10 Epic Ideas For Planning Your Brisbane Bucks Party On A Budget
We get it, times can be tough but you still want to give your best mate the party of his life as he heads into his wedding. To help you, we’ve thrown together a list of things from our own experience that have stretched the budget to where it needs to go. Have a peruse and hopefully this’ll spark some ideas of your own.
Low Cost Activities
As obvious as this is, let’s explore it a little. There's a way to keep a quality party without blowing out the budget. First, have a look at the things a buck would be interested in, for example is he an indoor or outdoor bloke? If he’s an outdoor guy, why not load up the fourby and head out bush, there’s plenty of private beaches away from civilization or hidden spots up river you can get to and set up. This party can be as simple as a day or two of bush bashing, sitting around the fire sinking tinnies, having a swim, a fish, or a surf, and then heading home. As long as the buck is with his mates and doing what he likes to do, who cares!? Similarly, why not look at a house party- cost effective and local. Of course, we recommend not using the buck’s house, this is all about getting him out of the house to enjoy and relax a bit after all. But if your buck enjoys a backyard barbie with a dunk in the pool then go for it, what an excellent way to whittle away the day. He may even enjoy a gaming sesh at your place followed by a nice dinner, then gaming into the early hours of the morning with all the snacks and drinks you can muster.
People
Numbers can play a key part in your budget, and sometimes you’ve just got to invite more of them to share the budgetary load. A lot of places and companies will charge a per-head price, often one that’ll decrease the more people it can be spread out on. Take advantage of this if you’re looking to have a large gathering where everyone’s invited, go the extra length and invite those work colleagues, or allow plus ones. Bolstering those numbers can not only get you a nicer bang for your buck, but also allows you to return this bang to the people coming.
Remember you don’t have to go it alone when it comes to costs. Get the lads involved, many hands make light work after all! Whether they’re scouting out places themselves or Tony’s bringing two bottles, Fred’s bringing three, Hamish is on meat, and declan is bringing those party poppers that would scare the crap out of your nan if she could hear them (she’s turned down her hearing aids because your grandfather is waffling on about the bowls club to the third person today). Spreading this cost even just amongst your friends can improve your resources and logistics for you to reapply in another area.
Think Local
As simple as it gets. Cut off travel times, fuel costs, and maybe even accommodation costs by keeping it close to home. There’s heaps of ways you can make staying local exciting, and fun, whether that’s local activities, your favourite watering hole, or camping ground, sometimes the familiar comforts of home are exactly what the buck wants after long months of wedding planning.
Packaged Deals
If you do end up booking a venue or something similar, have a look and see what they’ve got for package options. If you want an open bar, maybe they can throw one in for a good deal, or maybe enough food to feed 30 people. There’s usually a few mix and match options here, and sometimes you may want to splurge a little if it’ll stretch the quality with only a little stretch of the budget.
Fundraising
This one’s a cheat because it’s about increasing your budget rather than sticking to it, but we hope it’ll at least be food for thought. If you’ve got a lot of people coming, extended family and the like, rather than asking them to directly donate, why not put together a hamper or meat platter as a raffle? It doesn’t need to be elaborate, let people know in advance, pop a raffle ticket box at the door, buy a JBHIFI gift card, and you’re in business! Ultimately you’ll be asking for your friends and family to throw a few coins your way, but every little bit counts, and if they’re there, well they probably like you enough to do it hey?
Companies
We mentioned companies before, and we’ll chat a bit more about it now. Here we mean events planner companies, ones that’ll put together the whole package and nothing but the package. With plenty of tricks and connections in the trade, these companies can often make your logistics easier and save you time. Additionally they can often get you into activities and venues last minute, and provide more bang for your buck. Of course they make their percentage, but often it can work out cheaper than you booking each individual thing yourself. If you’ve got the time, feel free to shop around and suss out package prices and even customer service.
Off Peak
Following on from setting a date, it may be worth looking at off-peak season activities. Depending on what you want to do, maybe you CAN do it on a day absolutely bucketing with rain, or even when it’s a little cold. Places like Brisbane, which traditionally are always sunny, means if you can tolerate the odd bit of humidity, you can have great weather all year around. Keep an eye out for this, but remember to plan in advance to keep your options open.
BYO
A huge factor in both cost and bucks parties tends to be alcohol, with some bars charging an exuberant amount of cash for the most basic drinks. Not only can this blow out your budget like a fish out of a cannon, but it can also make you and your guests feel miserable the next day as their credit card is screaming for repayment. Best way we’ve found to get around this, is a little temple called Dan Murphy’s (no commission here), that we like to go to. Of course you can choose your own bottlo or other alcohol outlet, maybe even online, but either way, if the venue allows BYO, it’s a good opportunity to save costs. BYO also doesn’t mean that one person brings it all, each guest can bring their own, not only is it cheaper, but you know what you like to drink and how you like to drink it, so play into it!
Venue
Often the one biggest cost is the hiring of a venue. Some places, depending on the time of year, how far ahead you book it, etc, can charge incredible rates, maybe more if they know you’re a bachelor party, given how some turn out. Eliminating or reducing this cost is key, and can be as simple as paying cash or having a houseparty instead. Don’t think that just because it’s a special occasion you have to go to the most expensive yacht club you can find, after all it’s about the people not the place.
We hope this has been food for thought. At the end of the day there’ll be very few things you can get for free, so accept that you will be spending at least some money. We recommend looking at what’s important to the buck, if it’s a lavish meal, fancy hotel room, or just quality time with the boys. Start from there, and tailor to the buck, working out your priorities beforehand. Goodluck, soldier!
