How to hold a virtual engagement party

If you got engaged over the Christmas and New Year period, many, many congratulations! We’re sure you’ll be giddy with excitement and wanting to plan everything ASAP. Due to lockdown restrictions, visiting venues isn't possible, neither is throwing a big engagement party. That shouldn't stop you celebrating your happy news, however. You could still have a surprisingly wonderful engagement bash at home, with friends and family joining you online for a virtual party. Here's how to do it properly...

Create a guestlist

When putting your guest list together, remember that Zoom calls tend to work best if the numbers of the people on the call is kept relatively tight. If you have a wide social network, create several zoom groups and split your time out equally. If everyone knows each other well that will help with the party atmosphere.

Personalise your invites

As well as sending out the Zoom link, why not make it official with a physical invitation sent out to all of your guests. Why not send all invitees one of our personalised balloons? You can add whatever text you like, such as your and your other half’s names and the date of the party.

Decorations and Balloons

Even though you can’t all be together for a full-on engagement party, create a sense of togetherness by sending all of your invitees identical deliveries of Party Pieces goodies for them to decorate their Zoom backdrops and beyond. Following the previous section’s advice about keeping numbers limited will help you stick to a budget.

Need some ideas? Backdrops make everyone’s Zoom backgrounds look glam and co-ordinated. This gold heart one fits the bill perfectly. Balloons are also essential – you could send this slogan confetti balloon set, featuring balloons adorned with ‘Future Mrs’, ‘She said “yes”’ and ‘Love’, or a rose gold and blush balloon bundle. As the host, you could add a special touch to your background with this ‘Love’ foil balloon phrase bunting. It’s a real showstopper.

If you want to go all out, then paper fan decorations are a stylish touch, particularly this white and gold one. Picking a theme for your engagement party can really help in the planning stages and will focus the mind as you draw up your ‘to do’ list. Our Botanical range brings a rustic charm to any party, so you could choose backdrops, balloons and more from it.

Plan the party

As well as limiting numbers, it’s also a good idea to draw up a schedule for the party, so that it doesn’t outstay its welcome. People’s attention spans tend to be tested when staring at a screen, remember. As well as having a good old catch up, plan for yourself or your other half to say a few words – it will be a good opportunity to tell the story of your engagement and show off your ring to lots of people in one go! You could ask your loved ones to share funny stories and pictures about you both as a couple if they’d like to. Give people a heads up so they can be prepared. You could also ask someone to host a short and snappy quiz about your time together for everyone to have a go at. Here’s our guide to hosting a successful online quiz. 
 

Choose a menu

Send everyone a small menu of easy to make party snacks for them to enjoy while the party unfolds. If the budget stretches, send everyone a small bottle of fizz to drink during the bash, and you could also come up with a couple of cocktails of your own design, one alcoholic and one non-alcoholic, for people to make on the night – keep the ingredients simple, if at all possible. You could also include some tableware from our ‘She Said Yaaas’ range in the party packs you send out to people. This range is bright and sassy, and will go well with some ‘Love’ table confetti.

Kitchen disco

Following on from that advice to keep things short and sweet, bring the talking part of the party to a close by doing a kitchen disco. Send everyone a playlist of tunes – this could incorporate your favourite party anthems and suggestions from attendees (ask for ideas on the invitation). Then get everyone to dim the lights and get dancing. Kids love kitchen discos, so you might want to do an afternoon or early evening party, if there’ll be little ones involved. We’ve put together a Sophie Ellis-Bextor inspired guide to doing a kitchen disco in style – and add confetti cannons to your party packs for everyone to let off at the same time to bring proceedings to a spectacular close.

Picture perfect

After the party, you’ll want to see everyone’s pictures from the night. Create an Instagram hashtag for people to use and send your guests some photobooth props to help add some silliness to their selfies.

Have a big party in the future

With an exclusive bunch of friends and families joining you online, we’re sure you’ll have a lovely time, but there’s nothing stopping you planning for a bigger party for everyone you want to celebrate with in person for some point in the (hopefully) not too distant future. When that time comes, head back to Party Pieces to stock up on decorations, tableware and party inspo. Have fun!

For our full engagement ranges go here, and you can also explore our hen party and wedding ranges on our website