Engagement parties are typically more casual than a wedding shower or reception. Guest prefer a laid back atmosphere where they can celebrate with the happy couple. The engagement party does not have to be an expensive event and really shouldn’t be. An engagement party can be thrown for relatively cheap which is really the way to go so that you can spend your money on the main event later on. There are many ways to throw a party on a small budget.
First things first, you need a location before you can send out invites or really plan your party. Having your party at your home or a friends’ home is an intimate way of celebrating with your friends and family. Other places that may be free or relatively cheap to rent would be parks and pavilions, community rooms, legions, and bars with a backroom or beer garden. There are benefits to each location. Parks and pavilions are nice because they are usually next to nothing to rent or they are free. You could hold a barbeque or bring in your own food and drinks and not have to pay for catering. However, some parks will not allow alcohol so if that was part of your plan you may want to make sure its ok. The nice thing about your home is that you could hold it indoors and outdoors so if the weather is not cooperating then you could always plan to move the party inside. Other venues like legions and bars are nice because they typically allow you to bring in your own food if they do not sell food themselves. And you have access to a large variety of alcohol that your guests could choose from. If your guests feel like drinking then you could have a cash bar set up and after the party is scheduled to be over the guests could always move into the main bar if they want an after party.
The next thing you should decide is when you want to have your party. If you want to save money on food try to schedule your party between meal times and then serve finger foods, snacks or appetizers. Or you could opt for a party that is held in the evening after dinner hours and serve cake and champagne or a variety of desserts and sweets. Cake is probably the cheapest dessert to serve a large number of guests. You do not necessarily need to go overly fancy here. A large sheet cake or two would probably do the trick. You could save at least half the cost of professional cakes if you made them yourself or ask the baker in the family to make them. Try to plan ahead and watch for sales on foods that you will need for your party. Also check out bulk warehouse stores like Sam’s Club, it could really save you a lot of money.
Serving beer and wine is typically the cheapest alcohol you can serve. Although there are some cheap champagnes you could buy as well but if you really want to save money go for a spumante in place of the champagne. Spumante is a sparkling wine that is a lot like champagne and is a lot cheaper. If you or some of your friends are not a beer and wine drinker, consider having one signature drink that your guests could opt to have. This will give your guests more of a choice and keep your liquor bill down.
Now that you know the basic what, when and where you can start inviting. Don’t spend a bunch of money here. Go cheap. These invites do not need to be fancy, save fancy and the fancy cost for the wedding invites. You can use plain white computer paper and print your own invites using fancy fonts and clipart. You can mail them in regular business sized white envelopes. There are usually wedding themed stamps that you can buy that will dress up the front a little. You could also print the addresses on the envelopes with a printer if you want. You could also do what we all seem to do best and let the electronics do the talking by sending out texts, tweets and Facebook invites. This would probably be the fastest and most economical way to send invites.
Don’t spend any money on a band or a DJ. If you happen to have a friend that’s in a band and would like to play at your party or even a friend that would DJ for free then of course go for it. But playing your own music would be just as great. Plug in your Ipod or just turn on your favorite radio station.
You could plan some games if you like for entertainment. If it’s an adult party you could do adult bored games, video games targeted toward multiple players like dancing games or karaoke games, karaoke, play cards or even drinking games. If there are children at the party you could do some fun family oriented games like sack races, horseshoes, wiffle ball game, etc. Or you could have separate games for the kiddies like hulla-hoop and jump rope contests.
Ask a friend to be the designated photographer of the party and don’t spend a lot on decorations. Balloons are cheap so utilize them in your space. White and silver or grey balloons are typical wedding style but if you have your wedding colors picked out already go ahead and use them if the colors you want don’t cost more. For a cheap centerpiece on your tables, frame photos of the happy couple. It will be something fun for the guests to look at and will help the guests mingle around looking at the different photos and meeting different people at other tables.
