Turning 21 is an exciting time in any young person’s life, as you well and truly leave your teenage years behind and start to feel and act like the adult you are to become. However, the 21st party is a controversy all of its own – a battle of power between you, your parents and the conflicting emotions.
You – want a fun party with all of your chic young friends.
Your parents – want to invite all of their old family friends because they’re just so proud of you.
You – want to exert your growing independence and plan the party yourself.
Your parents – want to plan the party to hold onto the last vestige of parental control.
You – want a trendy modern party styled to your personality and taste.
Your parents – want to throw the party on a budget because money is tight.
Planning your 21st party with your parents can be enough to throw in the idea of a party all together, and unfortunately you can’t usually do it without them because they are likely to be funding the party, at least some of it. However, there are a few simple ways you can satisfy the needs of you and your parents and organise a fun 21st party on a budget.
Invitations
Your party will begin with the invitations, not to mention your 21st party invitation will be displayed in the fridges of your friends and family for the months leading up to your party so you want it to represent you. Therefore, start thinking about your styling and party theme as you think about your invitations.
Your invitations will set the mood and the tone, and will tell your guests more about your party than the dress code line. However, you can save money on your invitations without them looking obviously homemade. Start by getting some ideas on how you want your invitations to look, and the theme of your party by researching online. There are a range of websites and invitation template designs available for free, and some which charge a small fee for a subscription which may suit your family if there are other parties in the near future. Some can even organise discounted printing, so find a site that works, or one near you.
You’ll also be able to start thinking about your colour theme, and this is the most important part of your decorations. Party decorations can be expensive, and they are a relatively disposable item at a party. However, if you focus your theme around two or three colours, or use a black and white or silver and gold theme and throw in an accent colour such as plum or lime green, you’ll be able to create a stylish, pulled together look, without having to splash out on expensive specialist coloured items. Plus, you can reuse a lot of the items around your home, or at other parties.
While you’re designing your invitations you can also start thinking about whether you want theme your party, or have a dress up party. You could choose a theme from the year you were born as the early 90s were famous for neon colours and hyper-colour t-shirts for example which could fit with your accent colour, and the year you were born can guide your music choices later on.
Now that you have an invitation and party theme and style, you can think about creating and sending your invitations. If you want to save on printing you can send e-invitations as most of your friends and family will probably check their email more regularly than they check their letter box anyway.
If you do decide to print your invitations look for discounted paper which are the last run of packets in your theme colours, or shades of your theme colours – remember not all of the invitations have to be exactly the same colour. You may also be able to save by buying your paper in bulk if you have other parties coming up, or by asking your newsagent for ways to get the price of your invitation supplies down by putting your order in with another order, or choosing a more affordable but just as stylish alternative.
Venue
You may think that it’s the venue that makes or breaks your 21st birthday party, but it is what you do with your venue that counts. Therefore, to keep your parents happy and save money, plan your 21st party at home – you’ll also save on the cost of a taxi at the end of the night. Or, if you want to feel like you’re celebrating your 21st somewhere other than where you’ve been every day for the last 21 years, then why not as a family member or close friend if you can have your party at their place.
A house party is going to usually be confined to a few rooms and possibly the backyard if the weather is kind. Therefore, to get the place party ready, clear out all of the furniture you don’t need in those rooms, remove the knickknacks and start adding your decorations.
Decorations
When you’re planning a big party at home it can be tempting just to go out and buy paper plates and cups. However, this is just one more cost to add to your expenses, and an unnecessary one too. Use your own crockery, cutlery and glassware for the party, mixing and matching what you have or what you can borrow until you have enough for everyone. Or you could go and buy cheap plates and glasses from a discount department store or Ikea if you are really worried about things getting broken – this way you’re also stocking up for other big events such as Christmas with all of the family, or you could put the items into your glory box for when you move into your own home.
As you look for decorations make sure you stick to your theme, as you’ll be able to get away with buying fewer decorations, because the few items you do have tie together. A chic cocktail party can be simply decorated with a few strings of fairy lights and tea light candles for example.
Food and Drinks
Most 21 year olds will see the drinks as an important part of the fun at their big party, and so will most of your friends. However, providing the booze for a big 21st party can get very expensive very fast, and at the same time, you don’t want to underestimate the amount of alcohol you’ll need. You can start by making a big bowl of punch with your choice of alcohol. The alcohol will go further when it’s mixed with the juices and mixes in the punch and you’ll be able to cater to your tastes.
If you are going to be serving spirits, buy bottles as this will be cheaper than premix and if you get a friend or family member to act as barman you can control how many shots go into each drink. It will also be cheaper for you to buy bottles of soft drinks rather than cans.
Buying in bulk applies to the food you’re going to serve too. If you’re serving only snacks then make sure you buy large packets of chips and dips, and buy fresh fruit and vegetables rather than pre-made fruit salads. You can also splash out a little on the cake as the centrepiece of the party – and a feature in the photos – and then use the cake as dessert rather than serving more sweets.
Music
The music is the final element that will set the tone and mood of your party, and determine whether it is a successful fun night. Therefore, while it might be cool to get a professional DJ to come in with his deck and headphones, if your parents tell you that’s out of the budget, don’t let them just hook up their stereo for the night.
Instead, send your iPod to the rescue of your party music and put together some playlists for the night. You’ll want some popular songs for early on in the party when your grandparents and young cousins are still around, and then you’ll want to really crank up the party after the cake is cut and the speeches are done, and you can make a dance floor in any space available. Or you can return to your party theme to let that guide your music selection, for example, if you’ve chosen the year you were born, then number one hits in that year include ‘Vouge’ by Madonna and ‘Ice, Ice, Baby’ by Vanilla Ice, just to get you started. You can also ask your friends to bring their iPods, or even put together special playlists for the night, so everyone hears something they like, and your friends can dedicate songs to you.
Alban has contributed several articles on parenting and frugal topics. When he is not writing, Alban reviews savings account at Savings Account Finder
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