10 Easy Steps to Planning the Perfect, Budget-Friendly Party!
- Emily Rodriguez
- Oct 25, 2017
- 6 min read
Are you planning a party and don't know where to start? Do you feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to get done? Planning a party can be stressful and challenging for many people. I, on the other hand, get such a high and electric charge out of it. Trying to stay on budget, googling where to buy the items necessary, and searching Pinterest for photos that I wish to re-create... it literally gets my creative juices flowing! This is my happy place! I understand, however, that not everyone can share the same excitement that I have for party planning which is why I am writing this blog. Lower your stress levels with these ten easy steps to planning the perfect, budget-friendly party!
1) Set A Date
All of your planning will revolve around this, so be wise, and pick a date where you have nothing else planned. For a large event, you may want to make sure that you're not doing anything else for the whole weekend, so that you can plan & set up the day before, and relax the day after the event. For large parties, like a wedding, I try to give myself a three day weekend to help recoup from the festivities before returning to everyday life/work.
2) Create A Budget
This is where the fun begins... Create a budget that you can afford. If it's a birthday party, you may want to set a budget of $60-$100. If you're not having food you can definitely get out of it for less. My husband comes from a family and culture where there is food at every event. After we were married, I kind of adapted and took on their traditions and culture with this. If you plan on having food, or if you're inviting upwards of 20 people, you may want to think about adjusting your budget to somewhere around the $200 (or more) mark.
3) Create Your Guest List
Sometimes I switch this to be second on my list instead of third. It all depends on what kind of party you're hosting. If you're guest list is determining your budget, then create the guest list first; but if your budget sets the tone for how many people you can afford to invite, create your budget first.
Tip: When creating my guest list, I have two totals. The first total includes how many individuals (for food purposes), and then the second one totals how many families are invited (for when I mail out invitations).
4) Find A Venue
If you're having a smaller party and you prefer to do it in your home, or outside at your home, then there is no need for booking a venue and you could skip this step. There are others who may be planning a large event, however, that would need to book a venue. Keep your budget in mind when doing this. Some information on the web mentions that couples can expect to use 50% of their budget for a venue. I personally don't think we could have afforded our wedding if we used half of our budget for the venue alone... but to each their own I guess. To save us money while planning our son's birthday, we decided to have the party at our home, just as many of you readers do.
5) Book A Photographer
With smart phones being so prevalent and so advanced these days, many people will opt-out of hiring a photographer for a party, unless it is a special event such as a wedding. Whatever you decide is fine as long as you stay within your budget. We own our own camera, so we asked a family member to snap shots throughout the day during our son's birthday party.
6) Plan A Theme or Style
Some people choose a color as their theme, while others will use a movie or location as their party theme. Some people choose not to have a theme at all. Whatever you choose is fine.
For my son's birthday, we chose the theme: "Time Flies" and used vintage airplanes as a visual. We chose the color gold, as it was his first birthday and was very special to us, and we used red as an accent color. We purchased the decor shown in the photos at various places: the "ONE" hung over the window was purchased from Etsy, the "Happy Birthday" banners were all purchased from Target in their Dollar Spot section at the front of the store. I saw a photo on Pinterest of a cake that I absolutely LOVED, and found a local lady who bakes cakes on the side who assured me she could replicate it. I was very impressed with the cake AND her price!
Tip: If you're crafty and can do some DIY projects, I would try doing that as much as possible to help save some money on decorations, etc. Use friends' and family's talents & giftings to help you out financially. For example, if someone is good at photography, ask them to take photos for you as your child's gift. Chances are, they would love to help and will do it at no cost to you!
7) Create Invitations
If you're a crafty/techie person, and can use Word or Photoshop pretty well, you might be able to make your own invitations like we did! I bought brown cardstock from a craft store, some decorative tape, googled ideas for first birthday invites and found one that I loved. I then created my own version of what I saw online and I loved it! We even bought envelopes and printed a washed-out vintage airplane on the front of the envelope to match the invite and theme of the party. You can check out a photo of this in our gallery!
Tip: It's a good idea to send your invites out at least a month before the event to be sure that
guests have time to check their schedules and RSVP on time.
8) Online Shopping
If there are items that you cannot find locally, such as an outfit or decorations, you should purchase these in advance (especially if it's clothing that you'll have to try on). I would be sure to do all of your online shopping at least 30 days before your party.
9) Create A Menu
If you're having food, this is an important step. Be sure to keep in mind that you're on a budget, so seek out budget-friendly foods. For our son's birthday party, we had frozen meatballs from BJ's Wholesale in a crock pot, a fruit salad that I made (mostly from canned fruits), cheese and crackers, and a veggie platter. We didn't go crazy, but I tried to make sure that there was food that everyone could eat.
Don't forget about the cake! If you're ordering a cake from someone you'll want to be sure to speak with the baker about a week before the event. If you're requesting something special with fondant, be sure to reach out to your baker earlier! In my experience, I've found that the local grocery store bakeries do not use fondant, so you may want to look for someone who does this on the side or as a full time business.
10) Create A "Last-Minute" Shopping List
This shopping list will consist of all the foods you will need to buy, along with any other last minute items that may get ruined if you purchase them too early. Be sure to buy these just a few days in advance, in case you realize that you forgot something... then you'll have time to go back out before the party.
When we planned our son's first birthday party, we wanted to go "ALL OUT" with decoration and foods so badly, but unfortunately we didn't have the finances to be able to pay for all of that. I tried to shop smart by getting good deals, staying on theme, and only buying what I absolutely loved. I made sure to save all of our receipts so that if I accidentally over spent or realized later that I didn't need something, I could return it.
Here's a few ways that we saved money while planning our son's first birthday party:
We took our son's birthday photos ahead of time and had them printed them so we could use them as decor pieces at his party. We didn't show anyone the photos ahead of time so that everyone would be surprised when they arrived at the party. We took out all of his special items that had been saved over the last year (mostly from his time at the hospital when he was born), such as his first outfit worn, his blanket, hat, and medical ID bracelet from the hospital. We tried to use as many items that we already had at home to help decorate and only purchased what was needed such as a few banners and balloons. It ended up being very special for everyone to see his newborn items at his first birthday party. Click the "Gallery" tab to see photos of our son's first birthday party!
I hope that this blog has served it's purpose, and helped you with your party planning. If you're still a little stressed and maybe not feeling like taking on the task of planning an event, please feel free to reach out to me and book a free consultation!
Happy Party Planning!
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