LYFETYMES: Why it's The New Way to Plan a Party in 2020

Here’s a little backstory of why LYFTYMES was created.

I volunteered to plan my close friend’s baby shower; I figured I'd crush it. I’ve been the right-hand gal supporting huge corporate organizations in many roles for years. If I could do that, how hard could it be?

So when it came time to start planning, I started with what everyone does. I pulled out my laptop and entered:

"How to plan a baby shower."

"Tools to plan a baby shower."

"I need help planning a baby shower."

I kept getting printable checklists, helpful blogs, and great articles. There were plenty of pictures and inspiration, but I could not find an end-to-end website for all things party outside of weddings.

I went through the same thing planning my niece's graduation party (and let me promise you one thing, you do not want to screw up a teenage girl’s party). I was running around like a crazy person, trying to divide and conquer with co-hosts, worried sick it wouldn’t be the guest of honor’s vision, or I would forget something important.

I was so stressed over it and a full-time job working mom with little time.

I love to celebrate life’s milestones or just throw a party on the weekend, just because. My fondest memories are from these moments, and I hope there are many more.

But as I sat at my computer and thought of everything that needed to be done for my friend’s baby shower, I knew it should not be full of pain points—a baby shower should be full of joy and most of all, fun!

That's why I decided enough was enough, and LYFETYMES was created.

LYFETYMES is a free, fun, DIY website that is easy to use for any celebration or party. It's like having a personal party planner. It’s great for baby showers, birthday parties, bridal showers, graduation parties, holiday get-togethers, or ANY occasion. LYFETYMES has you covered, no matter what you are celebrating!

When you join our party, you will have access to powerful tools like:

• Celebration Dashboard

  Easily to read dashboards to keep track of important information and updates, including countdown clocks.

• Free Sharable Party Website to share celebration details with guests and gather RSVPS

• Invitation Station

  Build easy email, mailing and texting lists(coming next month), import previous guest lists or from your contacts, send invites and track RSVPs and the numbers of attendees. Great for Save the Dates & Thank You notes. Email & message co-Hosts and guests party updates.

• Inspiration Boards

  Upload and share your favorite pictures to capture or inspire your vision for decor, cakes, themes, etc.

• Vendor & Venues

  Your “party motherboard” of all the things you may need for a party all in one place!

• Registry & Gift Board

  Create wish lists or add registry URL’s that can be shared with guests or begin a new registry with your favorite store.

• Planning & Tools

  Interactive checklists, add and track to-do’s, assign tasks and due dates. Assign your celebration a budget and track spending.

• Food, Drink & Dessert Center

  It’s the center of every celebration! You can order catering, book a restaurant, order food delivery or DIY grocery lists – it’s all in one place!

• Decoration Center

  Browse decorations based on the occasion, purchase from top suppliers or get inspiration for your celebration!

• Include the Guest of Honor

  Are you hosting for someone? Maybe graduation or baby or bridal shower? No problem, with LYFETYMES you can send your guest of honor a link to help personalize the celebration with a limited view (so you don’t give all the details away!) to help with invites or provide registry information or theme favorites.

• Guest View

  Guests will be able to view invitation details, mapping directions, gift, and registry information and send the host or co-host questions.

We know that not every day is a party, but it’s still important to remember someone's birthday, anniversary, or any special day. To keep you organized so that you never forget one of these special days, we created LYFEMINDERS: Lyfe’s little reminders - you pick the day, and we will send you a reminder so you can send your love.

You can even plan multiple celebrations at the same time and access past celebrations to reuse tools and information like past invite lists to make LYFE easier!

LYFETYMES has also personalized the experience for all party goers including:

• Star of the Show (Guest of Honor)

• Hostess with the Mostess (Host & Co-Hosts)

• LYFE of the Party (Guests)

We can't wait to start celebrating with you. Come for the party, and stay for a LYFETYME!

Check out our website at www.lyfetymes.com and start planning in 30 seconds and follow us on social media for the best tips, inspiration, and trends.

Labor Day Party Ideas

Easy Labor Day Planning Ideas

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, this year is September 2nd, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. It is also the marker we make at the beginning of passing seasons from Summer to Fall coming upon us. Most of us get together with friends, enjoy the wonderful extended weekend and crank up our backyard grill for some the last summer BBQ Party or Pool Party. So let's get to planning a great Labor Day and celebrate with our friends and family and create memories with ones we love.

To celebrate these last few days of summer, start planning a Labor Day party for your friends, family, and neighbors. Follow these easy tips for planning a Labor Day party and ensure your final summer bash is a party to remember.

Step 1: Start Planning By Getting The Save The Date Out

LYFETYMES is a free place to plan any size party or get-together, not only can you plan all your parties; you can create a party website, and guests can enter their email to RSVP in one click. You will never use anything again.

Tip 2: Pick Labor Day Theme

Labor Day is about celebrating patriotism, and having a theme can help highlight all things American. Make sure to include the party theme in your LYFETYMES website so that your guests will coordinate. Here are some popular Labor Day party theme ideas:

• White Party: In these modern times, we all wear white after Labor Day now. But before the modern day, you were not supposed to wear white after Labor Day. Some people believe that this rule applies primarily to white shoes and others believe that all white items are a faux pas after Labor Day. A white party is a great way to celebrate and have a fun theme that is tongue in cheek, ask your guests to dress in white and incorporate white into your decorations, food, and table settings.

• Red, White, and Blue party: Hopefully you still have some July 4th decor leftover - Red, White, and Blue are famous for this holiday to show patriotism. You could have everyone to wear red, white, and blue. Use the theme in your decorations as well by having American flags, stars and stripes, and the colors (red, white, and blue) displayed throughout the party. The American flag makes the perfect backdrop for photos or food displays or centerpieces. Check out July 4th Blog here to get more of our country’s colors for inspiration

• Pool Party- For some, this may be that lat swim of the summer. Have a Luau, Tropical or Flamingo themed party to kiss summer goodbye and let your friends and family cool down. Find some great ideas on LYFETYMES Pinterest page

Step 3: Labor Day Decor

Wow your guests with this DIY project that will only take you 30 minutes to complete. Cut out star shapes from old cardboard and use red, white, and blue temporary spray paint that you can use on grass or sidewalk. Buy on Amazon https://amzn.to/2HrnH15here

Festive Centerpiece

A Centerpiece is also a great way to display patriotic party favors. Mix different sizes of American flags and pinwheels in a bucket. It's a bright and colorful display, and the guests can use them during the celebration!

Labor Day Streamer

Broad stripes and bright stars make easy decorations for a summer BBQ. Get your creative DIY juices flowing and make American flag-print bandannas. Just tie the ends together and string them from tree to tree or above the food table. You can use them with tablescapes and food displays. A bandanna runner adds rugged country charm -- and slips right off the next day.

Step 4: Creative Labor Day BBQ Menu Options

Your Labor Day Party menu should feature some pretty simple classics. Maximize your time outdoors by cooking almost everything on a grill. Buying all the ingredients for a party can be expensive and time-consuming.  Here are some ideas that we love for guests:

•  "You Bring It, We Grill It” style potluck. Each guest brings their favorite grilling item or a side to share. Check out our summer bbq Pinterest board for ideas and inspiration!

• Small Grill? No Problem- Have each guest bring their favorite famous outdoor family appetizer- people love to show off and share their secret recipes!

• Bake OFF! Have everyone bring a Red-White-Blue dessert, it is fun and makes an instant Dessert Bar that is an Instagram worthy picture!

With these ideas, everyone saves a bit of money, feels like they have contributed, and ensures at least ONE dish that they will like and eat!

Let Guests Know What's on the DIY Menu

Let your guests know what’s on the menu! Paint a big piece of plywood with black chalkboard paint for a professional-looking board. Then write out a list out what you are serving. Remember that summer BBQ parties equal heat—It may be September, but It’s still hot! Keep the drinks chillin' with colorful balloon ice! It's so simple: fill colorful balloons halfway with water and freeze overnight. Toss them in the cooler to keep drinks cold and festive.

Labor Day S’More Treats

Nothing says outdoor Labor Day Party like a S’ more station. It's easy, interactive, and fun experience and one less thing to worry about for your guests.

Step 5: Just Have Fun

Here is to making memories and enjoying your family and friends. Please send us pictures of your party if you would like it featured on our social media feed at katie@lyfetymes.com.

Summer BBQ Ideas

With Memorial Day, Father’s Day, July 4th, and the summer season upon us, the backyard grill becomes the hero as we plan the perfect summer BBQ Party or get-together. So let's light a match and cover some great ideas for themes, food, and activities to kick off the season!

The great thing about summer BBQs and outdoor cookouts is they are less formal and relaxed.

E-vites are perfectly fine way to send your invitation, in fact they are preferred. LYFETYMES is a free place to plan any size party or get-together, not only Is it free to plan all your parties; you can create a party website, send your party URL via email, or text and guests can enter their email to RSVP. Easy-peasy.

A Memorial Day party is the first holiday that kicks off everything we love about the summer BBQ season. Decorating for summer BBQs is simple (Memorial Day, of any time you’re throwing a summer party!): stick to red, white, and blue. The American flag makes the perfect backdrop for photos or food displays, so work it into your decorations whenever possible.

If you have an American flag flying proudly at your home, remember to display the flag half-staff before noon on Memorial Day. You can reuse the décor for both holidays. Check out our Patriotic Pinterest page here for over 1,000 amazing ideas to get your creative juices flowing!

You can also add in those ideas to your free LYFETYMES inspiration board for your party when you sign up to plan a celebration.

More Summer BBQ Ideas

Painted Lawn Stars or Sidewalk Stars

image: Practically Functional

Wow your guests with this DIY project that will only take you 30 minutes to complete. Cut out star shapes from old cardboard and use red, white, and blue temporary spray paint that you can use on grass or sidewalk. Buy on Amazon https://amzn.to/2HrnH15here

Festive Centerpiece

A 4th of July centerpiece is also a great way to display patriotic party favors. Mix different sizes of American flags and pinwheels in a bucket. It's a bright and colorful display, and the guests can use them during the celebration!

image: Between Naps on the Porch

Summer BBQ Streamer

Broad stripes and bright stars make easy decorations for a summer bbq. Get your creative DIY juices flowing and make American flag-print bandanas. Just tie the ends together and string them from tree to tree or above the food table. You can use them with tablescapes and food displays. A bandanna runner adds rugged country charm -- and slips right off the next day.

Creative Summer BBQ Menu Options

Your summer bbq party menu should feature some pretty simple classics. Maximize your time outdoors by cooking almost everything on a grill. Buying all the ingredients for a party can be expensive, and time-consuming.  Here are some ideas that we love for guests:

•  "You Bring It, We Grill It” style potluck. Each guest brings their favorite grilling item or a side to share. Check out our summer bbq Pinterest board for ideas and inspiration!

• Small Grill? No Problem- Have each guest bring their favorite famous outdoor family appetizer- people love to show off and share their secret recipes!

• Bake OFF! Have everyone bring a Red-White-Blue dessert, it is fun and makes an instant Dessert Bar that is an Instagram worthy picture!

With these ideas, everyone saves a bit of money, feels like they have contributed, and insures at least ONE dish that they will like and eat!

Let Guests Know What's on the DIY Menu

image: Pinterest

Let your guests know what’s on the menu! Paint a big piece of plywood with black chalkboard paint for a professional-looking board. Then write out a list out what you are serving. This looks very “Hostess with the Mostess and elevates any summer bbq or backyard party.

Signature Cocktail

A great drink setup is essential to any party, because what is a summer BBQ without a full cocktail or mocktail? In addition to your drink offerings, create a signature summer cocktail for your event.

image: In Katrina’s Kitchen

There so many red, white, and blue drinks to DIY from adding red and blue Jello Ice cubes to layering colors in equal parts, to simply adding star cut watermelon and blueberries-all are refreshing, delicious, and completely on-theme. Find the recipe pictured above through her link, or her pin found here.

Remember that summer BBQ parties equal heat—It gets hot! Keep the drinks chillin' with colorful balloon ice! It's so simple: fill colorful balloons halfway with water and freeze overnight. Toss them in the cooler to keep drinks cold and festive.

Summer BBQ S’More Treats

image: Fresh Mommy Blog

And nothing says summer quite like a campfire and s’more! Everyone will love this sweet summer treat. But why stop at the traditional chocolate, marshmallow, and graham cracker combination? You can DIY dye your marshmallows patriotic red-white-blue so when melted it is on the theme- also makes for great “Thank You” take ones.

Or, use food coloring to dye frosting and add that to the top of your marshmallow to make it extra decadent.

Fun & Games

Outside of food and Décor

Fireworks would be amazing for any summer BBQ, but not many people can pull off a fireworks show. time or not allowed to have them, you can fake it with confetti-filled balloon bombs! Create firecracker favors out of kid-friendly party poppers that shoot out confetti and streamers. Check out Pinterest page for all the DIY Poppers and confetti balloon ideas.

Water Balloons

Want to cool off your guests, but you don’t have a pool? Give it up for water balloons! Water balloons are a kid favorite! Water balloons are the PERFECT summer BBQ activity and can spark some friendly competition and hilarious sneak attacks.

Summer BBQ Craft Table

Having a great kids creative table is great for any party. Easy DIY  patriotic ribbon crowns are the perfect July 4th craft for your kids to create! Sport your patriotic pride with the red, white, and blue friendship flag, where the kids can create something for their parents to take home with their handprint on it.

Create A Summer Song List

image: Styles at Life

No party is complete without some music! Keep your playlist upbeat for the daytime, and switch to a more mellow mood when evening comes around. Here’s a pretty stellar list shared with us.

https://mashable.com/2014/07/01/fourth-of-july-playlist-spotify/

Summer BBQs are all about relaxing and enjoying family, but Memorial Day is a day of appreciation where we remember and honor those men and women who have died while protecting our country.

You can show your support by attending a parade, donating to a military charity, sending a care package to servicemen and women, invite a veteran on your block over to eat, or take them a plate. Above all, taking a moment to remember why we have a three-day weekend.

LYFETYMES: The New Way to Plan a Party

Here’s a little backstory of why LYFTYMES was created.

I volunteered to plan my close friend’s baby shower; I figured I'd crush it. I’ve been the right-hand gal supporting huge corporate organizations in many roles for years. If I could do that, how hard could it be?

So when it came time to start planning, I started with what everyone does. I pulled out my laptop and entered:

"How to plan a baby shower."

"Tools to plan a baby shower."

"I need help planning a baby shower."

I kept getting printable checklists, helpful blogs, and great articles.. There were plenty of pictures and inspiration, but I could not find an end-to-end website for all things party outside of weddings.

I went through the same thing planning my niece's graduation party (and let me promise you one thing, you do not want to screw up a teenage girl’s party). I was running around like a crazy person, trying to divide and conquer with co-hosts, worried sick it wouldn’t be the guest of honor’s vision, or I would forget something important.

I was so stressed over it and  a full-time job working mom with little time.

I love to celebrate life’s milestones or just throw a party on the weekend, just because. My fondest memories are from these moments, and I hope there are many more.

But as I sat at my computer and thought of everything that needed to be done for my friend’s baby shower, I knew it should not be full of pain points—a baby shower should be full of joy and most of all, fun!

That's why I decided enough was enough, and LYFETYMES was created.

LYFETYMES is a free, fun, DIY website that is easy to use for any celebration or party. It's like having a personal party planner. It’s great for baby showers, birthday parties, bridal showers, graduation parties, holiday get-togethers, or ANY occasion. LYFETYMES has you covered, no matter what you are celebrating!

When you join our party, you will have access to powerful tools like:

• Celebration Dashboard

  Easily to read dashboards to keep track of important information and updates, including countdown clocks.

• Invitation Station

  Build easy email, mailing and texting lists(coming next month), import previous guest lists or from your contacts, send invites and track RSVPs and the numbers of attendees. Great for Save the Dates & Thank You notes. Email & message co-Hosts and guests party updates.

• Inspiration Boards

  Upload and share your favorite pictures to capture or inspire your vision for decor, cakes, themes, etc.

• Vendor & Venues

  Your “party motherboard” of all the things you may need for a party all in one place!

• Registry & Gift Board

  Create wish lists or add registry URL’s that can be shared with guests or begin a new registry with your favorite store.

• Planning & Tools

  Interactive checklists, add and track to-do’s, assign tasks and due dates. Assign your celebration a budget and track spending.

• Food, Drink & Dessert Center

  It’s the center of every celebration! You can order catering, book a restaurant, order food delivery or DIY grocery lists – its all in one place!

• Decoration Center

  Browse decorations based on occasion, purchase from top suppliers or get inspiration for your celebration!

• Include the Guest of Honor

  Are you hosting for someone? Maybe graduation or baby or bridal shower? No problem, with LYFETYMES you can send your guest of honor a link to help personalize the celebration with limited view (so you don’t give all the details away!) to help with invites or provide registry information or theme favorites.

• Guest View

  Guest will be able to view invitation details, mapping directions, gift, and registry information and send the host or co-host questions.

We know that not every day is a party, but it’s still important to remember someone's birthday, anniversary, or any special day. To keep you organized so that you never forget one of these special days, we created LYFEMINDERS: Lyfe’s little reminders - you pick the day, and we will send you a reminder so you can send your love.

You can even plan multiple celebrations at the same time and access past celebrations to reuse tools and information like past invite lists to make LYFE easier!

LYFETYMES has also personalized the experience for all party goers including:

• Star of the Show (Guest of Honor)

• Hostess with the Mostess (Host & Co-Hosts)

• LYFE of the Party (Guests)

We can't wait to start celebrating with you. Come for the party, and stay for a LYFETYME!

Check out our website at www.lyfetymes.com and start planning in 30 seconds and follow us on social media for the best tips, inspiration and trends.