How to throw an AMAZING Engagement Party!

 Here are some tips to having a fantastic Engagement Party!

• Set a theme, something fun that people can get involved in!- Mine 4th of July BBQ 

•  Invite fun people! 

One rule of thumb- only invite people you will be inviting to the wedding. Otherwise you will have “stalkers” asking about the big day and “where's my invite” if you invited them to the engagement party, it's kind of misleading ;) Include your wedding party if you have decided who you'd like to be a part of the big day yet! Can't think of how to ask your bridesmaids/ little people? Check out How to Ask your Bridal Party

•  Include your theme in your invites- Also include important information: when, where, for, any extra details (no gifts please, BYOB, etc.) 

•  Food and Drinks- Include these elements in on the fun as well. We had a BBQ so naturally we had the grill cookin' and tons of salads, chips and other sides. As for drinks, Beer was in order and I made a nice Pink Lemonade with Vodka mix (Crystal light is great low calorie drink option!) My mother in law had made the cutest desert as well to go along with the barbecue theme, mini hamburgers made of vanilla wafers, thin mints, green coconut and red and yellow frosting...yum! My sister also made delicious red, white and blue cupcakes with sparklers on them, very fun. 

• Entertainment- Make sure you have plenty of things going on for your guests to keep partying on. Unfortunately the mosquitoes were TERRIBLE at our party, so a lot of people left early. But we had a fire pit, volleyball net, tons of tables set up for people to sit and mingle, and pool table inside. We choose some fun 70's radios stations to play in the background- but I would recommend making a play list for such a big event! We also included poppers and sparklers for 4th of July and some engagement pictures/pictures of us in photo books for people to look at. 

•  Favors- These can either go along with your engagement party theme or a “Save the Date” for your wedding depending on how close your wedding may be. I made wedding mints (red, white and blue for the 4th of July) shaped like engagement rings and hearts and put them in bags guests could take home. The tags said Engage MINTS, and included love birds because that's one of our many wedding themes.    

REMEMBER! Enjoy this time! : ) Do the little parties leading up to the wedding, because you only do this once so go BIG or go to Vegas ;)