Perry is a popular workshop speaker on all kinds of party and event planning topics.  The contents of these workshops are flexible and can be adapted to fit the time constraints of the host group.  For details on these and other presentation topics, availability, references and more, please contact Arnett & Associates.

All Kinds of Families, All Kinds of Reunions

Do you look at pictures of huge family reunions with everyone in matching t-shirts playing games together with a touch of envy? Or would you rather envision a quiet, relaxing time with favorite relatives whom you never see enough? Would you like to plan some family get-togethers, either large or small, for just the immediate family or for the whole extended family, for all ages or just for the adults? Join experienced event and party planner Leigh Crank Perry as she shares a variety of options for planning fun festivities that fit your family!

The Basic Care and Nurture of Your Volunteers
Volunteer organizations come in all types and sizes—church groups, PTAs, Scouts, sports and music boosters, special interest clubs, and so many more.The volunteers charged with keeping these groups running also come in all shapes and sizes with all levels of experience and skill.If you want to feel more comfortable as a leader of volunteers, this is the place to learn many tips on topics pertinent to your task: getting organized, recruiting, training and motivating volunteers, running effective meetings, fund-raising, special events, and how to survive your tenure without pulling out your hair.  

Beyond Chuck E. Cheese: Children’s Parties at Home

If you think you can’t bear one more birthday or sports party for your children at a fast-food restaurant playground or pizza palace, here’s a retro concept to try—children’s parties at home!  Come learn the basic concepts for planning age-appropriate, easy-to-manage and inexpensive celebrations to be held in your own home or yard. Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will share with you simple money-saving and sanity-saving tips for making your children’s special days exciting and fun!   

Captivating Cocktail Parties

Does your crowd enjoy early-evening gatherings with amazing appetizers and delicious drinks?  Are you always on the lookout for new and easy ways to decorate your table and wow your guests with special treats and libations?  Or… have you always wanted to give this kind of party for friends and colleagues, but aren’t sure how?  Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will share suggestions and recipes for making your next (or first) cocktail party an entertaining evening for guests and host alike.

Centerpieces for the Creatively Challenged
When it comes to special party centerpieces, do you feel your only option is a phone call to the florist?  Do you feel that you aren’t skilled enough to combine even simple flowers and greenery in an attractive arrangement?  If you would like to expand your party decorating horizons with easy suggestions for using everyday items and simple flowers with creative flair, join experienced event and party planner Leigh Crank Perry for this demonstration workshop.

 Change Up Your Christmas Celebration
Are you overwhelmed every December because you don’t really know what you’d like to do with your holiday decorating or you don’t have the energy to deal with your extensive traditional decorating?  If you are looking for ideas to “change up your Christmas,” to amplify it or to simplify it, this workshop is designed for you. Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will help you analyze what aspects of the Christmas celebration are most important to you and how to tailor your decorating to support them. She will share themes and ideas that can help you focus your decorating.

 Christmas Tree Themes and Schemes
If your favorite Christmas carol is “O Christmas Tree,” and you drool over every magazine picture you see of elaborately decorated trees, but feel that you have not yet created “the tree of your dreams,” then this workshop is for you.  Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will share decorator ideas that should help you achieve your holiday dream.  The different types of real and artificial trees, types of lighting, ornaments, garlands, tree-toppers and decorating themes are just some of the topics to be covered.

Dynamite Displays and Better Bulletin Boards
Do you have to put together displays or bulletin boards at work or in your volunteer position?  Do you frequently feel uninspired and at a loss to present your information in an interesting way?  Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced community volunteer and professional party planner, will share with you many easy ideas to create visual displays which will promote your activities in clever ways.  Participants are asked to share their typical projects that need promoting; the class and instructor will then contribute suggestions for making these displays.

Easy as A-B-C: Amazing Buffet Creations
Do you have a fantastic buffet display you’ve seen at a hotel or gala tucked away in your mind? Would you love to try something similar indoors or outdoors for a party, for a family wedding or for a club event you’re in charge of?  If you would like to learn some “tricks of the trade” for creating a professional-looking buffet table, join instructor Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, for this workshop.  Learn how to use a theme to guide your colors, decorations and food in the creation of an amazing buffet that will impress your guests and be easy for you to produce.

Eggs-citing Easter Entertaining
Do colorful spring flowers and the thought of new life coming to the winter world excite you in anticipation of special family gatherings and visiting with your children or grandchildren?  If you would like new ideas for decorating for the bright new season and Easter activities for the entire family, including new twists on the traditional Easter egg hunt, join Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, for this workshop celebrating the spring.

Creating New Holiday Traditions
Families can come in all shapes and sizes—they can be made of relatives of all ages, just adults, or friends who provide support for one another.  To strengthen those bonds, family traditions can also be of all types—everyday rituals or the special ways that folks celebrate holidays.  Party planner and instructor Leigh Crank Perry will share and demonstrate fun fall and winter (or spring) traditions to make your family holidays more festive.

 Glowing Reviews: Decorating with Candles
“The wonderful ambience of candlelight” is touted in every decorating and entertaining book.  Using candles in your home and party decorating is practically de rigueur, but creative candle decorating extends well beyond the use of a pair of plain tapers or a large pillar as a centerpiece. Join Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, for this workshop designed to show you a myriad of easy ways to decorate with the wealth of candle types and candle holders now available.  Participants will also have the opportunity to embellish candles they bring to class with some of the many decorative items provided.

Hassle-free Holidays
Do you long for family holidays that are not so frantic and full that no one has the time or energy to enjoy them?  When a holiday is over, do you feel you missed enjoying the most important aspects of it or the people who came to celebrate with you?  To achieve hassle-free holidays, you have to re-assess how you approach them.  Join Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, to look at ways you can change your expectations of what happens during these special days and seasons throughout the year.  She will lead a discussion of ways to make your holidays more enjoyable and meaningful and less stressful.

How to Have Your Own “Spirited” Halloween!
Halloween now ranks second only to Christmas as the holiday for which Americans decorate their homes and give parties. If you, your children or teens are really into the ambience of the holiday—dressing up, scaring people or being scared, or creating an other-worldly atmosphere, join Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, for many decorating and party ideas for All Hallows’ Eve.  Learn how to make this a “spook-tacular” season for you, your family and friends.

 Big Bashes for Big Groups: Celebrations on a Shoestring for Volunteer Groups
Did you just find out that you are in charge of the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet or the next church fellowship supper or swim-team fund-raising dinner? Do you have to honor your PTA volunteers or school teachers with a luncheon? Do you have to put on the awards banquet for the school softball team or band? If these large-scale events fall to you in your volunteer work, join Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced community volunteer and professional party planner, for ideas to make your celebrations successful on a shoestring budget.  Participants are asked to share their individual event responsibilities so that the instructor and class members can offer suggestions.

Make Milestone Party Magic: Anniversaries, Birthdays and Graduations
Expectations of special parties to mark milestone birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and school graduations run high.  If you have any of these occasions on the horizon in your family, you will find this workshop helpful.  Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will share many ideas for appropriate themes, decorating ideas, and party activities to make these milestone moments memorable for the honoree as well as all the guests in attendance.

Party Decorating Made Simple
If you have always dreamed of creating Martha Stewart-like party decorations, but are afraid yours might look like something Edith Bunker put together, this class is for you! A veteran event and party planner will show you how a baker's dozen of inexpensive items you may already have at home can be used in many different ways to create elegant, but effortless, decorations for any occasion! You will learn many tips and simple shortcuts to make entertaining an easy and enjoyable experience.

 Party Planning Divas Tell All
…and YOU are the Party Planning Divas!  Participants who enjoy entertaining will be treated as the experts they are and encouraged to share their favorite tricks of the trade with each other.  You don’t have to be a professional party planner, just someone who likes party ideas and thinking of more creative ways to play the “hostess with the mostess.” An experienced party planner will lead the class forum.  Participants may bring pictures or descriptions of their successes to share if they like; in the second session.  Participants will share their ideas for party themes suggested by the group at the first session.  Don’t be shy—come be Party Planning Divas with us!

 Party Planning for Procrastinators
Is it your turn to host the next big family get-together?  Has your child begged you to give a special birthday or graduation party?  Have you been meaning to invite your boss over for dinner?  Have you avoided all these thoughts because you don’t know how to entertain without excessive work and worrying?  You won’t have to avoid entertaining ever again because Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will show you easy tricks and shortcuts so you can move from the discomfort of party procrastinator to the enviable comfort of party pro!  This workshop is geared to beginners.

Polish Your Party Presentation
Okay, you have the basics of party planning and giving under your belt, but now you would like to knock your skill level up a notch. You are ready to learn more ways to polish your party presentation—join Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, for discussions of creative ways to up the ante on your party invitations, garnishes for your party foods and decorations, and party favors.  These little “extras” are enhancements to elevate your entertainments’ excitement quotient, and give your parties that special je ne sais quoi.

 Punch Up Your Brunches and Lunches
Do you feel like your annual New Year’s brunch was lacking in inspiration or that you don’t know what to do the next time you host your church circle luncheon?  Does the thought of tomato aspic at one more midday event make you see red?  If you are looking for ways to shine a new light on your daytime entertaining, join Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, as she shares suggestions of themes, decorations and menus that will add pizzazz and punch to your upcoming brunches and lunches.

 Seasonal Celebrating on a Shoestring
If you would like to celebrate the fall and winter holidays in style, without spending all your savings, then this is the class for you!  Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will share many ideas for easy, elegant entertaining for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah and New Year’s.  She will show you how to streamline your work with pre-planning tricks and short-cuts—you can celebrate in high style without sacrificing your sanity or your cents!

Showering the New Brides, Babies and Grandmothers in Your Life
Have your family members or friends reached the exciting stage of life when weddings and births are frequent special occasions?  If so, come learn some new ideas for planning showers to honor the new bride, mother or grandmother. Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will share creative themes and activities so you can shower your honoree and her guests with special memories of a fun event for many years to come.

 Spring and Summer Celebrating on a Shoestring
If you would like to celebrate the spring and summer holidays in style, without spending all your savings, then this is the class for you!  Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will share many ideas for easy, elegant entertaining on Easter, Passover, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, as well as festive ways to celebrate your favorite warm-weather special occasions.  She will show you how to streamline your work with pre-planning tricks and short-cuts.  You can celebrate in high style without sacrificing your sanity or your cents!

 Summer Celebrations: Cookouts, Fiestas and Luaus
If you would like to celebrate the summer in casual style, then this is the class for you!  Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will share many ideas for easy entertaining outdoors or indoors.  You will learn ways to adapt cookout, luau or fiesta themes to personalize parties perfectly suited to you and your guests!  Summer hostess fun is within your reach--barbeque apron, Mexican sombrero and Hawaiian lei optional!

Tempest in a Teapot: Giving Tea Parties that Make a Stir
Women have entertained their visiting friends and family with cups of tea, accompanied by savories and sweets, for hundreds of years.  A tea party is a time-honored option for offering your friends a relaxing and special time together.  Instructor Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will discuss the history and traditions of drinking tea and will offer creative elements you might add to your event.  Whether you envision a genteel “lilac and lace” kind of event or a little Mad Hatter mania, you will learn all about the art of giving a tea party.

Theme a Party Scheme
This is a workshop where the participants call the shots—you will submit in advance your request for specific party themes for which you would like party “schemes” or plans.  Instructor Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will come prepared with multiple ideas for the suggested themes, and with the additional ideas of all the participants, you will go home with a full party scheme ready to be used for a fantastic theme party for your family or your friends.

 Try-It-Yourself Tablescapes
Have you always admired the creatively crafted centerpieces and table settings you see in magazines and stores?  Do you dream about decorating your coffee table, bookcase or mantel with a classy grouping of items like the ones in magazines?  You can create your own tantalizing tablescapes for home or entertaining by learning a few tips and tricks.  Leigh Crank Perry, an experienced event and party planner, will show you how to combine favorite accessories you may already have to make elegant everyday displays for the tabletops in your home.  You will also learn how to use the same techniques to make your own creative party tablescapes.

Tying On a Terrific Tailgate 
Are you and your family members die-hard sports fans who spend many hours at your favorite field, stadium or track?  Have you ever enviously eyed the tailgate meals and set-ups of other fans you see in the parking lots or fields?  Then join Leigh Crank Perry, experienced event and party planner, to learn easy menu planning and ways to transport meals, as well as interesting ways to present your tailgate event so that you’ll be the envy of all the other fans! May the best tailgate win! 

For details on these and other presentation topics, availability, references and more, please contact Arnett & Associates.