Getting engaged is a wonderful thing. It’s a sign that you’re planning to pledge your love to another person as soon as possible. So, why not celebrate that you’ve made this crucial decision to tie the knot? Engagement parties can be a lot of fun, but they can also be a hassle to plan.

Engagement parties don’t have to be elaborate or expensive to be successful, but you do need a good idea of what you want to accomplish and how you’re going to approach the day. A badly planned party can lead to arguments and mistakes, which is the last thing you want.

Here are some top tips to keep in mind when you’re preparing for your big engagement party event.

Figure Out the Hosting Details

Traditionally, the bride’s parents used to host engagement parties. However, this is rarely the preferred choice these days. Most people prefer to choose a venue that’s meaningful to them and pick a place that has plenty of room for extra attendees.

Think about who’s going to be responsible for hosting the party. Are you going to take control yourself, with your soon to be spouse? Or would you like some support from friends and family members? Think about where you want the party to take place too.

Remember that you need the location to be accessible to all of your visitors. This means that you need to pick a place that’s easy to reach or comes with plenty of parking spots.

Deciding Who to Invite

Figuring out who you should invite to an engagement party is one of the toughest things you’ll need to do. Immediate family members are often a good choice. However, you’ll probably want to reach out to close friends too. Ideally, you’ll want to avoid inviting distant relatives and coworkers that you only see at the office, as this could end up making your party way too big.

Essentially, everyone you plan to include in the bridal and groom party should be invited to your engagement event. It’s best to keep the party small if you can. This will prevent you from filling the room with too many people who don’t know anyone else.

If the respective families of you and your soon-to-be-spouse don’t know each other very well yet, it’s a good idea to introduce them in private before the big event. This will help everyone to feel a little less awkward during the celebration.

Make the Gift Situation Clear

Gifts aren’t always required with engagement parties, but it’s becoming increasingly common for people to bring gifts anyway. If you’re hosting your own engagement party and you’re not sure whether people will bring gifts or not, it might be worth ironing everything out on your event invitations. Let people know that they’re not required to bring gifts.

If someone does bring a gift, it might be better to keep it out of sight so that other people don’t feel bad that they haven’t brought something. If you want to avoid your guests going too over-the-top on gifts that you’re not going to need or use, consider giving them a list of things that you’d be interested in getting to help towards the wedding. You can find some great ideas at this site if you’re stuck.

If you’re the person invited to an engagement party and you want to bring a gift, money or vouchers are often good options if you want to avoid drawing attention to the present.

Keep the Party Simple and Clean

Most of the time, engagement parties are pretty simple. There aren’t many activities planned. Instead, people generally just chat about the upcoming wedding, listen to music, and make the occasional toast. The parents of the bride and groom might talk about how their families are coming together, which might be a good bonding moment.

Since there isn’t a lot of activity at an engagement party, you don’t need to overspend on fancy decorations and entertainment. Save that money for the wedding. You can use this occasion to introduce people instead. Music is a great way to prevent the experience from feeling too awkward. However, it’s best to stick to fun and lighthearted songs.

When you’re celebrating, you might decide that you want to serve alcohol too. That’s totally fine if both of the families are agreeable. However, it’s worth avoiding alcohol if you know anyone in the bride or groom party has a problem with it. Even if people are fine with alcohol, it’s best to keep the amount that you drink low.