Planning A Budget For Your Event

Planning an event can be hard and a lot of times you might not know where to start. This article gives you some things to think about when planning your company picnic, social event or private party.

An Event Budget Will Help You:

• Monitor your costs and show you what you can and can’t afford.
• Make your decisions more focused on what you really want vs things that might just be nice to have.
• Once you know where you really need to spend money, it will help highlight areas where you can save money.
• If you aren’t needing to have a ROI or measuring the ROI in happy employees, then you don’t have to work so hard to stay so close to your budget but rather getting the most bang for your buck.

What Do You Want Your Event To Do?

The first step before you even look at numbers is determining what you want to do. What is your goal for throwing the event? If you are planning a company picnic, then your goal might be to entertain and provide free food as a thank you. If your planning a charity gala, then your goal is to maximize your profit after expenses (if any).

How Many People Might Attend?

This is a big factor in determining your budget. You need to look and see how many people might attend your event? Is it a family event for your employees? How many of your employees are married with kids? How many of them are single? Have you done an employee event before; if so, how many people came?

How Much Money Do You Have or Will You Have?

After you figure out what your objectives are, you will need to figure out how much money will you have. If you are a single company putting on a company picnic, you might have a set budget. If you’re a charity you might look at how many people you can get to come to your gala, how much your sponsors will pay and how much food and drink sales might bring, if applicable.

What are your costs?

Look at the things that aren’t going to change. These are any costs such as DJ’s, Audio Visual, etc. After you figure that out, then you should look at your “variable costs.” These are costs such as catering, place settings and chairs, if your renting furniture.

These are just a few of the things you should look at if you are planning an event. If you would like a more comprehensive article, then check out our friends over at the Event Manager Blog!

If you are looking for interactive entertainment, audio visual, uplighting or just plain help with planning your next event, then give one of our event specialists a call today! You can also fill out a CONTACT US form and someone will be in touch!