As the school year comes to an end, high school and college students prepare for one last and final milestone; graduation! Graduation parties can get pricey, but not celebrating likely isn’t an option. Graduating is one of the biggest milestones of your life and you deserve to revel your achievement and be surrounded by friends and family.
There’s a lot that goes into a graduation party, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming nor expensive. Check out these 7 budget ideas to help you and your graduate plan for this remarkable graduation milestone without breaking the bank.
1. Invite Your Guests Electronically: Sending invites to your guests may get costly, so why not send your invites electronically? Not only will you save money, but you’ll also save on paper and envelope costs just by sending an e-vite. You may also want to consider creating an event on social media and inviting your guests to it. Everyone will know where to find the date, time, location, and any other important information they may need, and they can RSVP in real time. Plus, it’s no cost to do so!
2. Bake Your Own Cake: When it comes to buying a customized bakery cake, what you’re really paying for is the fancy decorations that come with it. There’s a simple way to work around this. You can bake your own cake and buy fondant letters and designs at the grocery store. If you don’t want to bake a cake, go with cupcakes. They’re easier to put icing on and who doesn’t love cupcakes?
3. Food for Decorations: You can buy cookies that look just like rolled-up diplomas if you tie a ribbon around them. Find some thin ribbon in your school’s colors and tie a bow around them to make them look like diplomas. This can help keep your dessert budget low.
4. Celebrate with Your Friends: Consider throwing your graduation party with a group of friends. By doing this, you can split the costs between everyone. You may end up paying half of what it would cost if you were to throw a party just for yourself. And besides, you’ll be with everyone you would have invited anyways.
5. Use Your Home as the Venue: While it can be fun and exciting to host your party elsewhere, such as a restaurant or banquet hall, consider using your own home as the venue. By going this route, you’ll be able to decorate the party the way you want and be able to choose how much money you spend. If for some reason using your own home is not an option, consider the date that you choose for a venue. Typically, a Saturday will be more expensive for a venue than it would be on a Friday or Sunday. Make sure to weigh all the options and consider the costs before you make any final decisions.
6. Get Creative with Food: Although catering food is simple, it can add up in cost. Consider cooking the food yourself and look for inexpensive recipes and ingredients. If you’re stressed for time, think outside of the box and ask your friends or family to help you out and assign them each a food dish to bring, such as small finger foods or appetizers.
7. Keep it Simple: Sometimes having a bunch of extravagant decorations, food, and entertainment isn’t always better, and could be more expensive. Consider making your own decorations and play music through on a Bluetooth speaker as your entertainment. Your guests will enjoy mingling with one another, so don’t be afraid if you don’t have much entertainment at all. Talk to your graduate about the things they really want at their party and give them choices instead of free reign. You don’t have to go overboard to throw a nice and beautiful party, so keep things simple. Simple is the key to saving money!
Whether it’s high school or college, graduation is an important step in life that every graduate should be proud of. At the end of the day, the only thing that should matter, is how you or your graduate is going to remember the day and all the wonderful people that came to congratulate them. You can still have a great celebration and keep things on budget all at the same time.