even gift certificates are nice, but what your clients would appreciate most is that you understand what they're going through in planning a wedding or putting together a holiday shindig with the stress, budget, flowers - and let's not leave out dealing with the uncooperative staff.

I love giving gifts, but I'm learning that the best gifts to give in business are the ones that appeal to the need more than the wants. Put a lid on pushing clients to open up Pandora's box to frenzied shopping of gadgets and frills, and just simply open a gift of meeting the need.

Ideas to Give

Sooo, Christmas is right around the corner. People are saving their pennies for Black Friday and already scribbling down their lists and marking down electronics at Wal-Mart and Target as we speak.

This is usually the most generous part of the year for companies and for individuals alike. I like it when I see people giving. I also like to see what they give and whose like they're going to bring joy to.

And that brings me to my point of this post. Giving can mean different things to different people, but I love it when people give. Giving doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. Just as long as it comes from the heart and is the best you can give, I say do it.

Although we are in an upswing in the economy, money still isn't growing on the nearest tree limbs.  So, I thought I'd provide a few ideas for giving this year that I believe would be great for family members, clients, co-workers or employees.

1. Gift baskets. They are the new cool thing when you're not exactly rolling the dough. You can even make them yourself, which puts a pretty nice personal touch and I like to include things I know people like such as fruit or snacks. Gift baskets don't exactly have be food-based, and can include books, CDs, socks, crochet kits etc. They're really nice gift givers.

2. Gift cards. They are not as personal, but they are pretty nice gifts for businesses. Now there are graphic designers that can personalize them for you with cute pictures or logos. I think having a designed photo of a funny office moment or office party selfie or group photo would go nice to personalize for co-workers or employees. For customers or clients, add something that you know your client likes. If your client is a pet lover, have a picture of the dog, cat, bird, etc. on it. 

3. Throw blankets or snugglies. Some may think that's corny, but these still made my list because of the cold weather coming upon us. They are pretty nice for co-workers and family members. If you want to personalize them, get a graphic designer to embroider a name on it. Match it with a nice coffee mug and you've got a pretty nifty gift.

4. Gas cards. Who in their right mind would turn their nose up at a gas card? Yeah, gas prices are pretty low, but we all still need gas. You can put them in a nice greeting card and they are pretty reasonable ranging from 20 to 100 upload amounts. Pretty cool, if you ask me.

5. And good ole cash. No one would turn down cash. I think that anything above 20 bucks is a nice gift for family members. Even children won't turn down money. I've known some to do money jars, where they put an unspecified amount of cash in a Mason jar and decorate the jar as a gift, or do a money tree. Whether you choose to "dress" your cash or not, it's still a great gift that no one will turn down.

I hope these ideas will be of a help to you in making decisions for your gift-giving as you stress out over holiday menus, decorating, and activity planning. 

Are You Hitting the Mark?

Defining your target market is very important when you're planning an event. I have a few tips to help shape your event as you're planning to make a large impact on your community, as well as on your pockets.

Numero Uno: Identify who you are planning it for. Nix the idea of saying you're planning for women. Women fall into a goo-gob of categories. Is this for single moms, working moms, single working moms, moms over 30?, women over 30?, women who like to ski, etc. Make sure you are specific. Knowing this off the bat will help design and cater your event.

Nombre Deux: Make sure you know the NEEDS of your market. Planning an event with a theme in regards to providing daycare to women who have no children, nor are planning to have children will only reap you a few women who are just coming out of sheer curiosity or because you almost held them up at gunpoint to come to support you. Develop creative ways to find the answers. Social media is the "in-thing" now. Post surveys (small ones) to ask around about what people think. People love to show off their knowledge. Incorporate that to get information. Create contests to get other people's opinions. Those work pretty well also.

Number Three: Create engaging content. Get their ideas and implement them in developing content that will engage your attendees. You need to have something at the event that will not only solve their problem, or provide for their need, but it will also be something that's interesting to them. Give them more than just your product or service. Provide them with speakers that are sympathetic to their problem or need and games or entertainment that can relate to them in a positive and educating way. 

If you are trying to sell your health supplements to a crowd of vegans, having an icebreaker game called pin the tail on pig might not go over well with them. For example, when I did my launch party for my virtual assistant business, we played The Weakest Link. The questions related to business topics that I knew that my attendees were not as familiar with as I was. This showed two things: they learned that they possibly needed these skills to grow their business, and they saw that I was versed (or least knowledgeable) on the subject and could HELP them. 

Whatever you decide to do, make sure your event is not about you. Make it about the attendees. If you're trying to sell something or get recognized, don't put that at the forefront of your purpose for the event. Your target market is your blueprint in developing the event. So, take into consideration these tips to make sure that you hit the mark. Success is waiting on you!