How to Throw a Backyard Party on a Budget
Have you been trying to figure out how to throw a big party on a budget? If you’ve been scratching your head in frustration, you’re not alone. The one thing that everyone wishes to do is to reduce their costs of living by any means necessary. But this doesn’t mean that you have to stop entertaining yourself. Knowing how to throw a big party on a budget is a good way to start. You should still end up with the celebration of your dreams without breaking too much bank.
The first important step to achieve this is to use your backyard creatively as the venue. When you’ve accomplished this part, then you’re on your way to making the most of your tight budget situation. If you want to find out what fun and interesting ideas you can use to make your backyard party to be the talk of your neighborhood, you should keep on reading.
1. Tell Your Guests What to Expect
When it comes to using ideas to help you improve how to throw a big party on a budget, you should make sure that your guests know what to expect. Whether you’re sending out formal invitations or you plan on hoisting banner signs, it should be clear that they’re coming to a low budget backyard party. You don’t want to give them high expectations and when they arrive it’s a completely different story.
They should know what to expect with food and decor. Most importantly, this should help them to have a heads-up on attire. This should help your guests to spend less time stressing about what they should wear. Your guests are also likely to appreciate that you’ve reduced their expenses. You’d be amazed to find out how much some are willing to spend on a new outfit.
2. Calculate How Much Food will be Needed
Food is one of those expenses that can determine whether you know how to throw a big party on a budget or not. The fact is that guesswork shouldn’t be what you rely on to buy your food. When you have a party calculator, it should save you a great deal of money when you head down to your local pizza shop.
To ensure that you have the right numbers when it comes to your food expenses, you should have an accurate estimate of how many of your guests will be attending your party. Then, you should stick to the general rule of thumb that your guests should have only half of what your main servings are. And that they’ll also have half of whatever sides that you will be serving. This is the simplest way to avoid spending a lot on your food. Plus, it should also help to prevent any food waste on the day of your event.
3. Take Care of the Drinks
If you’ve invited people to come to your party, you should expect that they’ll want different types of beverages. But when you don’t know how to throw a big party on a budget, the first thing that you should learn is that you should minimize the amount of money that you spend on alcoholic beverages as much as you can. If you’re not familiar with events, you should know that if you want to have a successful one, you should be smart about how you mix your alcohol.
The simplest way to do this is by mixing up a big batch cocktail. A pitcher style cocktail is the most inexpensive way to ensure that your guests have an overflow of alcohol to keep them in good spirits throughout your party. You should consider getting some ice for parties as well to save as much as you can on buying ice for your event.
4. Have Enough Seats
The last thing that you want to deal with when you’re trying to learn how to throw a big party on a budget is guests who don’t have anywhere to sit. Your backyard generally should have patio seats that you use regularly. But when you’re planning on inviting more people to celebrate with you and your family, you should consider your options when it comes to your outdoor furniture. If you want to save as much as you can on your party expenses, you should consider renting out your outdoor furniture.
Another idea that you should think of is to make things picnic-style for your day. This should create a cozy atmosphere for your guests. This is the most surprisingly cheap way to go about planning the seating for your party. Moreover, it should give you ample space to place your portable toilets in a convenient place. This should benefit your guests because they don’t have to worry about the smell coming from your outdoor toilets. Plus, you can rest-assure that you won’t have flies messing with the rest of your celebration.
5. Have Lights or Lanterns
If you know that your party will run well into the night, you should make a contingency plan to make sure that you don’t leave your guests in the dark. If you can speak to your landscaping company to place some lights in your backyard, it should be a great way to ensure that your guests are taken care of well into the evening. The great thing is that this should give you the type of ambient lighting that you need in your backyard. You shouldn’t leave your guests in the dark.
But if you feel like having too many lights won’t work out well for your guests, you should consider hanging some lanterns or even tealights. You can get creative and place them on your trees and your siding. The main thing about your lighting for your party is that it should look interesting enough to distract your guests from the fact that you had to throw a party on a budget.
6. Double the Decor as Entertainment
When you are learning how to throw a big party on a budget you should always find a way to keep your expenses low at all times. This means that you should ensure that you skip on spending a fortune on your decor. A good pro-tip is to find decor that can double up as your entertainment. This helps you to save a lot of money on other entertainment items. You don’t have to worry about your guests not finding your decor interesting. There are various ways that you can use your decor as your entertainment.
For example, if you decide to use some of your garden features, you can get away with this. Another simple example that can help to reduce your decor costs is for you to go for something as simple as a piñata. Not only does it come in various shapes and sizes, but it also doubles as a fun activity to keep your guests of different ages entertained throughout your party.
7. Keep Bugs at Bay
When you don’t know how to throw a big party on a budget it’s easy for you to skimp over other important things like keeping bugs and mosquitoes away from troubling your guests. Since you’re having your party in your backyard, it’s easy to have bugs bugging you throughout the night. Let’s say you’re looking for an effective way to get rid of mosquitoes. Making sure that there isn’t any freestanding water is the first step. If you have any water that’s lurking in your backyard, you have a breeding ground for all sorts of bugs. These can cause problems for you and your guests.
For instance, if you have a mini sushi bar stand, bugs and insects can give you a lot of problems. So, it’s always best to not leave this for the last minute. The best advice to follow is to empty out any lurking water a week before your party. If there’s no rain that’s expected, you should have enough time to ensure that the water dries up adequately.
8. Think of Useful Appliances
The fact that you’re trying to figure out how to throw a big party on a budget doesn’t mean that you should skip over the basics about ensuring that your guests are comfortable at all times. This means that you should consider having appliances that should maximize their convenience.fort in every way possible. If you know what the weather is predicted to be on the day, plan in advance for everything that you should need.
Let’s say that you’re having your party on a hot day. Your guests should appreciate you going above and beyond to have a few fans installed. Similarly, if you’re pulling your celebration on a cold evening, you should consider investing in some outdoor heating solutions. The main thing about asking people to come and join you in your home is to ensure that they don’t regret it by feeling as if their essential needs such as comfort have not been catered for.
9. Master the Music Playlist
By now, you should know that learning how to throw a big party on a budget means that you have to do a lot of things yourself. So, you should start learning how to curate a party music playlist if you don’t know how to do one. The thing that you should keep in mind about your music selection is that you’re catering to different people. So, it goes without saying that you should diversify your music as much as possible. Another thing that you should think about is the length of each music playlist. You don’t want to play other genres longer than others.
However, when you live in a real estate community, you should find out what the property manager has to say about noise levels. You don’t want to deal with noise complaints or a fine when you’re meant to be celebrating your special occasion. Find out about when you can have your music playing. And whether there are any restrictions before the day of your party. But don’t have your volume loud enough to cause any issues. Instead of cranking up your speakers, keep the volume balanced enough and spread the noise equally across your yard by making your speakers face toward your house. Nowadays, you don’t need to hire a sound system to have great music at your celebration. You can go cordless with a wireless speaker. All that you have to do is to plug and play your phone and the rest should be a night of endless and fun music.
10. Have Fun
Now that you’ve gone through your checklist of how to throw a big party on a budget, you shouldn’t forget the most important rule for the day. That is to have fun. Most people end up focusing too much on what can go wrong and forget to focus on the events of the day. You should make sure that you get enough sleep the night before and to be present throughout the day. You don’t want to be exhausted and worrying about a lot of things when your guests are there to celebrate with you. To ensure that you have your fun, you should plan your party in advance to avoid any unexpected issues. Visit your garden centers and any other place weeks before your party.
In summary, the best kind of party that you can have is one that is effortless in every way. Not only is it conveniently located in your backyard, but it also uses minimal resources to pull off. But to make this kind of party a success, you should know how to throw a big party on a budget. This means that you cut out your ideas for serving different Italian dishes and opt for a more easy pizza and BBQ type of menu.
The great news is that your party planning doesn’t have to be expensive nor daunting. You should have most of the things to make your decor interesting in the comfort of your home. Using this guide that’s full of easy ideas to make your planning effortless should help you to make the most of your ideas. Most importantly, it should ensure that you throw a party on a budget that should be remembered by everyone who attends.