4 Tricks for a Budget Friendly Party

Everyone loves throwing an amazing party, but no one loves spending a ton of money doing it. The easiest way so save money is DIY some decor and food instead of outsourcing everything. The great thing about DIY decor is you can do it well before the week of the party and start checking some things off of your to-do list!

DIY Party Garland

Balloon and paper backdrops seem like something you need a professional to do, but it’s actually very easy to do on your own a day or two before your party. You can buy DIY Balloon Garland Kids from Amazon that are $15-$20 instead of hundreds of dollars from a professional. The kits come with special strips that you put each balloon through to take the guesswork out of placement. The trick for extra fancy balloon garlands is to vary the size of balloons as you blow them up and place them as closely together as possible. Purchasing a Balloon Pump has been totally worth it for me and makes blowing up all the balloons so much easier and faster. Once you have made your balloon arch you can hang it along any ceiling using command hooks. Pro tip: make sure to leave extra strip at the beginning and end of the balloon garland for easy hanging!

If ballooons aren’t your thing, paper garlands, fans, and honeycombs make a statement and are reuseable! To create a garland with paper fans and honeycombs you simply open each one and secure the shape together with a paper clip (so you can store and reuse them easily later!) and then use the string on each ball or fan to tie onto each hole in a balloon strips or twine. Don’t worry if the placement isn’t perfect because you can adjust the fans and balls after hanging. Just like with balloons, the trick to a beautiful arch is having lots of sizes and squeezing as many as you can onto the string or strip!

For some extra wow, attach paper streamers to your balloon or paper garland to add dimension and create a backdrop look! You can attach the paper streamers using double stick tape to stick the streamers to the balloons or ballon strip.

Now, when you get compliments on your adorable garland you can brag you did it yourself!!

Simplify Party Favors

Adorable favors add such a thoughtful touch to any adult or kids party! We mostly think of favor bags as something for a kids birthday party, but think about how fun it would be to take a little goodie home from an adults dinner party! Putting together your own favors is a great way to save money without sacrificing any wow at your party.

One of our favorite tricks for putting together ultra-cheap (but memorable!) favors is to have one quality take-away instead of trying to fill up a favor bag with multiple items! This prevents guests from going home with junk they don’t want (guilty!), ends up being cheaper all in, and can double as party decor.

We love these favors for kids:

• sunglasses

• playdoh

• shaped crayons

• mini pots with seeds to plan (so cute as decor for a sproing party!)

• pool bucket/toys

• themed cup or water bottles (Gatorade bottles for a sports party!)

• whoopie cushions or slinkys

• ribbon wands

We love these favors for adults:

• mini olive oil bottles

• mini champagne bottles

• mini flower arrangements

• local sweets (cookies, donut holes, pastries)

• matches

• mini jarred loose leaf tea

• depuffing eye masks

• seasonal items (mini pumpkins, ornaments, succulents, sparklers)

To double as decor, simply tie a cute favor tag on each favor with pretty ribbon and leave on display on a table!

Create a Party Box

One of the hardest things about staying on a party budget is finding what you need when you need it. Creating a party box is a simple trick for grabbing on-theme items when you see them super cheap. So what is a party box?! A party box is any box or bin that you collect themed party items in throughout the year. For example, I know I’m going to host a 4th of July party this summer I would grab any party items like cups, plates, napkins, and decor that I see and love that are on sale throughout the year and store the items in this box so they’re easy to find when it’s time to party prep. This strategy allows you to find adorable party items without paying the premium you’ll see when the party theme is “in-season”. Then, once the party is over you can store the items back in your party box for future use or to sell!

Create Your Own Invitations and Signs on Canva

We are Canva loyalists over here at MOAT. Not only does Canva have a free account option, it makes making your own party invitations and signs so easy using their templates. Simply open Canva on your computer browser and search for the party item you would like to make (invitation, sign, tag, sticker, etc.), that item, then search the templates for your theme to customize for your party. You can customize all the wording and graphics, then print at home, professionally, or straight through Canva!

Looking for some help party planning? Our party planning services will take care of the legwork for you so you can ENJOY!