The Party Planner

I have not yet had the opportunity to plan a professional event or activity.  In my personal life I have had many opportunities to plan  social events.  One of my fondest planning memory is when I planned a Halloween party that my roommates and I had when I lived in Colorado.


There was a lot of tasks that had to be done.

• First, we had to pick a date.
• Then we had to come up with a theme.  Since it was a Halloween party, that was very simple.
• Between my roommates, Brandy and Carla, we had to come up with a guest list.
• Once we had an idea of how many people we were going to invite, we had to come up with a menu with food and drinks we were going to supply.
• I made the invitations for the party and we all handed them out to the people on our guest list, about 2 weeks before the party.
• About a week before the party, all three of us girls went shopping to get supplies and decorations.
• The day before the party, we also had to go to the store again to get last minute food items.
• On the day of the party, Brandy was in charge of cleaning the house up and Carla was in charge of setting up decorations.  I was in charge of making all the appetizers. 
• I made pigs-n-a-blanket, which looked like mummies.
• I made deviled eggs that looked like eye balls.
• I made Rice Krispy treats that looked like pumpkins and some that looked like candy corn.
• I also had basic appetizers that were not Halloween themed: chips and salsa, vegetable trays with ranch dressing, and meat balls and mini sausages in BBQ sauce.
•  I also made "Witches Brew", which consisted of the combination of Orange, Mango, and Pineapple juice in a huge pot.  I put dry ice in the Witches Brew so it made it look steamy and spooky.
• After the party was over, we had to clean up.  That was my least favorite part!!

(Left to Right) Brandy, Me, and Carla

Looking back, there is not very much I would change.  Our decorations were awesome and kind of spooky too.  The food was great as well and every body loved the themed appetizers.  Every one's costumes were great and very creative!

If someone is looking to do a similar party, there are a few helpful hints that I would tell them.

• Don't spend a lot of time and money on appetizers.  No matter what kind of food is out, people will eat it.  Your guests don't pay too much attention to the spread.
• Make the clean-up process as easy as possible.  That night or the next day, you are not going to be wanting to clean up a big mess.  Use disposable plates and serving wear.
• If you are doing a Halloween themed party, use black lights!!!  We changed all the light bulbs in the house to black lights and it was so cool to see how every one's costumes looked.  It also made for some neat pictures.

Purchasing Cards

Purchasing Cards are a form of charge cards that companies issue to employees.  Employees are to use these cards for business purposes only.  Employers can put limits on these cards, such as purchase amounts and number of times the card can be used.  Three of the biggest Purchase Cards are:

1. Visa Purchase Card
2. Corporate Purchasing Card by American Express
3. U.S. Bank Purchasing Card

The purchasing card I found to be the best option was the U.S. Bank Purchasing Card.  As stated on their website, many of their clients have saved as much as $78.58 per transaction, when using the purchasing card.

There are multiple benefits of using a purchasing card.  By using a purchasing card, you dont have to worry about filing the paper work for authorizing, tracking, and reconciling the purchases. Transactions can be tracked and automatically posted to the general ledger.  Employers can manage and monitor employee compliance and they can also enforce card-usage policies for employees.

One of the biggest benefits for the U.S. Bank Purchasing Card are that employers can control and limit spending by:

• Capping the number of transactions and dollar amounts per day, per month, or any other desired period of time.
• Having a single-purchase limit for the cardholders.
• Having a limit on how much the cardholder can spend per 30-day billing cycle.
• Blocking purchases of specific commodities and services.

Other benefits of the U.S. Bank Purchasing Card that help boost efficiency and decrease cost are:

• Worldwide card acceptance
• Reduced paperwork
• 24-hour customer service
• Liability Waiver protection program
• Online account setup and maintenance
• Online web-enabled reporting
• Flexible authorization system
• Cardholder spending controls

Records Management in My Personal Life

When you are planning your personal record keeping system, there are three factors that play a big importance: findability, confidentiality, and safety.  Findability basically means how easy is it for you to find something particular that you are looking for.  Confidentiality is the process of keeping personal information private.  Safety is the freedom from harm and danger.  Confidentiality and safety go hand-in-hand.  If you do not keep your documents confidential, then your safety is at risk.  If your personal and private documents fall into the wrong hands, your life could be turned upside down.  I would keep all my personal medical documents in one folder, because those are very confidential.  I would mark confidential on the folders as well.  I am not exactly sure how helpful that would be, but I am willing to give it a shot to see how it would work out.

Right now, my filing method is not a good one and is very weak.  I usually just throw all my random documents into a basket and have to dig through it when I need to find just one of the documents.  I need to improve my personal record keeping habits.  I just recently purchased a filing box and some folders so that I can start to file my documents properly.  I am going to create the following folders:

• AT&T
• Bank Account Info
• Car: PT Cruiser
• Car Insurance
• Credit Card Statements
• Electronics Information
• Life Insurance
• Vet Paperwork
• Warranties

As I am going, I will make more folders for paperwork that shows up.  The folders I bought are color coded.  I will put the folders that have confidential information in the red folders.  I am going to use the green folders for folders that have financial information in them.  For paperwork that is not too confidential (warranties, vet paperwork, etc.), I will use the orange folders.