I (Dana) have a not-so-secret secret: I’m a kind of a wallflower. Never am I the life of the party, but that’s OK with me. I’m always happy to be behind the scenes, helping make things happen and watching guests enjoy themselves. I love seeing a party come together, especially when we’ve been working hard to make the dream at the beginning a reality.

Throwing a party involves wearing two hats: the event planner hat and the event designer hat. The planner hat is the get-things-done hat. It’s a fun and necessary hat to wear. But the event designer is the creative hat, and it’s my favorite.

There are three major reasons why I love event design, and they all have a bit to do with Disney World.

Event design indulges your crazy ideas

Do you want a ferris wheel? A ten layer cake? Fireworks? It can all be done. Whether we’re going with a carnival theme or a Carnaval theme, the vast majority of things that can’t be done on a regular day are possible for a party. We’re limited only by our imaginations (and our budget, of course). It makes me feel like a Disney Imagineer in the design phase: what are the wildest ideas I can come up with? Can I make them happen? How? And if not, what are the second wildest ideas I can come up with?

Event design creates a real-life fantasy

I love storytelling in all its forms, and event design is a kind of storytelling. It gives me an opportunity to tell someone’s story in a fantasy setting. Event design lets me cast a love story or the story of someone’s life in whatever setting the main character wants — a mansion, a castle, a backyard, or a rooftop bar. I feel a bit like Cinderella’s fairy godmother, and the feeling is awesome.

Event design transports guests to a different world (temporarily)

The expression on people’s faces when they walk into a space that’s been transformed is priceless. If I may return to the Imagineering example, it’s akin to creating a temporary theme park for party goers. For the time of the event, the location is a different world, and I get to help make it that way. Even though the event only lasts for a few hours, guests will leave with memories that last a lifetime. That seems worth it to me.

This is why I love event design. It’s like a kind of practical magic that requires lots of imagination and hard work, but the result is always worth it.

What’s your favorite memory of a party you’ve attended? What did you love about it?