Party inspiration for non-crafty, non-creative, unimaginative party organiser...

[NeatFreak]

Title begs the question of why I'm organising it but I am!
It's my mums 60th birthday and the venue she's chosen isn't exactly pretty- we have a dance floor, live band and a buffet table. I think they will also be covering the tables for us.
Can anyone give me some ideas on how to make the place look nice? I'd like to put something on each table but no idea what... Did suggest a little pack with party popper, sweets and balloons and maybe an ice breaker but my sis wasn't keen.
Only thoughts I had were to buy a load of fairy lights and string them around the walls! I don't want to spend loads and loads so any kind of ideas to make the party go well would be fab

Fairy lights are a fab idea! But can get v. expensive - the cheap lights are extremely short in length and also aren't as bright. Will there be many children there? If not maybe some candles? Cheaper and look pretty.
Do you want to do a theme? Or keep it birthday themed? Maybe get some birthday centrepieces for each and then small favours like bubbles, maybe cake jars? www.glorioustreats.com/2011/06/sweetness-contained-cupcakes-in-a-jar.html
All you need is 2 cupcakes (shop bought if nessesary) and pipe some icing in with sprinkles. Unique and fairly simple.
Pinterest is great for ideas - and simple hacks if your not particularly crafty!
Hope this helps!

Bunting is good to liven up a room. We had a party recently in a very plain hall and we managed to make it look great by fixing several strings of bunting from the centre of the ceiling (all going out like the spokes of a wheel) and putting some more on the end walls. We also had large honeycomb decorations hanging down from the ceiling around the bunting and some paper chains in the entrance hall, along with a few bunches of balloons. The paper chains, bunting and balloons were all from ebay and amazon and were inexpensive.

Jam jars with a ribbon tied round them and filled with flowers can be done very easily and cheaply (Aldi/Lidl are good for cheap flowers) and you don't need to be artistic to make them look decent!

I would suggest choosing one or two colours as a theme which will make it easier (eg, red and white/purple and cream/silver and gold). Coloured napkins in the same colours would liven up the tables plus you could get a helium balloon for each table (and possibly a few to dot around the room) - if you have ordinary latex balloons rather than foil they're not too expensive.

I'm not sure you would need an ice-breaker - it would probably be a faff to think up and sort out, but I don't think you can go wrong with party poppers (unless you have to clear the room up yourselves afterwards, in which case don't get them!).

Ooh I can do bunting! I made a load for dd's birthday and they were ridiculously easy to do. I've saved two jars this week just in case we go with that idea too??
I've also seen these frames and thought a selection of photos of the birthday girl through the years might be nice (if I can get hold of enough ohotos!)