My Must-Have Party Supplies for Entertaining

A good color combo and something sweet is really all you need for any good party. But I wanted to put together a more in-depth list of must-haves as a resource for future party planning. And with Easter right around the corner, I threw together a few of my absolute faves to show you what your next party could look like, whether it’s a pastel wonderland or something entirely different.

Here are my must-have party supplies for everything from last minute get-togethers to fully planned affairs.

1. The basics (plates, cups, napkins, etc). Cute isn’t required here, but it definitely helps. And paper plates, cups, etc are especially great for surprise get togethers because the clean up is quick and easy. Not to mention there are a ton of cool paper party options out there.

My faves right now are from the Sugar & Cloth party / entertaining collection  (available exclusively on Amazon) – which is where all of my pastel gold-rimmed plates are from in these photos. And she even designed some beautiful pink plastic coups (just bought ’em actually), cool straws, and pattern party napkins.

P.S. If you’re not a fan of the disposable route, you can always just use what you have on hand at home (white plates and simple glassware do the trick just as well). I have these plates, from Crate and Barrel, at the studio and use them for nearly every occasion. When I have more time, I go that route when I can. The only downside is cleanup, but it’s not that big of a deal if you like/ can tolerate doing dishes.

2. An easy way to dress up a store-bought cake. If you have time to run out to the grocery store, you can pick up a pre-made cake for about $10. They’re usually not very inspiring in the looks department though, so having a few tricks up your sleeve for jazzing one up, is always a good thing.

In this case, since it’s for Easter, I grabbed a bunch of pastel Easter candy (also at the store I bought the cake from) and crushed them up into smaller pieces, before adding them to the entire cake like candy confetti. There’s plenty of other ways to dress up a store-bought cake too. Here’s a list of ideas to get you started: 5 DIY ways to make an average store-bought cake look totally awesome. And if you really want to get fancy, you can try this unique piping technique that looks like a woven wall hanging.

3. Ribbon. This might seem like a strange one, but I keep a whole lot of velvet ribbon options around for parties because they can be used for so many things – tying together cutlery, adding it to napkins for a pop of color or stemware as a color coded way to figure out what drink is yours, etc. I get most of my ribbon (especially velvet ribbon) from Amazon and M&J Trimming.

4. Place cards or guest notes. This one is a little extra in the ‘do you really need that’ department, but I love the added touch it brings to parties, so I’m throwing it in. Typically, I like to have a DIY option ready for something like this to add a handmade touch. I used my (mini) painted DIY envelopes as place cards for this one and it worked really well with the pastels, even with the colors being a bit more bold. You can keep the names blank until the day of when you find out who’s coming, etc.

5. Balloons. I don’t do balloons all that often for parties, but LOTS of people do – and for good reason. A bag of un-inflated balloons take up virtually no space in your closet, they’re easy to blow up, and provide that instant feeling of a party. Kelly from Studio DIY has an awesome selection of balloons in different color combos, shapes, letter messages, etc. You can find them all right here: Shop Studio DIY.

6. Confetti. This is another space-saving item that screams party. A little confetti can go a long way! And there are SO many more options out there these days than the basic colors we’ve seen in the past. My favorite place for confetti right now are Knot & Bow and Oh Happy Day. Great selection of colors and shapes.

7. Candles. Not necessary for an Easter celebration, but if you’re party calls for candles (birthdays, etc), Knot & Bow has some really beautiful beeswax party candles in lots of colors and heights.

8. Vases. While you’re at the store picking up that $10 cake, you can also grab some grocery store flowers to add to the table. Which means having a few vases on hand at home are a perfect party accessory (preferably roughly the same size and/or shape). They can even be DIY versions!

Did I forget anything?! Let me know in the comments below what’s on your list of must-have party supplies!

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