Whether you’re planning a birthday party, a reunion, or a housewarming, the process can feel like juggling. There’s so much to remember. So offload the tricky bits to your iPhone with these top tips, great apps, and hardware recommendations.
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Capture fast; organize later: Get ideas down on the fly when inspiration strikes – voice recordings can be a good way. Ensure everything is captured centrally, ideally within one app. You can then sort everything out when you have time.
Mind your money: It’s easy to blow through budgets. So figure out what you have to spend right at the start. Use apps to track what’s left – and keep the total current, updating as you spend.
Use digital tools: Take advantage of your iPhone. Digital invites are great for most people. Use messaging apps so you have a written record of responses. Mapping apps help you see if venues are popular and whether there’s parking nearby.
Work with others: If you’re planning as a group and everyone has Apple kit, share documents and lists directly from various Apple apps. If not, consider apps and services with Android and PC access too. Avoid proprietary or gated formats and apps unless everyone can access them.
Keep vital info visible: Don’t let important stuff get lost. Use widgets to put countdowns, confirmed guests, and other vital info and links on your Home Screen. Pin docs about the current event in apps you use. Set notifications for key milestones.
Back everything up: Spent days making the perfect plan? Make sure your information is safe and not stored solely on a single device you could easily lose. Make backups. Use the cloud. And if you do use the cloud, periodically save offline copies of documents and task lists anyway, just in case.
Download these apps
Mindnode ($3/£3 per month): Brainstorm party and event ideas with the best mind-mapping app for Apple devices.
Google Maps (free): Check out venue reviews and use Street View to explore what else is nearby.
WhatsApp (free): Invite guests and keep the conversation going with polls, pics and handy reminders.
Reminders (free): Manage your tasks across Apple devices, potentially using the excellent Kanban board view.
Todoist (from free): Manage your tasks across non-Apple devices, if people you’re working with don’t have an iPhone. (Tsk!)
Canva (free + IAP): Quickly create invites you can send via email/messaging apps or print if you want to go old-school.
Soulver ($14/£14): Track your spending in this friendly natural-language calculator app that’s best-in-class.
Countdowns (from free): Put deadlines to milestones and events right on your Home Screen using this app’s widgets.
Connect this hardware
Instax mini Link 3 ($100/£115): Digital snaps are nice, but physical photos are more fun to share. Print cute payment card-sized pics on the day of your event with this affordable Wi-Fi printer. Want bigger photos? Try the Instax Link Wide instead.
A laser printer (about $100/£100): To quickly print more boring stuff – seating plans, signage, and the like – in black and white, buy a cheap laser printer. Whichever Brother or Samsung one is about 100 bucks will do.
Adonit Pro 4 ($30/£30): There’s no Apple Pencil for iPhone (yet), but this is the next best thing, speeding up planning, mind-mapping, and written note-taking on your iPhone.
Nanoleaf Lightstrip ($70/£70): This 16.4ft (5m) strip of LEDs can be controlled through an app to define the vibe of your venue – and then your home once the event’s done.
Belkin BoostCharge Pro ($80/£70): Don’t have your iPhone run out of juice during essential planning – or the event itself. This snap-on power bank can give it a boost – and act as a stand when you need to review task lists.