Hosting an Event on a Tight Budget

Choosing an event rental company is a great first step to planning and executing your perfect event. Successful event planning is about working within your budget and making the right choices when faced with those hard decisions. Perhaps the most important mindset you can have is to strive to save money wherever you can since each dollar you save can be put toward another event goal.

Define Your Goals and Theme

When hosting an event, you can make things much easier on yourself by defining the core theme for your event and establishing and prioritizing your goals. This way, when you’re faced with a difficult choice, you can answer it by determining which of the items you’re choosing from contribute the least to your message, what you’re trying to achieve for and with your audience and so forth.

Negotiate All Negotiable Fees

Fees will eat away at your budget if left unchecked. Consider hotels, which are often an endless source of fees for event planners: chef, bartender, service, security, loading dock access and so forth. These fees are often negotiable. You should know exactly what you can afford based on your budget. Armed with this information, you can very plainly show what you can afford, and if it’s a reasonable number, it will generally be accepted since the alternative is no profit at all.

Allot for Contingencies

Contingency funds can be as high as 20 percent of the total budget. You’ll want to assign yourself at least 10 percent. That means at the start, you’re working with 90 percent. Only dip into this fund when all the hard choices have been made, resources have been assigned and there’s no money remaining.

Choose Your Swag with Care

Most events tend to give away too much swag or to overvalue the swag-related benefit of brand awareness. That’s not to say swag is in and of itself a bad thing. It’s quite effective when the right choices are made, but those choices should be made within a limited budget rather than showering guests with t-shirts, mugs and a host of items that are easily discarded.