How to Plan a Party on a Budget: My Tips on MyMoneyMondays

Every Monday on #MiddayExpress, I talk about something that involves money -- making money, saving money, spending money wisely, investing money -- it's called MyMoneyMondays and it is from 11am till 12 noon.

Today, I shared my tips on how to have a party without breaking the bank...it was inspired by Lyrics and how he mentioned that his birthday party put a hole in his wallet. lol.

Anyway, here are the tips I shared...

Make a budget and STICK to it:
You need to know the amount of money you intend to spend and stick to it. Do not go overboard on some services...stick to your budget and aim to even spend less.

Choose a Theme:
Themed parties are fun plus, the idea behind getting a theme is to create one that makes the party cheaper for you...eg BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle). Imagine if all your friends brought their own bottle of alcohol...do the math...how much money would you be saving?

Choose a Location:
Pick a location for your party. Since you are on a budget, you need a location that comes for free...your house or your friend's house would be awesome. Plus, having the party in a house means you don't have to worry about friends ordering stuff from the waiter that may end up increasing your bill at the club. It's your party in your house...what you serve is what the guests will have...if they don't see a wide array of drinks to choose from, they won't be picky.

Choose a perfect time:
Consider the time you want to have your party...pick a time that is between meals....or just after dinner. That way, you won't have 'hungry lions' to feed at your party.

Make a guest list:
Make a list of the friends you want to invite. Be particular and careful about who you invite. Since you are on a budget, you wanna invite your cool friends who are 'real' with you...you also want to avoid the 'primadonas' and 'fly-fine-brothers' who will come to your party and expect you to serve them in gold rimmed champagne flutes.

Use Digital invites:
Instead of sending out paper invites, text messages or any other invite that is not free, use Facebook, BBM, Twitter, WatsApp...there are too many free methods to send messages and pass information to be spending even N4 on SMS (call me alaroro if you must, but it's true...lol)

Plan fun meals:
Do not go all out cooking serious food...remember, you are tryna have a fun-feel-good time. Plan fun-small chops that you can make yourself. If you plan well enough, you can even have some of these chops made during the party. Think of stuff like barbecue, pop corn, samosa.... imagine having a party where your friends are drinking, having fun AND cooking....

Download free music and put on continuous play:
Not everyone has DJ friends and as far as I know, there is no such thing as a cheap DJ anymore. You may not enjoy a dope music mix but hey, what you need is popular dope music playing back to back. Get all the popular stuff - download online, get from your friends' phones, rip off CDs - put them on your laptop, create a playlist and put them on continuous play.

Plan fun games:

A lot of us adults have forgotten how to have real fun at parties...we just go, hang around, drink, eat, chit chat, form for strangers and that's it. mchew. Kids know how to party. You got a budget and you wanna have a swell party? Then think 'Kid'...include fun games like (the notorious) Devil's Basket or dancing chairs or concentration. trust me, if your party has an added fun element, your guests won't even notice that they did not eat to stupor and they will be talking about the 'silliness' for some time to come.

If you have got your own tips you wanna share, go right ahead and let me have them....now, I say onto you, go forth and party without breaking a bank. muah!