Parties… what’s the year-end without one? These gatherings have become part and parcel of New Year traditions across many nations and cultures, that to end your year without one is akin to leaving something important behind as you march on into the new year.
If you’ve landed the duty of hosting a party, the onus is on you to ensure that your guests enjoy meaningful time. In times of inflation, hosting a party may be more of a burden than an honour. When you consider the cost of venue rental, providing food, beverage and entertainment, and small token gifts, a huge bill seems inevitable.
Fortunately, contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a lot of money or resources to get your party grooving.
Getting a suitable venue
When hosting an intimate gathering of close friends and family, someone’s house should do. However, if you’re expecting a large group of people over, never underestimate the constraints of a small venue. It is advisable to hire a large venue, or the lack of space and activities will bring your party to a premature end.
One of the best ways to save money is to rope in some co-hosts. Get close friends and family involved and have everyone contribute to covering overhead costs. This is particularly effective for large extended family reunions, where you can ask each family pitch in to rent larger and more expensive venues.
If necessary, offer incentives like priority to choose items for the programme or the right to design game forfeits. Don’t forget to ensure that arrangements on how the resources are split are amicably agreed upon before the party. If some people fail to keep up the end of their bargain, you may have to bear unforeseen expenses.
If time is on your side, take some time to shop around for a good venue. Search online or ask around for more choices. Consider public facilities as these are usually more affordable, such as void decks, beaches, parks and community centres. Many of these places require a permit and fees to host large gatherings of people, so do remember to do the relevant paper work in advance. If you intend to party late into the night, bear in mind that public facilities tend to be closed off earlier in view of public interest.
Feeding the guests
Food and beverage rank among the costliest aspects of a party, more so if alcoholic drinks are expected. You can organise a potluck where everyone brings a dish, and the generous alcohol lovers can bring their bottles. To ensure variety, ask your guests to inform you about the food they will bring. Better yet, make up a list of preferred items items, allowing early birds to get first dips on what they would like to bring. Don’t forget to cater to special requirements from your guests, such as providing vegetarian and halal food.
If you prefer to do it yourself, think simple. Go with finger foods like sandwiches, chicken wings, nuggets, sausages etc. Supermarkets these days stock a wide variety of tasty finger foods that require minimal preparations. Large bottles of soft drinks and fruit drinks are also comparatively cheaper than packet drinks.
Do have disposable cutlery and napkins, which you can buy in bulk for cheap from stores specialising in party supplies.
Fun and cheap activities for the masses
Movie marathons on the telly, console gaming, board games and card games are all-time favourites at indoor parties. For more interactive games that will accommodate larger groups of people, get inspiration from game shows, especially those from Taiwan, Japan and Korea which are popular for their wacky and comedic games, usually requiring no or minimal props. For outdoor parties, a beach ball will suffice to inspire lots of sporting activities. Youtube is a great resource for some of the newest and trendiest games around.
Souvenirs
Door gifts may not be a custom followed by all, but if you’re hoping to let your guests bring home a little something for fond memories, this can be a pricey expense.
Instead of purchasing gifts, you can get your guests together for a craft making session, which doubles as a meaningful activity where they can make a memento for themselves.
If you have a good camera, what better gift can you offer than to capture their best moments? Take photos or videos of your guests and send the visuals to them, putting a smile on their face as the recollections return. For those with Polaroid cameras or photo printer, you can even print the photos on the spot for your guests to take home.
Decorations
Decorations, albeit fun to have, are aimed at delighting children for the most part and can be done away with, considering that they are often the most time-consuming part of organising a party.
If decorations are important to you, you can get them for cheap at various party supply stores in Singapore, where you will also find other essential supplies like cutlery and game equipment. Bugis, Middle Road, Tekka Mall and Rochor Centre are some examples of places specialising in wholesale party ware. Daiso, where most items are $2, has a nice selection of party supplies and even household wares for decorating confectionery products.
Anyone can have fun hosting a successful and affordable party. You just have to use exercise imagination, work within your means, and be willing to accept help from others.
– This article first appeared in a lifestyle magazine as a New Year’s Day special
