How To Throw A Fancy Party...On A Budget!
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How To Throw A Fancy Party...On A Budget!
Hello friends. As I continue to post my regular content, please know that nothing is normal for Israel and Jews around the world. Please continue to keep the people of Israel in your prayers.
Hello classic crew! Today totally feels like a Monday to me, so it’s hard to wrap my head around that it’s Tuesday. I threw my birthday party on Sunday night, so I woke up Monday feeling totally disorganized but still so happy with how everything went. The truth is, the real reason I felt so disorganized was because I had the craziest insomnia after the event and slept only about an hour and a half that night. Thank God for my amazing parents who watched Little Man for a few hours so I could sleep in for the first time in about six months! But the rest of the day I was navigating through a sleepy fog…I guess I’m just revving up for life with a newborn again!
On Saturday, we had over our friends for a potluck Sabbath lunch and then convinced everyone to join us in our pool with their kiddos which was a blast. Something I discovered about myself this weekend is just how much I love seeing everyone else enjoying themselves. It makes me so happy! We hosted and had a great time, but seeing my friends relaxing and socializing was what really gave me joy at the end of the day. And that continued on through Sunday, where we started the day with massages and facials for the women in my family!
My sister’s birthday is only three days apart from mine, so I wanted to make sure she felt celebrated, too. She, my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law, and my mother joined me at a spa for about half an hour before we all got our separate treatments. Again, simply seeing everyone relax and chat before getting pampered made me so happy. It was lovely to see the women who work so hard getting a little time for themselves!
And that led into my party on Sunday evening. We had the absolute best time, and I wanted to share with you how I managed to throw a fancy cocktail party on a budget. I love party planning - it’s one of my favorite pastimes - and I love doing it within a budget, so I was determined to have a beautiful event without breaking the bank. So keep reading to find out how I did it and how you can do it too!
Focus on a few key elements. Something I’ve realized about party planning is that focusing on a few key elements is all you need to make the event feel complete. For example, for this party, I focused on the decorations, the food, and the sequence of events. We held the party in my parent’s backyard which is already beautiful, so it didn’t need much help in the way of decorations. I decided to focus on the tablescape, making my own balloon garland, and the lighting. We hung string lights around the fence and I designed the table as the theme and focus of the party so that people could get a vibe as soon as they walked in. But the backyard did most of the work - and that was great! For the food, I had strict budget for how much I was willing to spend and everyone loved it. You can cook the food yourself or pick up some delicious trays at your local grocery store. It doesn’t matter! Just set it up nicely on a few plates and it will look grand. Lastly, I knew that I wanted the first half of the evening to be socializing and the second half to be dancing. With that in mind, I could navigate the flow of the night and make sure we all got to celebrate together in the way that I had planned. If I had decided to focus on decorating the ENTIRE backyard or getting an elaborate meal planned or hiring a bartender…it would have cost a lot more and the effect wouldn’t have been that different at the end of the day!
Find budget finds at Goodwill, Dollar Tree, and Amazon. I love me a budget find. Our local Goodwill happens to have a terrible selection of items, but generally I really recommend checking out your local thrift stores for fabric, vases, and flatware. You can make a really eclectic table setting with all the amazing things you can find at a thrift store! As well, Dollar Tree has a great selection of fake flowers and plastic cutlery, as well as random finds that might just fit your theme. Lastly, Amazon has everything you need in the click of a button, and you can source things that are within your budget for your event. I ordered a few flower garlands, taper candles, and candlesticks for the table which made all the difference for the hosting table and made the event feel perfectly planned. You don’t need to spend a lot to make your party feel fancy.
Create a “Make Your Own Cocktail” Station! This was my own idea for this event, and I’m so glad it all came together! I came up with three cocktail recipes that all required similar ingredients, then printed them out and placed them next to the drinks. Then I set out a couple of cocktail shakers, a jigger, and a bar spoon alongside the ingredients and ice for people to make their own drinks! You can choose less expensive alcohol and mixers and give people just a few options to choose from but that will still make them feel fancy as they get to flex their creative juices. It’s much less expensive to choose a few juices and mixers rather than try and create a whole bar, and it still creates a fancy ambience for your guests.
Create your own photobooth. I attended a friend’s son’s bar mitzvah where they set up their own photobooth and that inspired me to do the same! I love building balloon garlands, so I chose black, gold, and pink for the color scheme and built a beautiful background for the photos. Then I picked up a giant gold 3-0 filled with helium and tied those in the center for good measure. I set up the photobooth was with my own ring light and phone tripod I use for filming videos and reels and voila! The perfect photobooth. You should be able to find an inexpensive ring light and phone tripod on Amazon. My guests loved this element of our party because they got to take home photos from the event and look good, too!
Make your own playlist and use a good speaker. One of the parts of the party that was really important to me was to dance the night away. I didn’t want modern music - I wanted music that I loved, so I chose a playlist spanning the 40’s through the 80’s! Then, I asked our guests to submit two songs they’d like to hear over the course of the evening as well. Once I had the list, I set it up on Spotify, connected it to our speaker, and the evening was complete. I asked everyone to wear cocktail attire and then when the dancing came on, everyone looked and felt their best. It was a perfect night and done for not much money at all!
Let me know if you try hosting a fancy cocktail party yourselves within a budget, and if you have any great tips drop them down below!
I love fancy parties but I haaate party planning lol. My idea of planning a party is "who wants to look nice and go out to dinner?" Because that's as much effort as I want to put into it 😂
I'm so jealous and amazed by anyone who can plan fancy parties/events like that!
Will the bookclub require pre registering again this time? I don't want to miss it like I did the first time, but I don't see anything about it!