Top tips for preparing for a celebration

*Ad-Paid. All opinions are our own.

Somebody in my house has a big birthday coming up and as soon as we are able to, we are going to have a big family celebration at home. I want to make it really special and there are lots of things I have in mind to decorate the house in preparation for the day.

I love having a parties and here are a few of my top tips to decorate in preparation.

I have patio doors leading on to a decked area and when we party we often spill out onto the deck. I like to decorate the patio doors and I do this with crepe paper 4 to 6 inches wide hanging virtually from the top secured with masking tape and twisting them to give a spiral effect and then leave a gap to walk through in the middle. It always looks so colourful.

Food really is an important part of the decoration too. And I love creating grazing boards and when I do this I put blocks/ cake tins at different heights on a table the cover with a tablecloth and then put the wooden boards. So tall at the back etc.

Food is so colourful and by placing contrasting colours together it really can look amazing. Cover the boards with cold meats and chopped veg and fill every tiny space. You can get really creative.

Place cheeses on a board and then fill every gap surrounding them with biscuits and walnuts, fresh figs quartered , mini plum tomatoes, grapes and a bowl of honey.

A tray of fresh fruit also makes the perfect party table decoration and I usually have pineapple as a centrepiece and then surround it with as many different coloured fruits as I can.

No party is complete without balloons and not just rainbow colour balloons in bunches. There are so many companies that can supply balloon arches and other sculptures and I always think these make a great backdrop for a photo booth style area. It’s always fun to get a few hats and silly wigs and glasses. You can also easily pick up speech bubbles on sticks etc and make a real fun area in the house and pop a camera there to be used. You can get pre-printed speech bubbles and props too using great design bundles like bat svg or perhaps wolf svg.

Lighting is one of the most important things of all and strings of fairy lights and nets of lights always give a party that lovely ambiance. I like to put fairy lights around the doors and also on the food table weaving them in and out of the platters of food. I also put bunches of lights on hurricane lamps around the house to give everything a warm glow.

One of my favourite things to do is gather a lot of large twigs/ sticks and pop them in a very large vase or flower pot and the hang tea light holders off of them. It always looks so pretty.

Bunting is another of my favourites and I possibly have far to many strings of bunting hidden around the house. But when you have a party it gives a real splash of colour and the can be pop back in the cupboard for another day!

Whatever the occasion or colour scheme it’s easy to turn your home into the perfect party venue and I just can't wait until we are able to party again soon.