Plan a Party Any Billionaire Would Envy!

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Do you enjoy parties?

Do you like being regarded as the person who hosts the best parties?

Does making your guests happy delight you?

If you answered "yes" to these questions, you've come to the right blog post.

Today, we'll look at how you can plan a party that any billionaire would envy. I'll share my secret formula for making parties that people talk about 30 years later . . . without spending a fortune.

1. Throw away every party idea you've ever heard.

Your guests crave new experiences. If you give them what they've enjoyed before or they have heard about, they will soon be focusing on how yours compares to the others. That will make them dissatisfied.

2. Be positively outrageous.

Your guests want to have a good experience so keep it positive . . . but be outrageous in a positive way.

You can often do this by putting a new twist on an old idea. For example, most people don't like scavenger hunts because they are scrounging around on cold nights when they would rather be inside having a drink. Our country club solved that conundrum by starting the evening with a gourmet dinner and sending us off in champagne-stocked limousines for our scavenger hunt. Even if you never found a single item, you had a good time.

3. Provide intensely personal service.

One year I was invited by a famous US senator to attend the Louisiana Congressional Delegation's celebration of Mardi Gras inside of a Washington, DC hotel. While there were thousands there, I was intensely honored when the senator helped me with my dance card and gave me tips on how to stay anonymous yet thrill the women I would be dancing with. Later, in our private box, I was astonished to find that we had a bartender to take care of only eight of us. I felt like I was royalty for the night.

4. Raise some money for a good charity.

Being present to help others puts everyone in a giving mood. When they are giving, most people feel pretty good about themselves.

Make the giving part work out so everyone can feel like they have been generous. This means making the size and nature of the donation flexible, anonymous and inconspicuous . . . except for those who want to be lionized for giving a ton.

5. Provide an endless bounty of choices.

People are fascinated by variety and things they haven't seen before. Whether it's your choice of beverages, your appetizers, your centerpieces or your napkins, provide them in endless . . . but coordinated . . . varieties. This will provide a sense of splendor that's irresistible.

6. Make the immediate group each guest is with small enough that they can get past the small talk stage.

Give your guests a chance to meet people they will want to be friends with for 30 years! This means careful planning of who you invite to make each person a star in some way or another . . . that the others will admire.

7. Make participation flexible.

Some people like to sit and chat all night while others dance off 10 pounds. Most parties are set up to favor one way of participating . . . and the others are left to feel unwanted or discomfited. Instead, make it so that each person feels like the party is just for them.

8. Circulate . . . circulate . . . circulate . . . and praise . . . praise . . . praise.

In my most successful parties, each person attending received an award during the party and had a chance to share a few thoughts with everyone else. By hearing what the emcee had to say about each person, it was easier for people to connect and appreciate each other. .

9. Pick a location that's intriguing that no one has ever been to before.

A lot of people try this . . . and don't quite pull it off. The more exclusive the experience seems . . . the better. My daughter, for example, was very thrilled when her high school class rented Gillette Stadium for a party at 2 a.m. after graduation. None of them had ever been there for a party . . . only for a football or soccer game. By comparison, most people who rent the New England Aquarium report feeling strange drinking cocktails while staring at fish.

10. Give people a memento they will treasure for years.

One of my best parties was when I greeted my guests as they descended from an airplane with costumes for the evening. We proceeded to historical sites by limousine all over the Boston area and took professional photographs of them at these sites. To this day, these images adorn their homes in prominent places.

11. Go giddily over the top on a modest theme.

Arbor Day is hardly a major event on the calendar. But one of my favorite parties was a tree-planting affair where we arranged for a boulevard to receive its first trees. I still visit that boulevard 45 years later to admire my handiwork.

Are you ready for a great party? Follow these rules and you can't miss.

Can any billionaire do better? I think not!

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N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color. Many thanks to Linda Grace for her suggestions which I am following!

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Here are some upcoming subjects:

Tomorrow, we'll explore the spiritual joys of closely examining nature better than a billionaire.

Monday, I'll share ways to build an attentive audience for your thoughts better than a billionaire.

On Tuesday, you and I will look at the problems of billionaire David Duffield's plans to build a 72,000 square foot home in Alamo, California.

Wednesday, we'll take a close look at how to be more beloved than a billionaire. Don't miss this post!

On Thursday, I'll share with you the best way to be understood and appreciated by others.

If you are new to this blog, be sure to check out the updated table of contents entry that I posted on October 12. The table of contents will help you find earlier entries that may be of interest. I'll update this table of contents every week or so for your convenience.

August 31 was the most frequently read blog entry to date. Be sure to check it out!

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Check out the latest index at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005/10/latest-table-of-contents-to-this-blogs.html to pick out your choice.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell