Peach's Party Filing

Okay so more like Organizing and filing. I wasn't joking about having a file for our clue parties. I actually have one. It looks like this:

However you don't need one of these for this post to be relevant. This is simply the basic information I use to organize a party. I just happen to need a file since all this material is not readily available on a blog for me to check out any time I want to...*hing hint...new party being posted in a few months!*


But I'm not going to go into how I made it my filing system. What I am going to go into is how I organize my clue parties. Now this is a little different from planning. In the planning stage I get to play with invitations, thank yous, guest lists, prizes and all sorts of fun crafty things.  This is a little less crafty, although I still get to be creative so it's okay.

When we open up my filing box you see this:

 

There are eight different sections for me to keep track of everything I need to know.  I'm only going to go over four of those sections. The other four are pretty much just what they sound like. Available names is just pre-made notecards with different aliases so I don't have to think too hard if we're adding another new guest. Banned/disqualified guests are just that, and past themes and future themes are either themes I've done or want to do. So let's get into the stuff that actually needs a little elaborating.




Invited/Returning guests: I keep the new guests in front so I can check at a moments notice and all returning guests go behind them. Now I have personal information on actual people in this section so I can't show it to you. But basically I have the persons name, mailing address, phone number and if they have a facebook. This is so I can contact them if I need to get an RSVP, send invitations and thank yous by mail, or update someone via text about the party if they aren't able to participate in facebook conversations. I also have their color/alias on their card so I don't have to search through names. That is really more to help me. For this you probably wont need more than a guest list with corresponding aliases and a phone number for each guest.



 


Current Party Data: This section is where I keep all my clues. I have each clue color coordinated by type then numbered. The numbers are for my easy-cleanup. I write down on each clue where they are located in the room as I hide them. This just makes it easier to find. What I'll do is put sticky notes on the front of each card. You can just print out the clues and write all of that information with a pen  if you wanted to use my clean up system. The other thing that is in this section is everyone alibis. These cards are made a lot like the guest cards except they just have the alias on them. I tape the alibi onto the back of the card so I can use the same card next year. Again you can just print these out and write names next to them.





 

Conflicts Between Guests: This is where it gets a little interesting. You may not need any information on this unless some of your guests don't get along. The problem I see is that our guests get a little too into character and start becoming mean to each other. We started recording these incidents so we would know in the future if someone was repeatedly doing this and if we should continue to invite them if they are hurting our other friends feelings. This is also the section where we record who we can and can't sit next to who because we do have some friends who just don't get along. It's mostly to avoid conflict.

Current Party Information: So unlike current party data, the information is things that are more relevant to the theme, so research that I may need to make it more realistic, relationship webs so I can keep track of characters, the story we write every year for our guests. I also keep our donation log and RSVP list there.

Which brings me to the last thing I wanted to bring up: Funds. Money is not readily available to everyone and parties like this can be expensive. So while I hit sales year round in preparation for this event we also recently started asking our friends if they would be willing to put a little money toward it. We decided on a suggested $5 per person and it was by no means necessary. This will be the third year in a row we've done this so we have a group of adults who are excited about this party and want to see it happen. Two years ago we wouldn't have asked this simply because they wouldn't have been interested in a party they weren't sure about.We're okay asking now because we know our particular group wants this event to happen and it's something we all look forward too. We don't like to ask for money but our friends also understand it's expensive and they want to help in any way they can. We really appreciate that and we don't take any of that for granted.

So that's all I've got for this post. Hope this helped you!

-Courtney