Planning an Event on a Budget
Alright, quite a few readers need your help! You see, I’ve received numerous emails asking how to plan an event on a budget. Since I have so many smart and savvy readers, I thought instead of answering myself, I’d go ahead and ask for your tips and ideas!
Here are a few of the emails I’ve received:
“Hi Collin, I know that you are extremely busy but I was hoping you could give me some tips on planning a wedding on a budget. Any insight is greatly appreciated! Thank you :)”
“I am wondering if I can get some ideas from you and your readers on something… My parents are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary this April and I am wanting to host a dinner/open house in their honor. It has been a tough 25 years and they are amazing parents and grandparents to my children. My question is how do I do something elegant and wonderful, but minimizing my costs. I need some creative ideas for this party.”
“Hey Collin! I’m wondering if you have any ideas on cheap food for my daughter’s birthday party. She’ll be 1 in a few weeks and I can’t for the life of me find any inexpensive sandwich platters or meats, cheeses, etc. There will be about 40 people including kids and parents and I don’t have any ideas on how to make both groups happy. Thanks!”
“My daughter is a Junior in High School and was invited to the prom.I do not have much $ to spend on a dress and was hoping you might have some ideas for us. We have been to the thrift shops and Craigslist but we haven’t had any luck yet. Any help would be appreciated.”
“My son is turning 3 in March, and I am looking for suggestions for a birthday party for him. We would love to have this in a location other than our home and I could really use some suggestions.”
Any Ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much for your help!
For the daughter going to prom. I went and tried on a bunch of dresses to see what style I liked and then ordered the dress off Ebay for a fraction of the cost
Ebay is great way to get new and great looking dress
i got a new bcbg dress for $25 shipped!
most store sell out last year style
seriously you were the dress only one time so with a nice drying cleaning even a use prom dress is great way to go
My daughter bought her prom dresses at the Dillards outlet store for under $20.
I have heard of people organizing dress swaps with other high schools and let girls bring a dress to trade. It would take a little organizing and planning but would be fun. You would need to start with some donated dresses to have a selection available. I put a link from ehow above on how to organize a dress swap.
Okay, I thought puttin the link in where it states Website (not required) would work. It doesn’t show, so the ehow link is https://www.ehow.com/how_2145719_organize-prom-dress-swap.html
For the daughter going to prom…….I would suggest looking for dresses at resale shops in more expensive towns. They will start carrying them in about a month or so………Or try the discounted racks at wedding shops………
Great idea…I would also suggest going to TJ Maxx or Marshalls you can find great dresses for a great price. Also if you live close to a military base, there are women who are always looking to sell sometimes just give away their dresses. You could always look at renting one…I used to know places that did that but are harder to find now a days
If you live in Southern Ca the garmet district is an amazing place to get a beautiful dress at a fraction of the price. I got a brand new Jessica McClintok ball gown for only $50.00!
For the 1 year old’s birthday party…you could do a carnival or circus theme and have popcorn, pretzels, peanuts, nachos, hot dogs etc to go with the theme. Our son just turned 1 and we had a baseball theme and served hot dogs and the above mentioned stuff and it was a hit!
We just did a circus theme with lemonade and hotdogs. W also hung a sheet and took everyone’s picture with a party hat and clown nose (did family groups or indiv)- it was the hit of the party. We wrote thank yous on the back of the pics and people thought they were lots of fun
We did a circus too! I enlisted my family members to help. Mom painted faces. My sister made balloon animals (She bought balloons and found how-to videos online). My other sister used to be in Color Guard in High School, so she twirled some colorful flags around-very impressive to 3-year-olds. My favorite was that on the invitations we encouraged guests to dress in theme! I loved seeing the little ones come in their favorite dress-up costumes!
you can rent cotton candy, popcorn and/or snow cone machines!
Although your suggestion for renting snowcone machines fits well with the suggested themes, I would’nt say its a very good “saving money” suggestion, imo. Unless, of course, you know where to rent snowcone, popcorn machines for cheap, otherwise machines can cost you $45 bucks or so a pop.
Renting a snow cone machine – NOT a good idea.
We rent a bouncer and snow cone machine every year for our kids parties. The bouncer keeps the kids busy and they love it! I go to the $1 store and get foam cups for the snow cones and plastic spoons so they’re not too messy and we usually end the party w/ a snow ball fight w/ the left over ice. Everyone usually has a great time and it’s well worth the money. We usually spend $100-$120 for the rentals and it usually comes w/ 3 tables and 18 chairs.
I look for deals year around on party supplies and for food we do whatever is on sale usually hamburgers and hot dogs w/ home potato salads and chips. I also hit the clearance sales after every holiday for candy for the goody bags.
For the childrens party do a “Make Your Own Pizza Party” Chef Borardee sells a good pizza in a box (flour for dough, sauce, cheese) at Target, so it wouldn’t be expensive.Each hild can decorate their own and use the toppings to make happy faces or birthday wishes
Make your own pizza on pita bread is less fuss. Shred cheese in advance and put in the freezer until you need it.
For napkins, plates, cups – definately look at the discount stores – and look for coupons….even Dollar Tree carries simple plain color napkins and plates. Target often has items on clearance for parties.
Try – http://www.vistaprint.com for invitations at a low price…………….I know several people who have used them. They are beautiful!
Vistaprint is amazing! I have gone through them numerous times and would highly recommend them! I’ve done invitations, wedding thank you notes, and 3 years of Christmas cards with Vistaprint. I’ve never had a bad experience.
Btw- sign up for their email list. You will receive special rates, deals, promo codes, and sometimes free shipping!!!
I love Vista print…we use them often too!
ooOOo speaking of plates and cups reminds me of the Coor’s rebate. Do the one that doesn’t require beer and get a rebate on “Condiments, Plastic Cups, Ice, Paper Plates, and/or Deli Items (any brand/any size)”!!!
Before you buy a huge amount of plates, cups, forks, etc, check at various locations… (Dollar Tree, Wal-Mart, Party City, etc)… We had to buy plates, forks, cups, etc for my brothers wedding shower and found that Sam’s Club was really the cheapest place on some items…And since Sam’s Club sales stuff in such huge quantities, you will have enough stuff left over for several birthday parties, family gatherings, etc!!
Great idea! Also, if you do NOT have a membership to Sam’s club, you can go in an ask for a one-day free pass and get your stuff without having to join. Now I wouldn’t suggest trying this often but for a one-time use, it would work out nice.
what I do is just buy two different colored napkins and not buy the themed ones. You get so much more for your money and it looks nice on a table fanned out alternating colors. After a couple birthdays there are left over napkins and you do not have to pay for more for awhile:)
Another great idea is to get a group of parents together, approach the PTO, contact your daughter’s school’s student council or other student/community group and organize a prom dress recycling program. I did this with 8th graders who wanted dresses WAY beyond their parent’s means, so high schoolers would donate their used dresses and we would give them away regardless of income, so it didn’t feel like a handout. Think of all the Seniors that graduate every year that will never need their dresses they wore once or twice.
For the one who’s son is turning 3, I have a couple of suggestions. For one of my son’s birthday’s we went to Chic fil a and had a party there. It was very inexpensive and the workers at our Chic fil a are AWESOME! Also think about having it at your church or a family member’s church. I know my church does not charge for activities.
For the daughter going to the prom, why don’t you share her size and possibly one of the readers would have something in their closet that they would be glad to pass on.
This is a great idea. I used to have 4 to 5 bridesm.aid dresses (actually very nice ones) until I just decided I needed to get rid of them. There has to be someone who wears her sze adn could send you a picture to see if you like it.
Yes, I’m only 25 and think my dresses are still way cute!! Have ones from prom and a couple cute bridesmaid dresses that I would be happy to share (give).
I’m a size 3/4. Let me know if you are interested! callie.lynn@hotmail.com
Callie ditto, I have been in SO many weddings the past few years… Let em know if you are interested in seeing any of these dresses! 🙂
Yes, I have some knock out dresses from Highschool myself that I have been holding onto. Many range from size 4-12… something for everyone 😉
Email me and I can maybe take pictures of the ones your interested in, and if you want to pay shipping, I’ll send it on your way. BTW, they are EXPENSIVE ones in there. My parents were very well off (not like me) so they spared no expense, I have several from Saks and such.
Shan24on@yahoo.com
For the daughter going to prom: I also have quite a few fab dresses (in multiple sizes) I would be happy to pass on. What is her size? I’d be happy to send some picts 🙂 nbohner@yahoo.com
I have a few dresses as well. And I even have a dress I used for debuettes or debutantes (depends on where you live), but it’s actually a wedding dress. Email me if you want to see pictures and I am more than happy to ship them! mbbunn06@aol.com.
Does anyone have a size 12 or 14 dress. My daughter needs one and with a new little one in the house we have been trying to find one on clearance but no luck yet. Please let me know. Thanks.
renangel25@yahoo.com
As far as prom, this won’t help the person who asked, but it makes sense to buy a year ahead right after prom season– dresses are cheap then! Or, suggest that your daughter compete in the duct tape prom contest:
https://www.duckbrand.com/Promotions/stuck-at-prom.aspx
Cheap, creative, and she could win a scholarship!
This was going to be my suggestion. I did this and got all of my prom/homecoming dresses for under $10 each (along with all three of my sister’s bridesmaid dresses)! Clearance is great!
Back when I was in high school (graduated in 2002), my mom and I went dress shopping the year before when the dresses were on sale after prom season. Got one prom dress for $50 and one for $35, which were originally priced at $200 each. Definitely the best way to get a cheap dress.
Some ideas for planning a wedding on a budget. Have the ceremony and reception at the same location so you don’t have to rent two spaces. We rented a conference room in a resort. There were dinner tables set up for all the guests. They sat at these seats to watch the short ceremony. The centerpieces were glass bowls filled with limes and lemons. These were my colors. They made a large impact and were inexpensive.
Yes, we had our wedding an old inn. The whole wedding party was able to stay the night before as well as out of town guests. We had our rehearsal dinner there, the ceremony and the reception. We also stayed our wedding night there and ate breakfast at our leisure in the dining room. Everyone commented on how low-stress it was. So nice to not have to shuffle around, drive anywhere, risk out of towners getting lost, etc.
Plan everything yourself. Let people help you. I had all kinds of offers and I took everyone up on it. One of our Bridesmaids made our wedding cake, an elderly friend ran the reception and keep all the food aplenty, my aunt did half of my flowers, a cousin of mine (who did beauty pageants) did my hair and makeup. My church provided the outside chairs and all the guys set them up right before the wedding. We had two friend do our pictures. Now we paid for all the raw material but all that help really paid off. Even the little things like people bringing food. We had a BEAUTIFUL outdoor wedding, with BEAUTIFUL pictures, a LOVELY dinner/cake indoors. We are sooooo lucky to be surrounded buy talented people. My Mom made the flower girls dress, and helped my cook all the food….we had a full dinner. Have fun and remember what is really important:)
For the wedding on a budget: INVITES: I’m a graphic designer for a small print shop. You can save a ton by shopping local as long as you know what you want, (which as a bonus supports your local community in the process.) I often have brides come in w/ invite ideas they’ve found online that cost hundreds of dollars that we can reproduce for a fraction of the cost. Show your printer what you like, and let them know your budget. Printers often have some tricks up their sleeve that can help you save over online competitors.
You can check out other DIY ideas at https://allmyweddingfaves.blogspot.com
For the prom dress you should see if you have a dress rental store close by. I rented a couple of my dresses in high school.Its way cheaper then buying, they usually have tons to choose from and then you don’t have to have to worry about having a dress lying around that you’ll never wear again.
For the prom, you might look around and see if any local schools are having a prom dress fund raiser. We have a school near here that does this every year. If she’s creative and outgoing, she can make her dress out of a duck tape and try to win the contest they have every year. Good luck!
As far as wedding planning goes, you can save some major cash by booking on an off-day. Everyone seems to want to get married on Saturday. If you consider Friday night or Sunday, you can probably get serious discounts on venue, possible even food! Also, look for a photographer who is just getting started and you can save quite a bit there…try to get someone who will give you all the images on a CD and then you can look for bargain printing options!
You can check out http://www.myphotopipe.com for professional printing options…they are VERY cheap and they are very high quality. We have used them for awhile and love them!
For the wedding. . . I know it might sound out there but look into a wedding planner! I got married last year on a tight budget and interviewed various planners and found one that was amazing! The best thing about a wedding planner is they know your budget up front and will help direct you to vendors that fit in your price range. Also they get so many deals and discounts that you wouldn’t believe. My planner was so fabulous I was able to stay $8,000 under my budget and not have a care in the world on my wedding day!!
Was wondering how you found the wedding planner? We just started to plan my daughters wedding and did not think that was an expense we could add to the budget.
I got various names from theknot.com I read their pages/websites and picked out a few that I thought sounded good, emailed them stating when I was getting married and the fact that I was on a budget so I wanted to know their fees and what all they included. They all got back to me I set up the face to face interviews. Some wedding planners charge a percentage and others charge a flat fee. I went with the planner that charged a flat fee and could not have been more happy with my choice. I just subtracted her fee from my budget and was able to make up her fee in all the discounts that she got us and still stay way under budget!
I do event planning and we had a very tight budget for the wedding I did last summer. I got creative, I made ALL the decorations myself. If you have the right planner she/he can make it work. Trust me. It really is all in who they know. I have photographers, cake decorators, dj’s and florists that I ONLY use and because of this we get GREAT deals!
Could email me directly so I can pick your brain? Maybe by luck you are in our area. lkptkaren@aol.com
I emailed you!
You stayed $8000 UNDER budget. I only have $3000 for my WHOLE budget!!
My mom just told me that the good will store she goes to all the time has a once a year wedding sale. I store must donate last years stock or something because they had an entire room of wedding dresses where they ususally have furniture.
I planned my wedding for about 3,000. including the dress and rings, but i did everything myself. I had a Asian theme (before it was popular). Ordered the lunch special for my reception caterin! cost me $500 for 125 ppl including appetizers. Had a buffet to minimize number of servers needed.Got my veil and tiara on ebay. put together my favors using chinese take out boxes from a wholesale food supplier. put in birdseed, fortune cookes (custom made from a wholesaler) and candy. printed my programs at kinkos using nice paper i got from xpdex. used a shoji screen from my aunt’s living room as my altar. made my own bouquet with flowers from one of those inexpensive flower places that sell bunches for like 6. bucks. my bridesmaids carried wooden fans we embellished with gold spray paint. cost us $10 bucks for all 7. Oh and the bridesmaids got their dresses custom made at chinese-tailer.com. about $100 bucks each. Hired a student from the photography deparment at the local college to take photos. rented newly build community center for the recpetion. Cost only $300. It’s SOOO doable. If i had it to do over again. I could do it better AND Cheaper. whew, that was a book. hope it helps someone.
misskthpriss; Some of thos things… i never even thought about doing. I was wondering how the heck i would ever afford a wedding… and now it doesnt seem so bad!! Thanks!
https://diamondsdeals.blogspot.com/
I did my wedding for $3000.00 total. I got married and had the redeption in the same spot it was beautiful but very small. It had to be to get it under that price on the beach in CA. I did find my dress at Davids Bridals $99.00 sale. t was a gorgeous 900.00 dress marked down to $99.00. I loved it! They should have a sale coming up soon.
misskthpriss I to did my Wedding for about that much, and had lots of fun doing it. Your wedding sounds like it was LOVELY.
You could get married outdoors at a park. Cheap. Look for a clearance dress. I found a regular priced dress… off the rack my size, no alterations needed (sz 14) for 600 dollars. You could definitely save a lot of money if you looked at clearance. You could also find someone you know with a membership at a club… like a boat club. We looked into that and found they only charge 125 and 100 of it is a refundable deposit. You should have your bridesmaids wear black dressses. They don’t have to match in style but in color (whatever color). They will then be able to wear the dresses again and you won’t have to pay for the dress. Find people you know who will be willing to cook at your wedding. You would be suprised how much help you will get if you just ask. My friend did stouffers lasagna buffet with salad. Big hit and easy on her parents budget!!
agreed, where do you start? I will be getting married next year and have no idea how to go about finding help (other than our moms, which I would like to help but not too much 🙂 )
Where do you live… There are lots of deals at micheals. I made my own flowers.
theknot.com is an amazing website to help you with wedding planning
I love event planning and always try to do it at a minimal cost. If you plan on serving wine (wedding, anniversary party, etc) check with your local liquor store… some offer a discount if you buy the bottles by the case. My local store offers 15-20% off cases.
When serving food to a large group of people, I’ve done beef brisket sandwiches. Buy a big brisket and find a recipe to use for the crockpot. I feel like this goes a long way when you shred it for sandwiches without spending much money. You could serve it with coleslaw and baked beans which are not too costly.
Also, for little kid birthdays- what about grilling hotdogs?? It may be too cold, but this could probably done inside as well. Young and old, I think most people love hotdogs! Have a variety of toppings (ketchup, mustard, relish, onion, tomato, chili??, Etc.) It could be fun for everyone to top their own.
Also, when doing appetizers for a get together, I have had the best luck in using the cracker coupons from this website! The Keebler flipsides always go over well with an inexpensive dip. And the Wholley Guacamole $1 off coupons have paired great with local sales at my store (priced at $1.50-$2.00 before coupon).
One of the best places I think to get cheap party supplies is Zurchers.com. Sometimes they’ll give an even better price if you call on the phone and buy in bulk. Hope this helps!
For the wedding- I got my dress during the $99 sale at David’s Bridal. It was a model they were discontinuing and was originally $699 before the sale. My husband’s tux was free at Men’s Warehouse because we had the other guys rent from there. We also did the wedding at the retirement community’s country club near us. We thought it was private until a friend at church suggested it. The ceremony was on the lawn in front of their lake and fountains and then we moved into the ballroom for the reception. All we had to do was get the cake delivered and bring decorations, which I ordered most online at bridal places I googled at the time. We also ordered the invitations online, although I know many people have made their own from purchasing the materials at Michael’s with a coupon, of course. I borrowed table center pieces from a friend that had recently been married so we just had to buy new candles for them (purchased at Michael’s with coupons also). Ask family members to help with the decorations while you are getting ready. It keeps them out of your way and gets the job done. Good luck and congratulations!
For planning a wedding on a budget Michaels and AC Moore usually have a coupon once a week for 40%-50% off one item. They have tons of wedding stuff that you could get could get a great deals on. I did that for my wedding and saved a ton. I got my head piece, veil, invitations, candy for favors, the little cage/box for cards, a white carpet to roll down the isle, tulle and tons of other stuff with my coupons. You can print off tons of the coupons and use one everyday of the week until a new one comes out for the next week if you would like. Good luck and I hope you have a few months before you get married. Happy shopping!
Also I forgot to mention that I went to a wholesale florist the day before and purchased 100 ($1.00 each) white roses. I had to de-thorn the ones for the bouquets (I made my own with some ribbon and pins) and used the remaining for center pieces in a vase with a few marbles and ordered some silk rose petals from ebay in my wedding colors. This cut out the cost for a florist and having to purchase expensive center pieces. Anyway good luck again.
If you don’t have a wholesale florist near you, try costco. Their flowers are very reasonably priced for the exceptional quality you get. This is what I did for my wedding. For my center pieces I did light pink roses in little globe vases on the tables. It’s always less expensive to do your own flowers, plus it’s more fun! I also did the flowers for my sister’s engagement party. I took a large clear glass vases and put red apples and limes in the bottom, filled it with water, and then arranged a beautiful array of white and red roses. It was awesome. It looked very high-end and professional, but was NOT expensive at all!
And if you want assistance on floral arrangement ideas, there are plenty of wonderful florists who have how to books you can check out from the library, buy a used Martha Stewart from Amazon, or check out Martha’s Wedding webiste.
For the birthday party-
*Cake-you can make your own cake, yet have it look professionaly done. You can either go to the bakery at wal mart, kroger, ect and ask to buy JUST the cake toppers they use for the cakes. They do sell them! Also, last year I got off of ebay an edible cake image for $6.00 shipped that had transformers on it and my sons name. Just make the cake, ice it, and put this image on top. It melted right to the cake and it looked AWSOME! Also, for drinks, I made a really good punch with Kool aide and sprite. It was blue and put a label on it that I made from the computer and I called it “optimus prime punch”. I decorated plain cups with transformer stickers. Just got plain napkins and plates, because kids don’t care about that. I DID get the transformer cake plates, and they were $2 for 12 of them I think. I took ballons that I bought to food lion which is like a krogers, and they blew my baloons up for $.15 a piece. I got a table cover with transformers on it, but that was only $2 as well and it took away from the plainer things. Those are just a few things I did to take the budget down on my party…
Something else that the pros do to cut down on cake costs – have a small cake to show and cut then have big sheet cake(s) in the kitchen or another room (if we are talking wedding). Once you cut the 1st piece for the photos, take the show cake in with the other and cut them all up. No one will know. Also, for a wedding, make sure you negotiate the cake price AND the cutting price. A lot of people charge for both!
I agree with April. Please share her dress size (if that’s ok with her 🙂 ) I have a couple of prom dresses in my closet that I’m willing to part with.
For the wedding… if you are buying wine, I would definitely suggest going to trader joes. There 2 buck chuck (charles shaw wine) is $2.95 a bottle and tastes great. I buy it for all of my parties and I don’t mind the leftovers!!
Wal mart also has a brand called Oak Leaf and it is my all time favorite, only $2.97 a bottle or $8 bucks for a box (4 bottles)
Ohh Ohhh Ohhh it’s my favorite TOO!! LOVE my Oak Leaf… however, my local Wally has been out of the Cab the last 3 times I’ve gone 🙁
World market is also a great place to buy wine and they have a great sangria mix that is always a big hit at parties
I just bought my daughter’s senior prom dress 2 weeks ago @ 6pm.com. It’s a Laundry Shelli Segal, size 0, fits perfect, it’s beautiful, 100% silk for $120 delivered – – Originally about a $400 dress. Also, my daughter has swapped dresses with her friends – – this goes along way when you have 2-3 formal events a year. Good luck! Teenage daughters can be expensive! Then college – ugh!
For the Wedding: I, too, recommend an off-day I got married on a Sunday afternoon and it was great! It was outdoors at a nature museum on a hilltop – GORGEOUS – so we had a BIG tent for the reception and dancing and we had a BBQ buffet service. Our favorite local BBQ place cartered and provided service staff, and everyone loved that it was laid back and fun (of course, if you are more formal then this might not be for you). The catering costs were so low compared to other options.
It was summer so my bridesmaid wore cute linen sundresses from a regular store (Ann Taylor) in an apricot color. Saved a ton and frankly we all loved them – and the price tag of under $30 (on clearance, no less!). I found the dresses we liked first, then planned my colors around that instead of the other way around.
I designed the invites, programs, etc and had them printed locally. don’t skimp on the paper, though. Make sure you use good quality there. But I bought vellum on sale at a craft store and then had it cut to be inserted in our invites. Lots of DIY.
We had a DJ for the reception but I planned out what music I wanted played for the ceremony and set it up on an ipod and had someone be in charge of that. If you want someone live that won’t work for you but we liked it – plus we used some non-traditional stuff so it was better for us.
Lastly, see if there is a ceremony at the same place on the day before or after yours. We were able to split the costs of all our rentals – chairs, the huge tent, lighting, everything with the party the day ahead of ours. They were elated when we asked about it. It worked out really well.
Good luck!
For the wedding – I just planned one myself last year! I had a moderate budget from my parents – but that was taken up by food/drinks! But here are some cost savers.
1. Do your own invitations! Get the coupons from Michaels, and buy either pre-printed ones or just plain cardstock. I did plain cardstock, designed my own and made postcard response cards. Everyone loved them! Just do some internet searching for design ideas.
2. Create your own centerpieces – I did tealights and tall trees. Again, Michaels and the coupons!
3. Throw some candy in the middle of each table. This is great for people to snack on – plus use your coupons!
Overall – be creative! There is so much you can do with what you can find at craft stores! As for bridal party gifts – put in lotion and things that you can get for free or money makers!
A prom suggestion….try freecycle.com. This site can sometimes be as random as craigslist, but the difference is that you do not pay for a thing someone else gives you. Some of the stuff that is given away or asked for is not that great, but now again you find some amazing things!
I don’t know much about this, but I bet if you did some research on the internet you could find websites that resell gently used formalwear for a much cheaper price. Just a thought! I remember going through the pain of trying to find a prom or homecoming dress…my poor, poor mother. 😉
That is a great idea!
For the wedding question- I got married last year for well under $10,000 including everything *It was a tad over $8,000*! We used the chapel at our local univeristy, hired a student for the music, hired a justice of the peace, ordered the majority of the paper products from Vistaprint, used a local printer for the invitations which were a fraction for the same item online, and kept the chapel decorations to a minium. The biggest two savings were on food and flowers: for the flowers I consulted with a local florist and set a strict budget which she did wonders with for the bouquets, etc. for the centerpieces, etc. I ordered online from a warehouse and my bridal party and I made the centerpieces (a glass bowl filled with stones and red roses) and for the food we did a cocktail party since it was an evening wedding.
My best advice to to not buy into the personalized everything (napkins, mints, banners, etc.).
For a birthday for the 1 year old, I would make a large pot of something like tortilla soup or 3 bean mexican chili (pampered chef recipe) for the adults and jelly sandwicjes for the toddlers and kids. You can cut the sandwiches with a heart shaped cookie cutter or something.
I know you want to go BIG for a first birthday party, but really it’s so nice and easy to stay simple.
4 year olds are happy with sandwiches and chips! Cut the sandwiches into a shape with a cookie cutter or just cut the crusts off. Punch? Oh yes, kids love punch. Make a simple one.
I have 6 kids (so far) and I can tell you that they appreciate simple parties. Don’t go overboard!
My wedding was nice too. We used a small church and had the reception at my parents house. My sister made all the appetizers and we had champagne punch. Spend money on your photographer versus the food and decorating. Also, don’t cave into the current thinking that more is better.Enjoy the day…it’s about you and your spouse, not your guests.
Also, when I married we spent VERY little. The entire wedding and reception cost under 2 thousand. In hind sight, we have done well and have not suffered any for not having a huge wedding. Actually, looking back it would have been great to hit a cruise and marry there…less stress 🙂
Oh and for music we used an ipod hooked into the reception’s sound system. It worked out perfectly for us since we did not have a set dance schedule.
Also we choose and alternative location for our reception- an art museum and used the in-house cafe for the catering. Since we were their first wedding I think we managed to score a complete bargain!
For my daughters 3rd Birthday we did a princess theme and I was able to score a lot of princess items and party favors from the online disney outlet store. Also the Dollartree has a lot of items available. I always shop the adds and plan my menus around what is on sale and what I have coupons for
This has been wonderful, all the information…thanks, Collin for using your space in such a helpful way for all of us!!
to the lady who needs a dress check out http://www.donatemydress.org! Maybe you can find one there. And i dont know what size your daughter is but i have a dress that she could have if it would fit here. I wish i could fit back into it. If so email me burningstarslast@yahoo.com and i’ll just confirm with hip or something thats its you 🙂
For the 25th wedding anniversary…how many people? You could use what you might already have in the house for decorations (i.e. pictures of them when they met, their wedding, etc.) and maybe several favorite appetizers with nicer paper plates so there’s no worries about a full course dinner and/or dishes. I put together custom family DVDs for all events and these are always a hit and a great keepsake of memories! I could help with a minimizing your cost. Email me at sjones749@aol.com if you have any questions. I think your parents will be honored with whatever you put together!
that reminds me of our centerpieces at our wedding reception. after our honeymoon we had another reception in a different state than we were married in. our centerpieces were a picture frame (4×6) that was double sided so that on each table there were 2 photos of us from the wedding, the honeymoon or us dating or with our families. we also had some nice ribbon we used to make this look nice and everyone commented how much they loved to see the photos. you could even put in baby photos or some from growing up. this would be great for not only a wedding, but also anniversary party
For the plates and silverware Costco sells these really pretty plates and silverware that are plastic and look like real silver and real china in pictures! Oh and the plates are white and silver perfect for a 25th anniversary. I want to say they were around $12 for 50 plates.
Oh, and for wedding cake… do not discount Costco or Sam’s! I have been to weddings where the cake was delicious and that’s where it was from. Or Publix, even. I have seen some great ones from those places. They might look more on the basic side – no fondant or geometric details, but they look good and taste better than any fondant-covered thing! 😉
Also – you can order your flowers from Costco and Sam’s as well.
I totally agree with you. Walmart has the BEST buttercream frosting & their cakes are always delicious!
I am an Event Director and I agree….Publix is a great place to get a wedding cake on a budget. I know that there are several culinary students who work in the bakery at one of my local Publix stores.
For the wedding – When I planned mine I found that eBay had the same things I was buying at stores much cheaper!! (Like guest books, gifts, etc.) I even found a lady selling Lindt truffles wholesale and special ordered what I needed for my favor boxes.
Hi, for the wedding and party food questions…there is a great book “Cater Your Own Wedding”. I catered a friend’s wedding using this guide and saved her about $3500 on food. (The professional caterer wanted $6000, and this was about 6 years ago.) If you can enlist friends to help, as this book suggests, you can save a bundle.
For kids birthday parties – do brown bag lunches filled with good things!! Cookie cutter sandwiches, apple slices or grapes, boxed juices, bags of pretzels or chips and decorate the brown bags! Sandwich platters from your grocery store or make your own for the adults!
For the prom dress check out https://www.beccascloset.org/. Maybe they will be able to help. For those of you that want to get rid of those old prom dresses, this is a great organization to donate to.
For the wedding on a budget…check out sites/venues that are owned and operated by service organizations such as your local Women’s Garden Club, etc. When tax season comes around the amount spent can be considered as a donation, and a deduction on your taxes. I would also stick with wine, beer, and soda/water. Your costs will go way up if you include liquor. As far as flowers go too, keep them seasonal and simple if you are ordering fresh flowers. I also saved money on center pieces by using ferns and other greenery to decorate our tables, and my cake topper was fresh flowers too.
Couple of ideas. I used to do event planning stuff on the side. For weddings, showers, anniversary parties, etc there are many ways to save money.
Target: Target carries a LARGE variety of DIY invitations. Keep an eye on these. You can usually find some both in store and online on clearance. I’ve found them for as much as 75-90% off. Buy several and you can use them to print invitations, thank you cards, menus, etc.
For decorations for weddings, showers, anniversaries, etc think slightly out of the box. Visit Target now to take a look at their valentine’s day decor. They often have fake flowers, rose petals, etc available. It’s amazing how far some votive candles and fake rose petals can take you.
Check with grocery stores or club stores like Sams for great deals on cakes. You can purchase a plain cake, use some inexpensive rose petals to sprinkle around it and still have a beautiful presentation.
Look in the dollar spot for clearance deals. You can find great “goodie bag” items there for kid’s birthday parties. Most parents don’t want the “junk” you find in so many goodie bags. But you can do a carnival or circus or sports theme. Buy some of the plastic popcorn cups. Then use some of the coupons available for the 100 calorie snack packs and put a couple of the various crackers, popcorn bags, cookies, etc in there. Cheap, easy and USABLE!
Michaels: Michaels is apparently running several 25% off your entire order coupons as this week in their ad they had another one good for Sunday. Look for votive candles there.
.For easy simple decorations. Think outside of the box. A great way to honor a parent’s 25th anniversary or a child’s birthday would be simple photos. Take advantage of the free photo offers that the photo printing sites offer. Then get cheap frames to display on the table. For a child’s birthday you could do a photo of the child for each year of life. Or one of the child when they were born, at 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months. At the food table you can put photos of the child’s first foods. For anniversaries or weddings, put pictures from their wedding, from them dating, from various vacations, etc over the years. Using “real” flowers for centerpieces is very expensive and very over rated. For real flowers for bouquets, again, go trough samsclub.com or even in store and purchase some of their flowers. You can usually place special orders. Then a few days before the wedding get some friends together and assemble the flowers. It’s not hard, you’ll just need floral wire and tape and ribbon. All things you can buy on sale at Michaels and try to stack with a 25% off your entire order Q.
For proms, there’s so many recommendations. I too was going to recommend
Another tidbit….
I ALWAYS make a simple sheet cake for my kids and decorate it by buying a small toy to place on it with the candles. Example: Star Wars Clone Wars figures. Every year they look forward to seing what I buy for the cake.
Honestly, bakery cakes can be pricey!
The anniversary party question is a tough one. If you could go more casual, you can make pulled pork BBQ for a large crowd easily. I will say that I went to a birthday party once where everyone brought an appetizer and we had to stand up and recall a good memory about the person. It was alot of fun and the birthday gal loved it!
Also to the other readers who have dresses building up in your closet you should look into https://www.donatemydress.org and donate your dresses 🙂
It may be too late now, but can you turn this post into 5 seperate ones? That way each person doesn’t have to read through ALL the comments to find one pertaining to their situation and any other reader looking for similar solutions. Not trying to tell you how to run your blog, lol, because you do a great job!! Just thinking about how many OTHER people read it as well, and I know those comments can get high in number!! I mean look at how many people commented on lemons!! 😉 I was going to comment when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, but I think that was the “problem” lol.
But thanks for opening up your site to us to allow to share all of frugal ideas as well. You site is, and always will be, my favorite.
25th anniversary: Elegant. Have everyone that is coming bring their fanciest appetizer so you’ll have a wide array. Then you can provide all the dessert, either a big cake (with their original wedding topper if they have it) or and some fancy cream puffs/mini desserts all around. You’re parents will probably be more excited in the people there and the celebration for them anyway rather than decor. For my parents 40th anniversary we ended up having a luau theme with big fruit platters (it was in the summer so fruit was cheap) and we bought costco cakes w/o frosting and topped them ourselves with maderinie oranges, coconut, chocolate sauce, and bananans to make them more fancy. One of my friends had plain cheesecake at her folk’s anniversary, then had a couple different warm fruit toppings, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, & chocolate.
Baby birthday – sandwich platters can get pricey. Go with the hotdog/circus theme or another good thing is homemade crock mac n cheese (kids and adults like) google for recipes.. but serve with a side salad and fruit. We also like to do pulled pork sandwiches for the adults… just 1 or 2 pork roasts in the crock pot for 12 hours on low then shred the meat with a fork. drain crockpot of left over liquid and add shredded pork back in, add favorite BBQ sauce and heat back up. Serve with hamburger buns. Feeds a ton of people and is really good.
Prom, besides clearance racks (I got my step teen a prom dress for $19 on clearance rack on time) do you have a youth group or church group. Either that or friends of the family with daughters slightly older than yours? It’s probable that they might have a few prom dresses in their closet that might fit her she can borrow.
The BEST place I’ve ever found for birthday party suggestions is this site:
https://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/ I’ve use them for all my girls’ theme parties. You can search by theme, and then once in the theme by ages. Other mom’s have posted what they have done (homemade invites, games, menus, tips) What I try to do to save money is buy a few plates (like let’s say it’s the movie cars)… Walmart carries party plates now for $1.79 for 8-10 plates. So I get just a few of those, then I get a generic matching color plate (like red) for $1 and put them every other one, same with napkins and dessert plates. So I spend 1/2 for the decor but still have that theme they want.
For wedding recommend that you serve dinner at the reception instead of finger foods. Doing so will cut down in the cost of the catering. I would also recommend not serving alcohol at the wedding. I got married about 2 years ago and me and my husband went to counseling. That cut the cost of the marriage license down. We also got married at the church he grow up in for free because he was a member there and his mother still is a member.
I forgot one thing about the wedding planning. I went on theknot.com and found a photographer just starting out. Our engagement photo session was free…we spent I think $50.00 on a ton of those photos. We also got a decent package for about $300.
For the prom – I can think of a few ideas. When I was in highschool I shared formal dresses with my two cousins who went to other schools. We were relatively the same size as each other, although I am three inches taller so they wore heels and I just wore ballet slippers or kitten heels. We just always split the cost three ways.
Also, homecoming and winter formal gowns are likely on deep clearance right now. I recently purchased a $279 formal gown at Macy’s for $23 after using a coupon. If you are handy with a sewing machine, don’t overlook larger dresses because you can cut them down (my cousin did this for her bridesmaid dresses).
For the three year old’s bday party- If you live in a bigger city, check local museums. Our children’s museum, science learning center and model train museums all offer birthday party rooms for a minimum charge (I think $75 for up to 25 kids) and they get to play in the museum. The best part is that you can bring your own cake to save money.
I am an event planner. I can defintely help a lot of your readers. For the lady who is looking for a cheap prom dress, if she has a David’s Bridal close they would probably be the best. they always have TONS of dresses on clearance. My wedding, which was 7 years ago, My bridesmaids dresses were on that rack for $39.99 each.
For budget wedding planning- You can get the invitation packs from Ollies for $9.99, which have 50 invitations in them and you can print them yourself, also think about having your reception on a Monday-Thursday when venues will give you a discount on the price. Also, try to have a “appetizer” reception. Basically go to sams club get tons of appetizers, have a good friend or family member cook them up, put them in sterno’s and rent the punch fountain from your local rental store and you got yourself a reception. Decorations can be bought online from oriental traders and you can save a lot of pennies. If you want wine for your reception, there is a great sparkling wine called verde, it comes in a lot of different flavors but taste GREAT! You can get the gigantic bottles for $4.95 from your local liquor store.
for the wedding anniversary.
As far as decorations go you can usually recreate a tablescape you see in a magazine for really cheap.. that can be your main decoration and the food can incorporate buffet style in the same room. Also the dollar tree is way cheaper than party stores and carry tons of decorations. just don’t allow yourself to go crazy in the rest of the store. there are some places where they will rob you blind but not decorations. ( incidently they have elmo b-day decorations for the questions about kid parties.)
to do very nice food on a budget i would buy some appitizers add sams or costco. my biggest hit is olive garden sales there salads and breadsticks in bulk and it is super affordable. through that in a pretty bowl and bread basket and you are half way there. finally use all those crackers and random snack type food you have got for next to nothing. youu could make an easy cheese spread and crackers, a bowl of pretzels set nicely over where people are congregating next to a bowl of mixed nuts is not cheap. its all in the presentation.
you can alos use a punch bowl full of punch for an affordable drink option. there are a lot of punch recipies that will cover a large number of people for next to nothing. if you are wanting to have alcohol simply offer a toast. that way you only have to get a few bottles of champagne. if you are having this nice of an event people would be happy to byob and you could just provide the mixers.
hope this helps.
p.s. i would decorate with pictures of them over the 25 years. you could even upload a bunch to snapfish or whoever has a special and have them all printed in b&w and use them as decorations.
I think for the 3 year old Birthday party we would need more details. When is the party(need to know what the weather will be like)? What is near by (Chuck E Cheese, Bounce U etc…)? How many people are you inviting?
He will be 3 in early March. We live within 20 minutes of ChuckeCheese, Bounce Town, YMCA etc. (Oswego area) He is really into cars and trains. We are probably going to invite about 15 kids (aged 1-10) and all of their parents. I have noticed that some places charge for parents and 1 year olds even when food isn’t being served. What is with that?! I would really appreciate any suggestions. Thanks 🙂
I did a car’s birthdy for my son. I took cardboard boxes and spray painted them and then painted numbers on them to make race cars. The kids had fun hiding in them, which wasn’t my intent, but I was happy to see them giggle. I also pulled out some of the boys’ cars and a little racetrack rug I had so the kids could play cars. I used orientaltrading.com for my favors. They have great prices! I got stickers, temporary tatoos, chocolate cars, etc. I served red, green, and yellow, fruit and we did hot dogs and burgers. Have fun!
I just had a joint party for my 3 year old and 4 year old at Chuck E. Cheese (they are 13 mos apart and their bdays are 3 weeks apart) for about $220- so a little over $100 per kid. We had 15 kids and their parents and ordered some extra pizzas for the adults. We also had a ton of tokens left over, so we’ll have a couple of extra “free” trips to CEC. To me, its worth it to spend the money so I don’t have to clean up the mess at my house. I also find that when I have ppl at my house, I end up spending almost as much $$ on food, cake, decorations, etc (even with coupons), and then I’m left with the mess and out the time that it takes to prepare for the party. GL!
..and I forgot to say that I LOVE vistaprint.com!! They always have free offers and their invitations are super cute! I’ve used them multiple times and I’ve only paid shipping.
Jan, Feb and Mar are all kid birthday party months for me and it’s so hard on the budget. In fact, I just blogged very cheap party invites late last night!
Other tips, don’t worry about favors. I don’t think they are that important. If you MUST have them, make cookies and package them in cellophane with cute ribbon. Keep the costs DOWN.
Also, if you must have character plates, get plain napkins or vice versa. Buy plain cups that match the colors of your theme, but aren’t the ones that match the plates.
Be creative with your themes and activities and use your resources. My daughter is having a pajama, pancake and pampering party. Everyone comes in their pj’s, decorates and eats their big pancake, gets their nails painted and a friend is coming to do their “fancy hair” which she is doing for me as a favor, totally free. I made a giant Hello Kitty head out of posterboard, cut out some construction paper bows and we’ll play “Pin the Bow on Hello Kitty.” Favors are HK stuff I got when Target $ spot went to 75% off.
Martha Stewart has these great craft kits they sell at Big Lots for $2 that can be broken down into crafty activities for several kids. One farm animal balloon kit has I think 8 animals in them….that covers a lot of kids for $2! Print off coloring sheets, get the $1 markers at the Dollar Tree (I’ve seen Tink and Cars lately” and let them color, then send them home with the markers as their favor!
There is so much you can do for cheap. We just have to think outside the box!
i forgot also that kroger sales all there day old flowers for dirt cheap in bckets on the floor in the floral dept. if you don’t see them ask where. for an event on the same day this would be great. if you do not have to be held down to a certain flower.
i got married 4 years ago, i spent 5,500 on my wedding including pictures, the pictures were 3,000 alone.
Check local dollar stores/family dollar/dollar general for flowers, i got all the flowers for my wedding for 15 bucks. they were really pretty red velvet roses too, not cheap looking flowers.
there are sites online that tells you how to make corsages (did i spell that right), i also had a friend who knew how to make them.
i made my own invitations – maybe you could use one of the free deal Collin finds – i created mine in photo shop with our picture on it and added the wording, then printed them thru an online photo service.
i made my own programs and the bubbles that were used at the wedding too.
good luck on the wedding planning.
for the Birthday
i took cake decorating classes so i made my own cake to save me money, however, Sam’s club if you have one in your area, has delicious cakes that are inexpensive.
check ebay – if you have certain theme you want, i found my daughter stuff on ebay for 1/3 the price i would have paid from the party store.
also one more thing i did, i only brought a couple packs of theme related plates, i used a solid color from the dollar store to mix in with them, same with napkins. i used solid colored cups from dollar store.