Throwing a party can be an expensive and time consuming process, particularly if you have a lot of friends, a lot of guests you need to invite and cater for, and not a lot of time. Celebrating on a budget doesn’t have to be this sad, sordid and frugal affair, whether you’re rich or poor you can still have a great time, you just have to be a little money-smart about it!
One major part of a good party is the atmosphere and the environment. Not every party is all about the fancy venue, although it does help if you are normally pressed on space. A back garden party is just as fun as and sometimes easier to organise than a party at a pre-booked venue, and once it is over you get to eat the leftover party food! Friends and family can help with organising the buffet, either by buying their own or making some food to bring along to the party. If you host a party in your own home, you can provide easy entertainment with your own sound system or connect a phone up to some speakers and play it through there. All that is left to organise is the decorations.
From getting arts-and-craftsy with your family to checking through local boot sales and bazaars to get the best deals on old decorations, there are lots of ways you can find what you need to create a good party atmosphere. We’ve thought of four great ways in which you can hunt and scrounge for great celebration decorations, without having to break the bank. Why not check them out?
Make/Recycle your Own
Make your own decorations! Have a look around and see if any friends have decorations that are broken or they are not using anymore and see if you can spruce them up a little in preparation for your party. In some cases, what is ‘broken’ is actually ‘run out of batteries’, and a new pair of batteries or a new bulb on some old lights is all you need to get it working fine and dandy again. Paper decorations are also very popular and all you need is a pair of scissors, some coloured strips of paper and glue or cello tape to make fun and colourful decorations easily.
Grab Some in the Sales
If you look in the January sales or in the ‘post-halloween’ sales, or any big event for that matter, there will be all manner of strange decorations available on sale for a fraction of the original price. If you time your parties right, or plan ahead and buy them when they are cheap, decorating your big events can be both easy and affordable.
Look Online for Cheap Decorations
Online is the new ‘bargain hunt’. With giant online retailers selling cheap decorations and pre-owned decorations, you can normally find decent party decorations in a range of styles, colours and sizes for discounted prices with a little searching. Some larger companies may also sell ‘reject’ selections, selections that are not ‘fit’ for normal sale. These selections are slightly irregular or disfigured and don’t fit the company standard, but are still perfectly usable as decorations. Due to high company standards and quality testing, some normally ‘perfect’ decorations can be sold off at a severe discount due to this, and this really helps out those that struggle to make ends meet when it comes to events such as birthday parties.
Charity Shop Decorations
There are all sort of treasures you can find in charity shops. By entering with an open mind and looking around, you might see a few rare finds, or see some old jewellery that can even be re-purposed to look like party decorations with a little tweaking. Charity shops are a great source of inspiration for creative types, so make sure to hit up your local charity shops and see what you can come up with. You might surprise yourself.
While you won’t be able to find everything you need for cheap, with the newfound power of the internet and by hunting through charity shops, you should have a fairly good resource for a wide range of different decorations that you can use. If you are creative, you can even make one set of decorations useful for more than one themed event! At the end of the day, a party is just a gathering that is meant to be a bit of fun to celebrate a birthday or other special event. If you happen to have love heart sparkling fairy lights that were meant for Valentine’s Day at a birthday celebration, well that just makes your party that bit more individual. Have fun and good luck.
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