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I love throwing parties! And once my husband and I bought our first home a few years ago our house quickly became our Village hub for all gatherings. We have hosted countless birthdays, holidays, graduations, and backyard BBQ’s over the past few years. With that many gatherings we need to be real about our budget and not go broke trying to show everyone a good time. I have a few simple tips to help you stay on budget and still throw an amazing party everyone will enjoy no matter what the occasion!
1. DIY food bars
Food is always the center of any party I throw. Some parties I just do a dessert bar and others a will feed our guests an entire meal. No matter what anyone who shows up at our house knows I always make way too much food, and if they leave hungry it is their own fault!
The best way I have found to accomplish feeding a crowd is to serve a food bar like a baked potato bar, taco bar, sandwich bar, pasta bar, or build your own pizza stations.
These types of foods are an easy, fun way to serve food at a party, everyone can create what they want (less complaints from my pickier guests!), and it is usually the cheapest option. With most of meals I try to plan my menu around what I already have on hand at home or can affordably buy (within budget) at the grocery store. I also try to take my party theme into consideration- and yes almost all my parties have a theme! So my son’s basketball theme birthday party we had concession style menu-Chicago style hot dogs, giant pretzels, popcorn and peanuts. Super simple and a huge hit!
2. Plan meals with little or no meat
When you need to stick to a slim budget try to plan food that does not use meat as the main attraction. Meat is usually the most expensive ingredient in a meal so avoiding it will save you tons of money. One of our cheapest food options we have served is a brunch buffet- pancakes, waffles, quiche, hashbrowns, fruit and yogurt- so many meatless options with very little cost!
3. Potlucks
I don’t usually like doing potlucks when celebrating events like birthdays or anniversaries. Those parties are supposed be focused on celebrating specific people and party-goers generally expect that the host will provide the food and they will usually bring a gift for the guest(s) of honor.
But for celebrations like 4th of July, neighborhood BBQs, Christmas Eve, or an extended family game night, there are great opportunities to save money by doing your party potluck style! On the invitation you must make it clear that it is a potluck “Bring your favorite ______ dish”. Try to be specific what types of dishes you would like your guests to contribute. I usually as the hostess take care of the main course and ask our friends and family to bring their favorite side dish, their favorite dessert, or their favorite dip. Being specific will help your friends not only know what to bring, but you can now plan what you need to supply and work into your party budget.
4. Accept when others offer to help or bring food
This one is still hard for me to accept at times. If someone offers so help or bring food, let them! Not only is this going to make room in your party budget for other things, but it also allows your friends and family an opportunity to contribute. If you are like me, I have to remind myself that people WANT to help. My friends and family WANT to be part of our celebrations by sharing their favorite dishes as well or being useful in some way. I am sure you feel the same when you go to other parties!
5. Invites
You do not need to pay a lot of money for party invites. You can find free templates online and customize them to fit your party theme or colors. Print them at home on cardstock or print them as photos (I usually print at Walgreens) for a cheap option if you need a physical copy to hand out. Most of the time though I like to use email, Facebook, or Evites to create virtual invitations for free. Plus you can take advantage of how easy it is for guest to RSVP and it makes keeping track of your growing attendance list much easier as well.
6. Use a party budget planner
One of the first things I do when planning a party is start my shopping list early. To make sure that you are sticking to your budget, you will need an estimated cost to go along with every item on that shopping list. To make this process go a lot smoother, I created this simple Party Planner to help you make sure you don’t forget anything but also to help you stick to your budget!
7. DIY the cake
I personally love baking my own cakes, and as an added bonus it can save me so much money. It isn’t that hard and with the help of Pinterest you can come up with some really great recipes and easy decorating ideas even an amateur can pull off. You can even bake the cake ahead of time and freeze it until you are ready to decorate it.
There have been times though that even making a cake ahead of time is not an option for me. My house is crazy, and sometimes I just don’t have the energy to bake with my three little kids wanting to “help”! So another option is to buy plain frosted cakes and your local grocery store and just do the fun decorating part! Buy a cute cake topper, add small toys, candies or cookies to the top- make it look like a fancy bakery cake at a fraction of the cost.
8. Party Favors
Party favors are a great way to add to your party theme but an easy way to break the budget if you aren’t careful. I usually like to choose one simple item or treat instead of a goodie bag filled with plastic trinkets that will get lost before the party is over anyway! A fun sugar cookie made at home ahead of time is always a crowd pleaser, or a candy station with fill your own treat bags is always a hit no matter what your age.
Another favorite of mine is to hit up the dollar store and get craft supplies for a make your own party favor station. This is great because it doubles as an activity for guests and a party favor! An example we have done is painting our own piggy banks for my daughters Peppa Pig party or make seashell necklaces for a mermaid theme bash. Simple ideas go a long way in creating that wow factor we all want our guests to feel at our parties!
9. Use what you have at home first
As you are coming up with ideas for your party try to plan the activities, food, and decor around what you already have. Using items you already have in your house in a new and unique way in your party location, can be a fun way to use what you already have at home to save money on your party. I like to go into each room of my home and see what I can borrow for the party. My favorite is using my kids toys to decorate if the theme fits. I often use my kids action figures or small characters to adorn the food table. Sports theme, use a baseball glove to hold a bowl of candy. Prop stuffed animals around the gift table for zoo themed party. Drape costume jewelry in and around an old jewelry box for a pirate party. The possibilities can be endless if you just think outside the box.
10. Party on the patio
If the weather allows I usually try to host our parties outside. Our house isn’t that big and usually doing things outdoors will help save a lot of money on party decorations. Put up a few leftover Christmas lights in the trees or around the porch, rearrange a few flower pots or fill vases with fresh cut flowers from your garden and count your party decorations as done because mother nature is proving the rest of the ambiance!
11. Choose one indulgent item
When doing DIY party planning on a budget an “indulgent item” is going to cost more like $20 or $25. But with that splurge you can choose one special thing for your party to kind of let loose with.
Maybe a cute banner off Etsy, a tasty specialty treat, a special themed shirt to wear or whatever makes you feel happy! One tip though is to, if possible, use your splurge money on something that can be reused for other parties in the future or resold after your event is over. (And yes I resell party items I wont use again on Facebook often- gives me money to spend on the next event and someone else can befit from my splurge item too!)
12. Activities and games
For our little kid parties we like to do crafts or science experiment type activities like make your own slime. Teens really like a selfie photo booth, karaoke, or a DIY dance floor. Adults are a lot easier to please! Put out some food, good music playing and you are set. But if you have a more active party in mind, look on Pinterest for party games. One of our favorites is a saran wrap ball we do every Christmas eve!
Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest while you are there- I am always pinning DIY party ideas on a budget!
