If personalized M&Ms or disposable cameras seem too cliché for your anniversary or birthday celebration, local event planner Krista Pierpont Sturbois, owner of KP Events, has a few suggestions for making your celebration more special and intimate.

Make It Yours
Set a theme for your party and stick with it.

“It’s about tying all your elements into something – not doing something just to do it, but making it have meaning,” Sturbois says.

Whatever that something may be, Sturbois says it’s important to stay true to who you are.
If you like to spend time outdoors, don’t hold your celebration indoors in a rented space. If you have a healthy sense of humor, a stuffy, formal event may not be fitting.

“Any element should be done with purpose behind it to elevate the message and significance behind the event,” she says.

A special way to commemorate an anniversary is to plan the event how you did the first time. Replicate the location, cake or invitations from your first wedding. Serve food that you ate on your first date. Play “your” song.

In other words, for anniversary parties, do whatever it takes to convey the message of the couple.

Avoid Trends
Think outside the box. People will remember your celebration for being unique to you and yours; they won’t remember a celebration that mimics every other party they’ve attended.

“I think a lot of times things are done because it’s what people expect and it’s become the standard,” Sturbois says. “If anything, try and avoid doing something just because it’s been done.”

Know and Involve Your Audience
It’s important to know the guests at your celebration, but even more important for them to know you.

“I strongly encourage my clients to really limit their guests lists to people that really mean a lot to them,” Sturbois says.

Your celebration will mean more to you, and to your guests, if they are a part of your journey and created memories with you.

Display pictures from back in the day: depending on how long you’ve known your guests, they may remember when the photos were taken, or maybe even they are in some of them. Give guests personalized party favors. Not only will favors act as a token of thanks, they will remind guests of you long after the event.

“Know your audience, and tailor it to them,” Sturbois says.

Anna Gerber is a contributing writer for CityScene.