If you’ve been given the unenviable task of organising an end-of-year bash for your fellow students, you’ll need to get cracking right away.
Here are 5 crucial planning tips to remember:
1. Choose a versatile venue. Getting the venue booked and paid for should be your very first priority when planning a student ball, but how can you book it if you don’t know how many people are coming and what you want to do? The best option is to choose a versatile venue like a SaddleSpan event tent, which has all the space you need and that can be reconfigured, zoned and customised to fit whatever crazy plans you have in mind. These event tents are perfect for student balls, as there’s loads of space for bars and dance floors and you.
2. Watch out for date clashes. To get the maximum attendance for your ball, you should choose the date carefully. Ensure it doesn’t clash with any other major student events (look closely at end-of-year sports and society party calendars) and then look further afield for local events that students might want to go to. If your dates clash, you might lose a lot of your guests to the other event.
3. Ensure attendance with an irresistible offer. Students are notoriously unreliable at showing up for events (sorry students, but it’s true) so you need a way of ensuring that most will turn up on the night. You can make them register or buy tickets, so you can book the right sized event tent or other venue, but you can also offer a free drink, free entry or free food as an incentive to make your guests actually show up.
4. Pick a theme, but don’t go overboard. Having a theme of some sort can make planning easier, as you can make decisions about the smaller things based on your main theme. It also helps to give your event some purpose, to make it stand out from other student-focused events and to give your guests an idea of what to expect (i.e. what to wear). However, make sure you don’t go overboard – there’s nothing tackier than an ‘over-themed’ event.
5. Be smart with your budget. You might have all sorts of wild and crazy plans for decorations and entertainment, but you probably don’t have the budget to match. It’s a bit boring, but you really do need to nail down the essentials before spending money indulging your creative side. Ensure you have a venue, food and drink, as well as some entertainment – and then think about the rest. It’s a good idea to have a priority list for your budget, so you can work down it and see what you have left to play with once the basics are sorted. You could also look into ways to stretch your budget – for example, using lighting to decorate your event tent rather than getting lots of banners and decals printed; this can look amazing and it’s a fraction of the money and effort of traditional decorations.
Good luck, party planners!
