Event planning on a tight budget is challenging. You’ll need to balance having an over-the-top event and attracting the right attendees. Events exist to boost your brand. They increase your employees’ morale, raise funds to expand your business, gain new clientele, and market your products.
Whatever your intention for hosting the event, it has to be memorable. No matter the budget set. Luckily, you don’t have to break the bank to leave a lasting impression. Over time, we’ve discovered the secrets to hosting an event on a small budget.
In this article, we have some tried and tested ideas to wow your guests without them realizing your money constraints:
1. Know the Attendees
Understanding the type of guests you expect helps you view your audience demographics. It’ll help you plan more effectively, you’ll spend a lot less on marketing the event, and you’re likely to attract partners who’ll help ease up your expected expenditure.
2. Negotiate with Vendors and Event Venues
Always aim to get several quotes from vendors and event venues. Look around for the best deals possible. See if they’re ready to lower the prices, and check whether they’d be okay to offer additional inclusions so that you can promote them as a sponsor.
Need Venue Ideas? Check out this list here.
3. Select the Event Theme
Selecting and sticking to a party theme will help you know how to budget for an event because it allows you to spend less for a more significant impact. You can get inspiration from Pinterest and magazines for budget-friendly event themes. Thus, having an inspiration board helps eliminate unnecessary items while hosting a successful and budget-friendly event.
4. Focus on Your Guests
No matter what, ensure you provide enough drinks and food. If your budget is too low to accommodate both decorations and food, choose to have the food. Because there’s no other way you’ll satisfy a hungry guest other than to fill their stomachs first. And even when the party isn’t at mealtime, you’ll need to provide a few snacks.
5. Entertain the Children
Kids don’t take a lot to impress. Hence, you’ll need to put up a kid zone within the party’s environment. After all, if the kids are happy, parents are so glad too. Accordingly, ensure you have a kid-friendly menu.
6. Allow Your Guests to Bring Gifts Suitable for the Event
Because your guests don’t want to attend the event empty-handed, ask them to bring gifts that will help lower your event expenses. The presents could be a bottle of wine, dessert, or appetizers.
Your guests will appreciate adding on to the party fun.
7. Surprise Your Guests With the Money You’ve Saved
Once you determine the party’s budget, save as much money as you can. Then from the saved money, you can choose to surprise your guests with additional gifts. Consider having a bouncing castle, magician, or babysitter to entertain kids.
Also, you may opt for professional bartenders to help in serving the drinks or have fun outdoor activities with prizes. A few splurges leave a lasting impression on your guests, and it’ll leave them talking about the event for a while.
8. Send the Invitations Via Email
Unless you’re hosting a very formal event, skip the hustle of sending invitation cards. Instead, design a card using Microsoft Word or any free online application such as Canva. As a low-budget event planner, it helps you save on postage fees and paper costs and enables you to manage the guest list.
9. Take Advantage of DIY Projects
Get inspiration from Pinterest, the blogosphere, magazines, and the television for inspiration on DIY activities that’ll help you manage costs. Therefore, you can forgo commercial decorations and handmake the decorations yourself.
Likewise, opt for homemade desserts and food, which are better tasting and cheaper than the food bought from the store. Also, you can create a photo booth to keep the guests entertained while providing a keepsake for the fantastic event.
Most importantly, it’ll please your guests to know that you took the time to create a lasting impression.
FAQs
How Do You Organize An Event On a Budget?
Here’s how to organize an event while on a budget:
- Determine the event you wish to host and its overall budget
- Evaluate your spending from past events
- Research to understand your event industry
- Formulate a full-proof event plan
- Get stakeholders to invest in the event
- Get vendors with the best prices
- Work on all the projected costs
How Do You Throw a Low-Budget Party?
What you need to do when you want to throw a low-budget event:
- Limit the number of guests
- Create the invitation cards yourself
- Take advantage of free printables when decorating
- Choose a theme that fits the decorations you have
- Host the party at your house
- Bake and decorate your cake
- Take advantage of the dollar store for the event decorations
How Can an Event Be Improved in a Budget?
Here are some techniques to use to improve an event while on a budget:
- Come up with a unique event name and theme
- Book event venues and vendors to cater for several events
- Host your event with another event for cost-sharing purposes
- Focus on achieving quality over quantity
- Negotiate contracts to get the best prices
- Take advantage of sweat equity for free labor
- Reuse expensive event fixtures or materials
- Use non-conventional event venues
- Cleverly use different items for double duty
- Sell unique items during event registration
Why Should an Event Budget Be Prepared?
A budget offers you a detailed breakdown of what to expect financially during your event. Therefore, a budget helps you control revenues and expenses and measures your event’s performance.
Parting Shot
Event planning is always overwhelming, and that’s why you need to understand how to make a budget plan for an event. Following the outlined steps stated above will help you host a budget-friendly event that’ll make your guests happy.
We hope that the tips we’ve given will help you develop great ideas for hosting your event. Remember, it’s crucial to keep your expenditure in check so that you’ll stay on budget.
In the making of a budget-friendly event, you may need some party rentals. Contact us at Aurora Event Lighting & Rentals and we’ll be happy to help.