Start a Party Planning Business: 5 Quick & Easy Steps

May 11, 2020
|In Adult's Party, Planners & Decorators
|By Project Party

Last Updated on October 22, 2022 by Project Party

Have you ever wondered how to get into the party planning business?

Starting a party planning business sounds fun if you’re like us and love to party! If you can get paid to party, then why wouldn’t you?

Party planning businesses are simple to get going if you know how. But like all good things, it will take some hard work. 

You need a passion for all things parties and a desire to have fun. It’s a fun business when you go about it the right way. Planning all types of parties to celebrate people’s happy occasions and milestones is incredibly rewarding. 

Have you often wondered if it is fun to plan parties for others? Do you love planning your own parties? Can you make a living from party planning events for others? 

The short answer is yes. It is a fulfilling and profitable opportunity if you are well-organised.

You will need to be good at organisation, love people, notice the finer details and have a talent for putting together the best parties in town. 

But if you’re not an expert in one or more of these things, don’t fear. It’s all easily learned through practice. The biggest step is getting started.

Project Party has compiled these tips on how to start a party planning business with little or no money.

How to Start a Party Planning Business

When you start your own party planning business at home, you don’t need a lot of space or resources right away. 

All you need is some know-how and contacts so you can start building your reputation.

So what do you need to start a small party planning business? Here are some essential tips for starting a home-based party planning business.

5 Steps for Setting Up Your Party and Event Planning Business Plan

Everything starts with a business plan. This is essential for starting your own party planning business. So the first thing you need to do is to identify your typical clients and the types of parties you want to throw. You also need to research the market and your competitors.

Project Party has put together everything you need to consider to build your party planning business plan. If you follow these steps you will know how to start a party planning business from home.

1. What Type of Clients is your Party Planning Business focused on? 

You need to first decide the type of clients you want to target as a party planner. There are generally two types of clients that most party planners choose to focus on — Social and Corporate:

  1. Social events. Social events cover a huge range of party types and occasions for private clients. These might include the following:
    • Weddings
    • Birthday
    • Milestone events
    • Engagements
    • Birth Events
  2. Corporate events. Corporate and Business party planning includes all those events that are thrown by businesses for many reasons:
    • Conferences
    • Meetings
    • Corporate celebrations
    • Trade shows
    • Receptions.

Pick the category that most suits you. When deciding how to start your own party and event planning business, pick something you are passionate about. 

Your passion will come through in your work, enthusiasm and desire to be successful. You will need all these characteristics to be a successful party and event planner.

2. What Sort of Parties will your Party Planning Business focus on?

There are so many types of parties, you may want to start out in an area that you have a passion for. You can always add more areas as your business grows, but to get going having a niche focus can be a good strategy.

Do you want to plan weddings? How about extravagant milestone birthdays? Or what about kids’ birthday parties? It is wise to choose an area that most interests you and that you think you can excel.

Consider the following party planning business ideas when choosing your party niche for your event and party planning business:

Truly the list is endless. But this may help you narrow down the types of parties you want to plan when you start your own party planning business.

3. Do your Research to Understand the Party Planning Market 

Once you narrow down the type of clients you want to target and the types of parties to plan, research the party planning industry. Learn as much as you can about the industry. 

A good place to start is Project Party where we have hundreds of party service providers you may work with in your party planning business. 

Professionals and businesses you will want to collaborate with on your events and parties include:

A great party planning business is one that builds strong relationships with suppliers who you can rely on. Once you have a network or reliable party suppliers to help you make magical events it all becomes easier. 

Great industry relationships really is key to starting a party planning business.

4. Analyse your Party Planning Competitors

When starting a party planning business you need to understand your competitors. 

Do a SWOT analysis to get insight into your target audience, strategies and special value propositions. This will help you decide where the focus of your new business will be. 

Focus on setting yourself apart by offering different experiences and services to develop a unique brand. 

Consider the following questions:

  • What sets you apart from your competitors?
  • How much do you plan to charge? Is it similar, more or less than your competitors?
  • What can I do to make my events magical without crazy prices?
  • What can I do to ‘Wow’ my customers?
  • How can I build word-of-mouth marketing?

Insight into your competitors gives you a head start. Don’t be tempted to skip this analysis.

Once you have all your ideas together it’s time to write your party planning business plan.

5. Write your Party Planning Business Plan

Now it is time to write your business plan. Skipping this step is setting yourself up to fail. 

If you don’t know how to do it, get online and learn from one of the many resources on business plans. There are plenty of resources available to use as a guide. 

To get you started:

  • Write down exactly the type of business you want to take to the market and how you are going to achieve this.
  • Use your research, to create a market analysis to discover the size of the market you want to target.
  • Work out what you need to earn to make your business worthwhile. This will help you work out how much to charge for your services. 
  • Determine your estimated start-up costs such as for advertising your business to the world.

Your business plan isn’t set in stone. It is there to give you guidance and to refer back to when things get tough or you’re overwhelmed with ideas. 

Come back to your plan regularly for focus and inspiration. Change it as often as you need and keep building on it as you learn more and grow.

Setting up your Party and Event Planning Business

Now it is time to set up your party planning business. Choose a name for your business. Be creative but ensure it reflects what your business does and who you are. 

It’s a good idea to check out who.is to see if a domain name is available to match your business name. Ideally, as so much marketing is done online these days, you want a website address that matches your brand and is easy to remember. 

Remember to register your business name if you need to. Now you are ready to create the visuals of your brand. 

1. Narrow Down Your Party Planning Business Services

Write down all the party planning services you plan to offer to your customers. Here are some examples for you:

  • Choosing the caterers
  • Venue booking & budgeting
  • Invitations
  • Dealing with vendors and suppliers
  • Choosing entertainers and Music
  • Preparation & cleanup

It’s vital to know what you plan on offering, as this will allow you to set prices more easily. 

2. Set your Prices

Determining your prices is challenging. You need to be strategic so take the following into account:

  1. How much party planning experience you have. 
  2. The average rates charged for the area.
  3. Are you going to charge by the hour plus outlays or go for project-based fees and the client pays outgoings upfront? Are you going to take a deposit? If you will, how much is the deposit — 25% of the total price or more?

Don’t undersell your services, and don’t offer too much free work, even when you’re starting. It can be a bad habit to get into, and customers will come to expect it.

Calculate how many hours each item takes you, and assign it an hourly rate that covers your costs, and gives you profit.

Tell the World you are in the Party Planning Business

Now you have to tell the world you are in business. So set aside a marketing budget for:

  • A business website
  • Digital marketing or advertising
  • Business cards
  • Networking events
  • Brochures and other advertising material
  • Equipment & resources

Remember the old saying — you have to spend money to make it. If you want to grow you will need to allocate some resources to it and be selective with the options you think will have the most impact. 

The goal is to secure clients quickly. And if you do a good job, they can become loyal customers and recommend you as a great party planner. 

Also, think about how they can leave a review of your services. Building a great reputation is vital to growing your business.

Following up with customers, keeping them engaged with what you have been doing.  Encourage them to share your business with others to help you grow too.

1. Start with Friends & Family

Your quickest place to find new customers is through your friends and family. Let them know what you are doing and even try out some of your ideas on them.

You could offer your services for a discount to get experience with people you know and trust before branching out. They will also be happy to share your name and keep an eye out for opportunities for you too.

2. Use Social Media

Social media is a great way to get your brand out into the market and spread the word around. In fact, it’s crucial. 

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and so on are all fantastic ways to get your content in front of your audience. And don’t forget to sign your business up for Project Party. Take advantage of hundreds of visitors every day looking to book party services for their events.

3. Create Ads Online & Offline

Create advertisements and promotions to spread the word. Use Google Adwords to reach a wider audience of people looking for services in your niche. It may even be a good idea to have a budget for an experienced marketer to do your online marketing for you. After all, they know the ins and outs of everything digital to get results.

Creating branded material to share online and offline is key. It lets people know you are the expert in party planning, and they will trust you more too. Then they won’t be afraid to get you in for their next shindig!

Final Thoughts … Party Hard

If you were wondering how to start your party planning business well there you have it. Everything you needed to think about to get going. 

With a home-based party planning business you can start out small and grow. There is a lot to learn and building a list of clients takes time. 

But overcoming all the challenges is rewarding for both you and your clients. So party hard while doing a great job. And have lots of fun.

Project Party is here to help you get started. Check out all the Blogs & Resources on our website for templates and tips. Also, find Partners & Suppliers in your local area to help you throw amazing parties.