You have a simcha. Guests are coming in from out of town. You’re excited to be able to celebrate with family and friends. Yet, you find yourself overwhelmed by the myriad of details involved in creating the perfect event. While many people hire party planners, they can be pricey and you’d like to keep the cost down and remain calm throughout the process.
Here are some apps that can help take a bit of the pressure off the DIY party planning process:
Party & Event Planner Lite
This app is like a party planning personal assistant. It helps you accomplish all the tasks necessary for the party, with personalized reminders set at predetermined times before the event. It helps with the guest list as well, and an integrated expense calculator allows you to see the total costs, fully and partially paid amounts and amounts still payable. Party & Event Planer Lite also computes quantities of alcohol, based on your guests’ needs.
Up to six family members can use this app at the same time to enable you to work in conjunction with others on planning the party.
This app is free, although it has ads. If the ads annoy you, you can download the Party & Event Planner Pro, which costs 0.99 cents.
Party & Event Planner Lite is only available in the App Store. Google Play has a similar app called My Party Planner Lite, which is free with ads. You can upgrade to the full version if the ads bother you.
This is just one of the many party and event planner apps which attempt to keep the entire party planning process in one place.
Asana
Asana is a full-blown collaboration and productivity manager. While it is not a party planning app per se, it can come in handy when you’re making a large party or when teamwork is required throughout the process.
Asana is free.
Evernote
Evernote is like a notepad that allows you to capture and share ideas, find information, create to-do lists, clip articles or webpages, attach documents, photos or audio, or take pictures of whatever you’d like and have the information in one central location. Evernote syncs to all your devices.
Evernote requires a subscription service.
Pinterest is a great app for party inspiration. Be it menu, style, centerpieces, flower arrangements or party and game ideas, Pinterest has it all.
Pinterest is free.
Evite
Evite allows you to send invitations via email or text message and to track RSVPs in real time. You can choose from thousands of free or premium digital invitations.
While there is a free version with ads, your guests will most probably appreciate the pro or premium ad-free versions.
Guest List Organizer
Guest List Organizer is especially helpful when you have assigned seating. You simply import your contacts from your address book, and you can easily categorize and sort guests. Guest List Organizer generates PDF reports for you, enabling you to see who is coming with family members, with co-workers, or even alone, thus making the seating arrangement deliberations easier.
Guest List Organizer is free, although you can upgrade to the pro version without ads.
Magic Plan
Magic Plan is officially a residential contractor app. However, it can be helpful when deciding which venue to choose. It allows you to measure, create 2D and 3D sketches of the floor plan when you visit the site, as well as upload photos, markups and 360-degree images, giving you the ability to envision the hall as a finished product.
Magic Plan is free.
Spotify
Many people choose to hire a band or DJ to play at their simcha. However, if you are having a low-key event and would like to save money on the music, you can always use Spotify. Spotify is a streaming music app that allows you to make your own playlists.
While Spotify’s basic version is free, it is accompanied by ads. Therefore, you might want to upgrade to the premium version for your simcha.
Happy party planning!