Some simple ways to make your party green include:

Recyclable or edible centerpieces- I.e. a live plant or flowers, fish bowl and live fish, individual size desserts. 

Recycle your papers, plastics and cans – be sure ALL staff is fully trained on the where to throw what.

Using a compost bin – Train your staff on what can go in the compost bin

And a great gesture of generosity is to arrange for your local food bank to pick up any extra food.  Make sure your Event Planning company goes green.

Bashes & Blowouts, www.bashesandblowouts.com is dedicated to providing green events. 

This year we have produced graduates that will face the most competitive job market ever seen. At interviews they will be competing with candidates with more experience, the same or higher education and the willingness to accept lower salaries. New graduates will need to rely heavily on networking and personal relationships to get them into new positions. 

By throwing a well crafted graduation party, you could be opening doors for your graduate that you may not even have known existed. Keys to turning your graduation party into a networking opportunity include:

1. Target your Guest List- target your guest list towards employed, professionals and people who are well conta

cted. Trim down the guests that are retired or new graduates themselves. (Maybe throw a separate party or potluck for those guests). 

2. Theme your event – Create a theme around the area of study or target job of the graduate. This will allow you to remind guest of your graduates skills, education and target job. 

3. Create activities to brag about graduate – quizzes about the graduate will allow you to brag about the graduate and inform your guests about who the graduate is as a person. When people feel they have something in common with the graduate they may feel like the want to get to know them better. 

4. Speeches- Brag about the graduate in speeches and subtly ask guests to keep an eye out for job opportunities.

5. Show your guests a good time- Make the party fun and memorable. Be professional or hire a professional. The event will reflect on the graduate. 

6. Send your thank you’s – Be sure to thank every guest and write a personal note. Include the graduates phone number and email address so that it is easy for guests to contact the graduate if any opportunities arise. 

7. Budget – Budget $2,500 minimum for a well done event. Using an event planner can help you stay within your budget, create a seamless party and relieve you of the added stress, so that you can focus on your guests and not on the event details. 

Bashes & Blowouts can create professional, sophisticated, exciting events within your budget, allowing you to focus on the most important factor… your guests. For more information see www.bashesandblowouts.com or call 714-213-1108.

When your company has implemented a hiring freeze, you’ve lost key staff and you are still left with all your responsibilities plus those of the ones laid off, it’s time to outsource. 

The best way to outsource is to approach it as if you were hiring an employee. Here are some things you should be doing before signing your contract with a vendor:

-Interview prospective vendors. Just like with an employee, you will want to make sure your vendor fits in with your corporate culture and understands protocol. Make sure you meet the main contact person that will be working for your company. You should like them if you plan to hire them! 

-Ensure that your company will be a priority. Avoid working with vendors who are servicing competitors. And avoid a company that may seem overbooked and too busy. If they are too busy to book an initial meeting with you for too long out, they will probably be to busy to attend to you once a contract is signed. 

-Negotiate price- Learn about pricing when you are interviewing prospective vendors and negotiate price based on what you have learned. 

-Negotiate services- Have your vendor throw in some additional services if they did not reduce their price significantly or even if they did. 

-Negotiate payment structure- Your company may have certain outsourcing budgets that could effect whether a new contract gets approved. By restructuring how the payment structure is set, you may be able to avoid a contract rejection. 

-Do Not Sign The Contract… until you have read, reviewed and approve of all the terms, dates and conditions.

And finally, do not stop doing business or trying to build your business because of your companies changes. Adapt to new ways of getting things done. Find vendors and partners to help you get the job 

done. 

You m

ay not be able to throw that client event production for over $100,000, but you can have smaller events with smaller groups for a small fraction of the cost. Invite your most valued custom

ers.  You still need to show your customers that you are doing well and you are ready to succeed.

For affordable events in Southern California contact Bashes & Blowouts, www.bashesandblowouts.com.

1. Create built-in entertainment and fun by requiring that everyone come in 80′s costumes. Guests can chose to dress as a famous celebrity of the time, in their own flashback wardrobe or in memorable 80′s garb.

2. Create fun invitations by using 80′s pictures and building a montage on one side and the party details on the other. 

3. Rent pac man for around $150 for the night or download pac man for your xbox, playstation or existing system for under $15. 

4. Decorate with neon, black and white. Use black lights and a fog machine to create an 80′s atmosphere. Buy hair band posters on ebay. 

5. Download your own party mix of 80′s music or hire a DJ. Allow guests to make choices or requests. Buy an 80′s movie or music videos to play with the sound off. 

6. If you have Rock band, use 80′s music and have guests play for prizes. Prizes can include homemade RELAX t-shirts or authentic 80′s t-shirts bought on ebay. 

7. Food and drinks can be vary from martinis and sushi to beer and finger foods. Give the food 80′s names to add to the character of the party.

8. Purchase or rent a full size 80′s standup poster for pictures. 

9. Play 80′s trivia games for prizes. 

10. Take lots of pictures and have a blast!

Go to www.bashesandblowouts.com to have Bashes & Blowouts plan and execute your next event!

Bashes & Blowouts (www.bashesandblowouts.com) based in Orange County, CA won ‘Best Tribute to the Holiday Season’ in the Huntington Harbour Boat Parade home decorating contest. Bashes & Blowouts decorated a Candyland Christmas theme with huge custom made gingerbread men, gigantic candy canes and a variety of colorful candies throughout. These custom decorations were enhanced with special lighting and tradiional Christmas lights. Bashes & Blowouts is a premier event planning company and specializes in exterior occasion decorating for every holiday or occasion. For more information on Bashes & Blowouts services or on how to create your own holiday decorations contact Lizette at: lizette@bashesandblowouts.com.

-a 10′ long, 3″ wide what pipe from home depot or lowes or probably any other hardware store

-a flexible metal pipe that fits over the straight white pipe

-white spray paint

-red ribbon

-scissors

-strong masking tape

-clear tape

Take the metal pipe and curve it like the end of a candy cane, cut one end and bend it onto the white pipe (fitting it over the white pipe seems easiest). Then tape it to the white pipe. Spray paint the metal white and wrap the ribbon around the entire thing. Measure the distance between wraps to make it uniform. It should cost under $30 each. You can cut the white pipe to create different size candy canes. This project takes under 30 minutes not including the time for the paint to dry.

To have your home professionally decorated for the holidays or any party contact me at www.bashesandblowouts.com!

Next week I will create gigantic gingerbread men!

Last year Bashes & Blowouts (www.bashesandblowouts.com), hosted a Hawaiian themed wiki wiki party after the NAB tradeshow in Las Vegas. This corporate event hosted guests from Microsoft, Warner Bros. and many other music and movie industry executives. The event was hosted at the Wynn in a luxurious suite with spectacular views. The event featured a full Hawaiian dance group that performed and then took volunteers to learn to hula. The dancers performed to a live Hawaiian band that played polynesian music throughout the evening. A bartender served tropical drinks while Hawaiian dressed hostesses signed guests up for 15 minute massages in the suites’ massage room.

The party was a huge success. Once the event began to wind down, those interested in extending the evening were invited to a local Vegas hot spot for bottle service. This event was held for under $7,000 and generated several hundred thousand dollars in new business. To plan your 2009 corporate events contact Bashes & Blowouts (www.bashesandblowouts.com) today.

ML and Jeff have been on several dates since they met at the party.

Bashes & Blowouts staff, Denise and Erin became friends.

Gary was hoping to make new friends with the dancers.. no luck.

Matt and Rachael met and have been seeing each other since the party.

Addition connections included Michelle and Lizette discussing Michelle’s catering for future events. Chris and Lance discussed business between Warner and Technicolor. The Wheelers met prospective customers for construction projects. Ezra wants to use Bashes & Blowouts for his next Corporate Event. Overall, everyone had a great time!

The guys

The group topped off the night with shots of Absinthe.... yuck!

Bashes and Blowouts guests included Arlene Silver and her friends, Chris Fredricks and Sharon, Ana and Bernadette Tordilla, Jacco and Maureen, Superman, who would prefer to remain anonymous and Sanda and Alexa. The group had a great time dancing and drinking at the Foundation Room. The Foundation Room was gracious enough to sponsor a full open bar from 9pm to 11pm and provided a great buffet for the entire night.

The Bashes & Blowouts guests getting down

Girls just want to have fun.

Superman tames Maureen

Chis, Superman, Sharon, Bernadette and Ana head to the Skybar

The girls take a break at the Mondrian

The dancers made a jaw dropping entrance. Once the crowd regained their composure, they joined in learning some Samba dance steps. Everyone enjoyed the signature drinks of the party which included mojitos and sex on the beach.

Our birthday boy got down with the dancers who stayed after the party as invited guests. The DJ played until midnight. Guests left with a gift bag of a personalized collins glass filled with a muddle, a lime, a mini bottle of white rum, sugar, mint and a recipe for mojitos.