Confetto, cake and balloons - parties are just not as simple anymore. People are splashing out huge stacks of bills on celebrating birthdays and even New Year’s Eve. Statistics reveal that Aussie parents spend $270 on average on throwing their kids’ birthday parties. But do such celebratory get-togethers have to be so expensive for being fun?
Honestly, I don’t think so. This is why I didn’t spend more than $100 on the New Year’s party that I threw earlier this year. With my husband, Mike, having had lost his job recently and adjusting to the changes of working from home as a freelancer, I didn’t have that amount of liberty to spend a massive sum.
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My own pay is minimal as I work as a waitress at a nearby eatery. Mike and I, we work hard to ensure our lifestyle is good enough, but we never stretch our arms further than our sleeves. We are constantly looking for discounts and sales on everyday items
including the party supplies. So spending generously for a New Year party was not an option for us. Instead, we decided to keep it simple.
Wondering how we managed to stay an affordable New Year party? Here’s a look at how we did it:
Venue - keeping it cozy
I’ll tell you exactly what has furthered the craze to spend a lot on NYE parties - it’s social media. There’s a subtle pressure involved when throwing a party, one that demands you to go extravagant because everyone else on Snapchat is.
Last year, someone on my list on Instagram gave out tickets to celebrate at The Luminale Supper Club in Sydney. Do you know how much the ticket per person would have cost? Approx. $1000. Even if you invite a handful of friends, that’s a big number.
Compared to this, I like to keep things simple. Even if I’ve to buy flowers for a friend, I use
Interflora discount code to lower the price.
I threw my part at home. It was pretty cozy and believe me, a memorable night. Our friends all sat in their regular clothes on our sofas and we all sipped on wine while sharing funny stories. It was nice and warm, and an inexpensive New Year party that everyone enjoyed.
Décor - going for a no-theme theme
Another friend of mine decided to throw a party at home but she had a set theme that revolved around being royal. The party looked like it cost a fortune. Since any affordable New Year party cannot sustain a theme, I chose to just the party at home, no theme, just some simple décor.
I wouldn’t say that I even exactly decorated my drawing-room. I just cleaned it well enough and sprayed a room spray thoroughly to ensure that the ambiance was comfortable. We had the fireplace working and spent on balloons that read “welcome 2019.” Fun fact: I had to buy to new chair covers and I even bought those at a
15% off from Just Party Linen with the help of a coupon (I don’t joke around when it comes to money-saving).
I collected vases from other rooms and put those here and there where people could wander. With each vase, I attached a balloon. All the balloons were golden helium ones so that it all matched. So, I only spent on the balloons and some basic party confetti and caps which I got from the dollar store.
Food - sticking to loved basics
As I mentioned, I work even if it’s for just a few hours a day. So, I didn’t have the time to cook elaborate dishes. I just made a few mini burgers with the most basic of ingredients. The recipe was tasty, I found it on YouTube.
Our guest list was limited to close family friends so not a lot of food was needed. We got pretzels, popcorn, and crisps for getting the night started. After that, the main course included pizza. Fortunately, I had a coupon that gave me 25% off on the entire order. Almost $40 of the total $100 was spent here.
As for the drinks, we used one the oldest trick to throwing an inexpensive New Year party and told our guests to bring along their favorite booze. On side, I prepared a cocktail using the
Cocktail Kit coupon code. For the sweet treat at the end, I made pudding and custard at home. Since I’m known for being good in the kitchen, these two were the simplest, least expensive yet pretty delicious desserts that I could think of.
Invites - going digital
As you must have by now understood, we invited only close friends. Apart from two friends from Mike’s previous office, he and I had three close couples join us along with my childhood BFF and her husband.
Since this was an all-adult party, we didn’t have to worry about entertaining children. So in the spirit of throwing an affordable New Year party, we just stuck to sending them e-invites. There are lots of apps for that - we personally made an invite through Befunky and sent it around through WhatsApp.
Both applications are available for free. Many people keep it even simpler. They don’t make a graphic and rather make a group on WhatsApp, Messenger or Skype. They simply send a nicely written message to the group. Easy-peasy.
Crockery - picking what’s available
Lastly, we had to worry about crockery. Now while most prefer to buy disposables so that the crockery at their home doesn’t break, we just went with the crockery in our cabinets. The reason for this is simple - there were no children at the party anyway.
It was a small gathering so we already had enough plates, bowls, and glasses for everyone. Disposables don’t only cost more, but they also cause a lot of mess. With our regular plates and glasses, we just had more washing at our hands.
So, we didn’t say no to the guests when they offered to help toward the end of the party. Together, most of the party mess was completely wrapped up by late night. The next morning, there was the regular cleaning left to do and additionally removing the balloons.
So, that’s it. That’s how we managed we throw an awesome party without breaking the bank. The pictures that we clicked that night are proof that everyone had a good time. If there’s one thing I learned from that party, it was that you don’t have to buckle under the pressure and give in.
What’s the point of spending so much on parties that you go into debt? You should be careful about your expenditure now so as to have a safer future. Do you have any other tips in mind regarding how to throw an affordable New Year party? Let’s talk in the comments.
Published on: March 05, 2020
