Plan to Party [Paperback]

Elizabeth Mascali and Dawn Sandomeno (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2010

This book creates the framework for memorable entertaining in your home from start to finish. Included in this timeless and informative party planning guide, you will find mouth-watering recipes, extensive checklists, and true-to-life timelines for even the least experienced host, as well as ideas, tips and tricks to save you time and money.

Elizabeth and Dawn are the founders of Party Bluprints Inc. and the wildly successful party planning blog, partybluprintsblog.com. Their blog is a wealth of information for hosts new to the themed party scene, as well as those who have been hosting parties for years. The blog and book reflect years of research, knowledge and feedback on parties that will not only wow your guests but avoid breaking even the most modest budget.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Yorkshire Publishing (October 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881442186
• ISBN-13: 978-0881442182
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,107,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Have for those who CAN and feel they CANNOT host a Party October 23, 2010

By Karen J. Smith

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a must have for yourself and for those you love!! I have already purchased a bunch for holiday gifts, teacher gifts and my dear nieces upcoming wedding shower.
Top 10 things I love about this book:
#10- The Price. I could not believe that for less than 20.00 it contained so much useful and interesting info
#9- The French 75 Drink. Enough said. Try it.
#8-It fits easily in your purse to take to the store when you want to refer to the shopping list.
#7- Already has helped me make a holiday menu!
#6- Looks beautiful on my coffee table
#5- I hate to entertain and it has inspired me to, so my daughter is thrilled.
#4-I actually made the Black Olive Canapes! My friend invited me to dinner and had the nerve to say I could not bring my usual bottle of wine. They were a hit!
#3-The toolbox List. I used it to finally organize my cluttered cabinets.
#2- My Aunt loves the book. She has it all and is the ultimate cook and host. I gave it to her on her 75th birthday and she has already hosted a cocktail party for her girlfriends following the "What a Girl Wants" party in the book!!
And my #1 reason for recommending this book is the PICTURES!! You do not have to guess how things should look. You get a pristine photo of how the finished recipes should look. CHEERS GIRLS!!!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have party planning book! October 9, 2010

By Katja Presnal

Plan to Party by Elizabeth Mascali and Dawn Sandomeno is one of the best party planning books I have ever read. The book is visually beautiful, and it does make a great gift, but the best is the information! The book is full of ideas that are easy to execute, yet make your party to look like a professional planned it. These two professionals make it easy for you to become a better hostess with less stress and let you too to enjoy your next party. The recipe and food ideas are easy, and most of them you can do ahead of the time. This book is a must have for everyone who ever hosts parties at home; whether you are planning a big party, or a small family gathering. Check out also the authors' blog [...] for more party planning ideas. Dawn and Elizabeth are amazing women, and their warm hearts and joy of life comes through in their beautiful book and I wish there was a way to give more than five stars :)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun book June 30, 2011

By Mom116

Amazon Verified Purchase

Enjoyed this book. Beautiful, colorful pictures. Good recipes. I find the layout for the parties described a little hard to follow. The parties used are a bit "fancy" for what I was looking for. But it does give great tips, and is fun to look through.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Plan to Party October 19, 2010

By Susan

I just received my copy of Plan to Party!! It is a visually appealing book, introducing Elizabeth Mascali and Dawn Sandomeno, with words that touch the heart of all who welcome people into their homes! I can't wait to read every section.... the photographs are so beautiful and yummy! Well done, Bravo, Congratulations to the lovely authors! PLAN TO PARTY will be my gift of choice for my nearest and dearest this holiday season!!!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Plan to Party October 9, 2010

By Karen

Amazon Verified Purchase

I found the "Plan to Party" book to be full of great ideas on planning a party from beginning to end and enjoying your guests at the same time. This book makes me want to honor my friends with a party from this book and I know that I will be able to enjoy the party and my guests. I will look on planning a party differently because of this book. It also looks great as a table top book. It is so full of ideas that I will be trying out soon. I will be ordering more to give a gifts.

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun to Plan any Party, with Plan a Party's Ideas April 1, 2012

By I. Seligman

I am used to books that are tightly organized and easy to find what I need/want.
While this very good and it isn't quite that organized, it's well worth buying, sitting down and going through the pages to find lots of valuable "pearls". I quickly grew to like its quirky set up, and found myself putting bits of paper at recipes or clever ideas that make the book well worth getting. Hey, they even love one of my favorite California cheeses-Humbolt Fog! The price is right, and what it saves you in potential mistakes is worth an armful of books!

The first 5 pages are attractive photos..the next 25 some pages give insight into the two writers and their families. The body of the book is about four major party themes with menu and activities:
Wine Country Crush pages 64-119
A Night in Venice pages 120-177
Chocolate Soiree pages 178-219
What a Girl Wants pages 220-265
That's a lot of pages, for each of four theme parties!

By the end of the book, you feel you know the writers and their families a little bit. Each party has its merits.
Wine Country Crush- You know how to send out beautiful invitations, organize a cheese and wine tasting to have it easy and fun. Guests have a delicious risotto topped with braiased beef short ribs in Cabernet wine sauce- that's easy to make. Recipes are simple, and should be tasty-why knock yourself out? It covers the flow of the evening from room to room and sets the time for each mini-activity, and even sets the table!
A Night in Venice- You get a feel or life in Venice as well as the food. Make tramezzini, ombra, and cicchetti-easy andauthentic.
What a Girl Wants -gave a great apple and brie crostini that you can use for any event, plus solid party planning tips....
Each chapter has a critical timeline at the end, so you have all in place long before the party.
Bottom line- you are given a set of "bluprints" on how to organize any event, when you put it all together.

It's not easy to earn 5 stars from me-I look through dozens of cookbooks and party planning books each year, and own more than I care to admit to! A 5 star book is a timeless classic, a shining award winning example to other writers. I took off a star for this book because the book's excess words and pages could be cut to 1/2 the size, better organized, and add more than four party themes. If I could have taken off just 1/2 star, that'd be better, to give it a nicely earned 4.5 stars for a great first book. I can extrapolate from these four themes to more varied party theme/ideas, many can not. The photography is generally beautiful.

Read through this on a lazy day, and pick out the pearls of experience you can use in your own entertaining. This will greatly help you to be a good host/hostess and happily have groups of 4 to 20 people over to your home for parties. when all the hard work is done days in advance, you can relax more than you'd imagine on the day of the event. Parties do not have to be expensive-these dishes are wallet-friendly. Pick appropriate background music, and waft scents of baked bread or other aromas about. As the authors points out, It's not so much about the food (which is good) it's really about bringing people togther. Throw a party, and you'll see just how happy your guests will be, just to be at your event! Read more ›