The Great ‘how to host a big party on the cheap' Hunt

Ketchi

My wife and I saved a good deal of money on our wedding by, as well as the things mentioned above-

-asking a friend who was a amateur photographer to take the `nice` photos and simply asking everyone else to bring digital camers and upload the best photos to their facebook sites. This worked great as we were able to pick and choose some outstanding photos and many nice `natural` shots.

- Instead of paying for a costly DJ we hired PA equipment for about 90 pounds and hooked up our lap top to it. This worked well as people had great fun choosing the songs to be played.

sloegin

This is how we saved quite a bit on our wedding, 4 years ago: First, make it the kind of informal affair where everyone mucks in. Second, we were lucky to live in a village so could spread out a bit.
Dress colour was determined by my big daughter finding a £50 bridesmaid's dress in a sale. Thjen I got a veil in a second-hand shop, my dress in a sale, and we made the 5-year-old bridesmaid's dress. Booze: we did a booze run to Calais, plus the pub next door set up a couple of barrels in our kitchen.
We were lucky-- we'd moved to a big enough house and garden to squash everybody in. Flowers from a wholesaler, and any guests staying over helped make buttonholes and posies and decorate the church-- which was 200 yards from our front door, so no transport costs. A friend designed the invitations, and we took a photo of our house and church and did the order of service on computer-- complete with jokes... Another friend who used to be a chef put together a buffet in our house, and a local ceilidh band played while we danced in the road leading up to the house. Guests slept in lofts and on mattresses at our house, and next morning my daughter cooked a breakfast for 22!

lady_stardust

I tip I keep hearing is don't tell suppliers it's a wedding because they bump the price up. However I don't know if this is a good idea - if they fail to deliver on the day and you need to complain, you have a lot more clout if you said beforehand it was a wedding. What do other MSE's think of this?

MsChazzer

lady_stardust wrote: »

I tip I keep hearing is don't tell suppliers it's a wedding because they bump the price up. However I don't know if this is a good idea - if they fail to deliver on the day and you need to complain, you have a lot more clout if you said beforehand it was a wedding. What do other MSE's think of this?

They usually weasle it out of you anyway. I tried asking a marquee company and a catering company for quotes without using the wedding word and they instantly want more info on what sort of party it is etc. I've just been honest because I'd probably slip up, the companies we are using aren't charging us more because it's a wedding so we've done well..

Overthetop

MSE_Wendy wrote: »

Whether it's a wedding, engagement, christening, retirement or big birthday bash, it's great to be able to celebrate with all your family and friends in style. But the bigger a party gets, the more the costs can mount up with it ending up costing the earth to put on your perfect party.

So I want to tap MoneySavers’ expertise to find out how you hold big do's on the cheap. Whether it's ways to make your own decorations, party nibbles or home made cocktails, what are the best ways you've found to keep down the costs of your special occasion?

Please post below to share your experiences with other MoneySavers.

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I Like the idea where guests get in on the planning, most are very pleased to help with the food and decor planning, once planned each guest brings what they like from the list. you could also set a theme which helps the planning by keeping it to the theme.
we have a family Christmas gathering like this each year early Decemeber for 40 and it works well of course the theme has not changed over the years lol

terrie1

Hi

We're having a tenth wedding anniversary party and we have decided to do our own food, mainly due to the cheapest buffet being £7.50 a head for a couple of sausage rolls and voluvents! As we have 130 people coming i figured that with places like Iceland and Farmfoods we could save some money doing it ourselves and we have lots of volunteers to help us!
Just need some ideas of what have, thought of cheese boards, crisps etc but have had a mind blank and so any suggestions would be great!
Thanks

Terrie

MummyHol

terrie1 wrote: »

Hi

We're having a tenth wedding anniversary party and we have decided to do our own food, mainly due to the cheapest buffet being £7.50 a head for a couple of sausage rolls and voluvents! As we have 130 people coming i figured that with places like Iceland and Farmfoods we could save some money doing it ourselves and we have lots of volunteers to help us!
Just need some ideas of what have, thought of cheese boards, crisps etc but have had a mind blank and so any suggestions would be great!
Thanks

Terrie

Large salads and cold pasta dishes can be ideal because they're easy to make in large batches & are pretty cheap. We recently did a very small 1st birthday party and our guests (old & young) all loved the samosas and onion bajis we served. Good luck x

freelancemermaid

such a brilliant idea! i LOVE the idea of tons of pizza

MpT_4

Terrie! - you want to go for things that don't need to be cooked on trays in the oven (which many of the Iceland type stuff does) as you won't be able to get it all cooked and kept warm. Even if you don't mind it cold, it's a lot of faff doing tray ful after trayful and having to keep reloading the oven. What about some lovely fresh bread, and then pate, cold meats, cheeses, salads, etc., so there is not so much to prepare - you just kind of 'put it out'!
Alternatively, we went to a party last year where the hosts wanted to celebrate but didn't want prezzies. They knew some people didn't like the idea of arriving empty handed, so asked everyone to 'bring a dish for the buffet' rather than a present. It was a lovely idea, and 1 I'll certainly use in the future :beer:

Tiger_greeneyes

We lived right beside a beach before we moved in March. We made the most of it last year...

We decided to have an impromptu party and invited family over, it was Sunday afternoon and a lovely day. We bought quite a few bags of bread rolls in Asda for 10p each, bottles of lemonade and coke for 17p each. We already had some sausages and burgers in the freezer that needed using up, and asked if everyone else could check their freezers and bring along whatever they had. All we needed were a few paper plates and plastic cups, cutlery from home, a roll of kitchen towels and a couple of bottles of sauce from Asda - 25p each. I pushed the boat out and bought some Smart Price cheese squares for 43p

It was easy enough to put the bbq in the car and we had a fantastic afternoon/evening and it was cheaper than making a Sunday dinner, it cost way less than £5 (not counting what we already had in the freezer) and both adults and kids enjoyed it.

I'm getting married soon and making my own headband/tiara. It's very easy to do, and costing me about £10 - I've seen the same ones on ebay for £65.