While everybody is congratulating your best mates for finally sealing the deal and choosing his forever partner everybody is busy hi-fiving the groom, they seem to forget the massive responsibility that now falls on the groom’s best friend. Yes, he gets to be the right-hand man, write the big speech and sit next to him on the bridal table but most importantly, he gets to organize an epic bucks party to celebrate the groom’s last days of freedom. We’ve seen a lot of Hollywood movies to know how wrong these things can go, besides at the scale that they are presented why is no one talking about what these things cost? Besides, who pays for these shindigs?
If everyone has to pitch in, the party planner needs to have a budget. Paying for it can be a collective thing or up to one person. Either way, you need to stay within budget, remember that there is still tomorrow.
To help kick start your buck’s party planning, we’ve put together our top tips to help you pull off the event of your dreams on a limited budget.
Set the date early
Set the date early? Deciding on the date and time will give you enough time to plan an epic celebration with bucks party girls, it will also help save some money too.
When people have enough notice, they can plan around the event and commit. The best way that your guest can commit is by getting to pay a deposit. Make sure they have a deadline for giving you a deposit. When someone has already paid money for something and they know they can’t get it back, they are less likely to pull out without giving enough notice. Make sure that they know that the deposit is non-refundable because it will already have been used to pay for venues, etc. Many event planners and places that cater to bucks parties often reward you for paying early by giving you a discount.
Who do you really want to attend?
Don’t invite everyone and their aunt. Your friend’s cousin might love an invite but are they in good terms? Inviting people that no one knows, or vibes with can ruin things for everyone besides, you are just racking up the bill unnecessarily. It’s important to have a good crew that will keep the vibe high. Besides, sometimes the best parties are the ones you have with close friends and family, everybody else is just there to eat and drink.
The best way to work out who to include on the invite list is to think about the event as a celebration of the soon-to-be groom’s relationship. Think about the people that have played a pivotal role in his life up until this point or are actively involved with the couple. Having bucks party girls may be a treat for you as it is for the groom-to-be. While you might want to handle the organizing on your own, this is one stage of the planning process where you might want to get your mate to weigh in. You might find out that he really prefers to have close friends only, not everyone he’s known since he was 7.
Stay local
You might have dreamt of Vegas or some other exotic island, but destination bucks parties are more expensive. You have to pay for travel and accommodation – and travel isn’t that cheap, accommodation and navigating a foreign land can turn out to be more expensive that it would have you simply kept everything local.
Get help from the groomsmen
The title of being the best man, is nice. It means that someone trusts you a lot. Don’t try to do everything on your own. Remember, the bucks party is an important event but it isn’t the only thing you will have to do, there are other important things you need to take care of. Ask for help. Delegate and try to lessen your own work load.
Having all the groomsmen help also means you can tap into everyone’s connections for venues, catering, entertainment, and other providers, which can lead to some great mates-rates deals. After all, it’s all about who you know, not what you know.
Focus on the big picture
Before you get carried away, create a budget early on. Record everything you spend money on and look for those small things to help keep costs down like making it a Bring-your-own alcohol event to reduce that specific expense.