Lolita meetups can be so much fun! Whether you are just planning a get together at a private, or public location. It gives you a chance to meet new friends or just spend time with old ones. Events can take place at a tea house, museum, amusement park (that one might not be too practical, but it's been done before), or even your own home.
There are steps that you have to take, and these are the same with ANY event, not just a Lolita Meet. To make this more comprehensive, I am planning on creating an event soon and I will use my event as an example.
Step 1: When and Where?
I have recently decided that I want to have a get-together at my house, in the Fall. Specifically, a Sunday brunch in my backyard. I choose my house since we have an out door bar, tables, and plenty of seating. Aside from the back yard, we will also have access to the front yard for games, and the basement, should the weather not be ideal.. Since it is still summer time, I am providing enough time to get money together and plan my party. If I can send out my invitations early, this will also give my guests to make arrangements to come if they need to request off work.
Step 2: How many people do you plan on inviting, should you just invite the whole Lolita community or select people?
There is limited space at the event I am planning. As much as I would love to invite the whole community there just would not be enough room if every member of the community rsvped (imagine all the petties XD). By limiting people this can also help give me an idea of what my budget will look like. We will get into that more later. For now I am looking to invite between 10-15 people.
If your event is public, like going to a museum or to the movies, inviting the whole community should be fine as long as there is not a limit to how many people can occupy that building or place (and that if every single person in your community goes you do not have to worry about exceeding a limit). The most Lolita's I have seen at a event where everyone was invited, was around 20-25 people. Each community varies in the amount of members, and not everyone can attend to the same meetup, be it because of work, money, or transportation.
For those of you wondering about invitations, I am simply just going to create a Facebook event. If I had everyone's addresses I would send out regular invitations. That may be something I look into doing in the future.
Step 3: Food. What are your options? What are you serving?
If you have the time and money you can provide all the food, or you can make a potluck (example: photo above) and everyone can bring something. By doing a potluck you do save a lot of money on food and you don't have to worry about spending all of your time in the kitchen. For me personally, I plan on trying to provide all the food and drink so that it is more convenient for my guests, but if someone indicates that they want to bring something that is fine by me.
Since I plan on doing a brunch, I need to think of what food I want to serve. When I make my event, I will ask people for suggestions on food, mostly because some people are vegetarians, and they may not be able to eat everything that I plan on providing. There are also people who just wont eat certain things, whether they are vegetarians or not.
Freshly made Waffles
Toast
Muffins
Scones
Suggage and Bacon
Eggs
potatoes/hasbrowns
Cut Fruit
Condiments: Jam/Jelly, syrup, whip cream, powered sugar, butter, Ketchup... people like to put it on their hasbrowns.
Drinks: Various Tea, Orange Juice, Milk, Water, and Mimosa's for those 21 and older. If you plan on having alcohol at a Lolita event, and underage members of your community are going to be there, you need to ask to see ID. If you are worried about hurting feelings or singling people out, you need to remember that if you give an underage person an alcoholic beverage then you can do jail time. Not to mention if something happens to said person who takes that drink from you, you will be seen at fault and then be put under further penalties.
Now that I have my menu, I have to think about some important things. How much food should I make? What can easily be made the night before and still be good the next day? Anything that requires baking will be made the night before, such as the muffins and scones. I could cut the fruit the night before as well, or I can get up early enough to cut it before everyone gets to my house.
Step 4: Theme (if any), Decorations, Plates and silverware.
This is the part where I have the most fun! So I am planning this Brunch in the Fall. So any decorations I get will be specifically Fall themed (not Halloween, even though I do love Halloween parties!) This is just the planning stage, so I may or may not get all of the items listed.
Fall flowers
pumpkins and gourds
Birds and birdcages
Balloons
Ribbons
Fall themed plates, cups, and plastic silverware.
Table cloths
If you plan on having games, you can also make prizes for each winner. The most expected game would probably be croquette, but you could get a ring toss or bean bag game as well, something that wont take too much room and is easy to set up and break down. That being said, you can break out the Wii and play Wii bowling! I'm not sure if I will have prizes or not. This all depends on if there is time.
Step 5: The Budget.
Review steps 1-4 and decided what you can realistically do and what needs to be cut. It's easy to get caught up in the idea of what you want your event to be, but the outcome can end up being more subtle than you expected.
The following are places that I plan on looking for decorations. Some places do provide coupons, so if there is something that you want, but you need to save a couple of dollars, check online for coupons and promotions.
For Party Decorations:
Joanns
AC Moore
Michael's
Party City
Oriental Trading Company
Dollar Store
Food and Drink:
Local Grocery Store
Honestly I want to avoid getting something from the Dollar store, but sometimes they surprise you with what they have! Its also a good place to go to spread your money should you be coming up short. The majority of my money will probably be going towards food.
Well, that's my plan so far! If I missed anything, or if you guys have any questions, please post them in the comments below! Don't forget to subscribe. Hopefully I will be having this party towards the end of September and I will do a follow up on that.
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