The year is full of special occasions that demand celebration - New Year's Eve, Australia Day, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's and Father's Days, Halloween, Melbourne Cup Day, and of course, Christmas.

The party you'll plan for New Year's Eve will be a very different to one you'd throw for your mum on Mother's Day, or your beloved on Valentine's.  But with imagination and smart use of resources, the party you plan will be exciting, memorable, and appropriate to the occasion.

Whether it's a work do, a group of friends, your sports or college club, or a family occasion, make it diffent but fun.

Planning a special day celebration
Whatever the special day, start planning well ahead of time, to get the celebration just right, you'll need to choose a theme, a menu, props, costumes and  decoration that's right for the guests and the nature of the occasion, and suitable activities and/or entertainment. On days when everyone's out celebrating, sourcing and buying or booking your party equipment, venue or site, vehicles, entertainers and caterers is crucial, so get in ahead of the pack. You know when to hold your party but it's up to you where to host it, what style of party to throw, and who's on the guest list. Don't overreach yourself, and seek out professional help for more elaborate events, but be prepared to dream and to think big.

Since special days are almost always popular with lots of people, not you're your party is competing for attention with thousands of others. So send invitations out early, then follow up via email or phone to ascertain numbers, especially if you're having the party catered.

Food & drink
At any party, guests expect some sort of food and drink, even if it's just canapes or a buffet spread. If you're not hiring a caterer to handle this side of your party, you'll need to find suppliers for alcohol, soft drinks and culinary ingredients. You may also need to hire dinnerware, glassware, serving equipment and the like. Order early for big days such as Christmas and New Year's Eve. If your venue is a restaurant or catered function centre, book in months ahead as popular venues get booked out well ahead for special days.

Theme & decor
If there are particular rituals and symbols associated with the day, as is the case with Christmas, Easter and Halloween, guests will expect appropriately themed decor - party decorations and paper goods, props, furnishings, plants, umbrellas, marquees, flowers and lighting. You can buy or hire all of this ahead of time from party supply, imports, liquidation and homewares stores or prop and equipment
stores. If you're not much of a decorator, hire a pro to pull it all together so that your venue or site looks spectacular.

Entertainment
Whether it's an outing for Mother's Day, an extended family gathering at Christmas, a children's Halloween party, a lavish New Year's Eve party or an elegant Easter cocktail, you'll need to plan and book suitable activities and entertainment. If the entertainment program's elaborate, or includes in-demand performers or equipment, you'll need to audition and book them well ahead.

You may also need to pre-book tickets for shows, scenic flights, excursions or cruises.

The finer details
For a large, elaborate party, you might require the services of audiovisual technicians and/or pyrotechnics, lighting and special effects teams, parking attendants, security and medics. Make sure you have site permits, licenses and council approval if you plan to stage special effects or live performances involving amplified sound, fire or animals. A successful party requires keeping track of a myriad details, so a professional event coordinator can be a great help, especially for large or extravagant dos. By putting the effort in behind the scenes and at the early stages, and continually checking in with service people
and suppliers. 

This article continues in Party Magazine.