Web Resources End Party-Planning Hassle

New Year's Eve is just around the corner, and you're supposed to host a party. Don't panic--go online, where you'll find advice on places to gather, choosing decorations and entertainment, and ways to send invitations by e-mail.

Planning Tips and Tools

Before you start inviting, you may need to get some ideas about the location and theme. Portals like MSN, AOL, and Yahoo offer entertainment guides for finding that unknown yet well-equipped bar or club, as well as useful articles on how to make your bash a success. AOL's Home channel has holiday decorating tips and recipe ideas, while MSN's Holiday page can help you watch your budget. Both offer plenty of links to e-stores for gifts and party favor needs.

For more in-depth party planning, you may want to try a dedicated party site. Evite, an online invitation and party planning service, offers countless party planning tools. It even provides you the means to communicate with guests to find out whether they'd want to attend, say, a Lord of the Rings-themed New Year's party.

"We offer a monthly newsletter with suggestions, recipes and other ideas," says Hadley Comer, general manager at Evite. "Through our acquisition by Ticketmaster, there's a last-minute holiday party planning guide on Citysearch, with recommendations on where to go and links to Evite so you can immediately invite friends or coworkers."

Musical Means to a Party

Once you've picked a location, you might try a site like Partydirectory.com for entertainment referrals. A free site for party-related businesses, Partydirectory.com offers listings for finding DJs, photographers, caterers, and travel services.

Should your tastes be more refined, MarthaStewart.com has plenty to offer for holiday fete planning. In fact, the site even has a printable holiday planner so you'll be sure to complete all the necessary tasks, like baking cookies for carolers and making your own ornaments.

And if you need personal advice or want feedback on your ideas, check out Party411, a party community site with guides, themes, activities, and invitations.

"In our Party Pros section, we offer vendors for over 50 cities. However, we help people on a party-by-party basis if they contact us," says Sherri Foxman, founder and ultimate party girl at Party411. "We also have budget plans, a drink calculator, menus, decoration, and theme ideas."

Party411's New Year's page has information on the history of New Year's Eve celebrations and links to advice columns. Or you can click on a chat button to see what others think of your Tolkein-inspired plans.

Invitations Without Postage

Once you've figured out the where and when, it's time to get those invitations out. Yahoo, SeeUthere (through its free express service), and Evite all offer free e-mail invitation services that let you create a theme invitation and send it to a list of electronic addresses. Recipients click on a link to see and reply to your invitation. Both Evite and Yahoo give you a URL where you and your guests can check who's RSVP'd to your party.

Evite user Lee Barth, a software salesperson in Los Angeles, says he uses the service for any gathering of more than four people.

"I organized an event around the Oregon UCLA game using Evite," Barth says. "I had friends coming from all over, so I used Evite to get everyone together and even sent out news and updates to build a buzz for the game."

Thanks to Evite's partnership with PayPal, Barth's friends bought their tickets through a link on the invitation, he adds.

Besides a theme and music, your invitation can include a virtual map for directions. Evite and SeeUthere offer a polling feature so you can ask guests what you should serve or coordinate their contributions if the event is a potluck.

Making Merry Memories

If not all your guests are wired, Evite lets you print out snail-mail invitations. At SeeUthere, you can have an invitation faxed for a small fee. Traditionalists can use sites like Party411 and Creative Parties On-Line to order printed invitations.

"We offer custom invitations with caricatures or artwork provided by us," Party411's Foxman says. Still, if you're in a hurry, the e-mail invitation services offer a nice alternative.

"[Online services are] a lot less expensive than paper invitations and a lot easier than getting everyone on the phone," Barth says. He likes Evite's convenience, and the fact that both the guests and hosts can synch event information with electronic calendar programs like Outlook.

"Right now I'm probably invited to four or five parties using Evite. I've synched the events with my calendar and my Palm to keep track of them," Barth adds.

And if your party is a success, you can post party photos at Yahoo or Evite to share the memories.