There is now a seemingly endless knowledge-base online for saving money on running events. The types of tips and hints one can find range vastly. Some encourage strategic venue-planning – choosing cheaper locations at times that aren’t the typical hotspots of the week (i.e. avoid Fridays and Saturdays) and dimming the lights to hide the foibles of the building chosen to house the guests. Others offer advice on how to use social media to publicize the event rather than formal mail invitations, or DIY tips on making your own decorations out of cheap materials. In any case, there are a number of ways in which party-planners can stretch their event budget in 2018.
Summer is coming, barbecues are warming up, and for everyone out there planning to host their next party of the season, there’s a new way to rent party equipment that could cut your hosting costs dramatically.
Do dream parties need nightmare budgets?
Every awesome party that you’ve ever been to has had a great plan behind it. It’s true that the best parties are the organic ones, where good times are spontaneous and the stories epic. But setting up the stage to encourage spontaneity requires carefully overcoming a million conditions, contingencies and ‘what-ifs’ before a host can feel safe in the knowledge that they have every eventuality sorted.
To that end, the biggest foe of the party planner is always the budget – parties are mega costly for a single night of fun and how hard the spending was thought out can really make or break the night. Costs can range from food and drink to venue hire to hired talent like servers and DJs Experienced party-planners will also know that a large part of expenses will always end up going on equipment hire. You need a maze of equipment to truly pull off a great event, including speakers, lighting, marquees and more.
Usually, the options for rental are limited, and rental services can name their price for hiring their kit. In 2018, equipment costs alone can stretch well over $1,000 for a well-kitted party hosting just a hundred guests – more guests than that can make even the most seasoned host’s wallets a little queasy.
There’s now a way you can cut those costs without lowering your production standards, and the solution is to borrow straight from your neighbors.
A Party Powered by the Sharing Economy
You may be thinking you’d like to see an example in action of how this could save you money in hosting your next party, and we’d be much obliged.
For this, we planned out an imaginary, but a nonetheless amazing, 30th birthday party for 100 guests in an ordinary house with a large-ish garden. The proposed event needed a large marquee in the garden that set up with a stage, first-rate PA system, DJ equipment, and lighting, and, of course, a karaoke machine – yes, we know how to party!
Marquee
Standard: $290 – $400
Shared : $80 – $100
Standard hire for a marquee could not be found much cheaper than $290, with standard prices for ones to fit 100 people comfortably ranged past $400.
By borrowing from your neighbors, they were going for between $80 and $100, with the larger ones stretching to $200.
Stage
Standard: $120
Shared: $92
Standard rental for a four-unit 4x2m stage came in at around $120.
From a user on Fat Lama, a modular 4*4 stage (double the size) came to roughly $92.
PA System, Lighting and DJ Kit
Standard: $560
Shared: $165
We found that a standard DJ Kit with two 1000w speakers, mixer and a DJ monitor and turntable came to about $335. As well as that, a lighting kit with a smoke machine came to $225.
One user online, however, was listing a Party Pack that included a speaker system and lighting for $120p/day. Add a smoke machine for $15 and a professional electric DJ turntable for $30, lighting and sound came to a neat $165.
Karaoke Set
Standard: $180
Shared: $42.30
Standard pricing for the all-important Karaoke set came in at around $180, whereas one local neighbor had one online for only $42.30.
Total
Standard: $1,260
Shared: $399.30
To sum, for the one day, the figure borrowing from our neighbors ended up being around $800 cheaper than with ordinary services!
Borrow in style in 2018
And this was for a simple 100 person party with fairly modest entertainment. Scale it up to big events such as weddings and so on and think of the savings you could make powering your parties through the sharing economy, it would be well into the thousands.
So if you’re looking to save big money when hosting your next party while getting the equipment that will make it truly unforgettable, check out what your costs you can cut by borrowing from your next door neighbor.
Author: Alexander Delic
