Budget-friendly Diwali Party Ideas Every Newly Wed Couple Needs
Hosting a Diwali party with a budget to maintain can be a piece of cake with these 11 smart ideas (which we promise aren't dull). All we're aiming at is to turn your party a success by making your couch potato guests forget Netflix and Instagram.
Image Courtesy: Anirban Das
Want to host a Diwali party without being broke? Considering the expenses from decor to drinks and snacks to sweets, there are a number of things to be taken care of. Nevertheless, the best part is that it is challenging for sure but NOT IMPOSSIBLE and certainly NOT BORING!
So if you are big on playing the coolest host without burning a hole in your pocket, read these 11 interesting ideas.
First Thing First - Make a Practical Budget!
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Avoid having a random budget! It is a trap to spend carelessly as you won't have a limit to stop. Divide your expenses into categories and then allot the budget accordingly.
The categories of expense can be - food, decor, drinks and gifts. When you start your hunt for shopping these things, follow the decided budget and strictly refrain from buying anything that falls out of it. It's gonna be a tough but pocket-friendly decision!
Mumma Was Right - the Key is Bulk Shopping
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Nobody can beat middle-class moms when it comes to smart and frugal shopping. Their trick is to buy from the wholesale market and get bulk shopping discounts!
So instead of heedlessly ordering food online or from a retail shop just one day before the party, look for nearby warehouses or wholesale markets. You can get incredible discounts to buy more food ingredients, decors, crockeries, etc. Many stores have special offers going on at this time which you, being the host, of course, should grab at the drop of a hat.
P.S. Planning the party in advance will give you more time to seek such places and discounts.
Go for DIY Dainty Decors
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Don't skip this one if you have always bunked the art & craft class back in school!
When we say DIY decors, we don't mean only complex art and craft to follow. There are tons of super-simple DIY methods on YouTube which will take hardly one minute of yours to create eye-catching stuff which is incredibly low-cost. For example,
- a) Choose your diligently collected seashells from the beach to make exquisite candles/diyas. All you need to do is to fill them with wax and fix a candle wick in the centre to light.
- b) First, crack a good deal with a local street florist by buying flowers in bulk. Second, create some fetching floral hangings for your doors using them. For inspiration, surf google or YouTube.
- c) You can also use your bedroom fairy lights in the living area for one day as your guests would be spending most of their time there.
- d) Start collecting beautiful jars of shakes and mojitos before Diwali. Don't bother to collect the same kind or the same colour, just collect as many as you can. Paint them with pretty hues and sparkle. These will come handy for making stunning candle jars for your Diwali party.
And guess what, your guests are going to gush over these little things for sure!
Keep the Food Simple but the Dressing Stylish
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This doesn't mean your food can just be ordinary in taste. To make your guests go bonkers over the food, just put some extra EFFORTS (not MONEY) on the dressing.
So for example, the panipuri or golgappa fan brigade can relish their favourites with the stuffing of yoghurt fraught with pomegranate. The simple fries can be made in curly-cut or crinkle-cut shapes. The cool dressing will add extra flavour to the party making it special and you won't even have to spend on expensive delicacies.
Serve a beautifully decorated plate of salad with dinner. Garnish your dry soya chaap/manchurian balls/paneer tikka and serve them with a picturesque presentation. Also, avoid splurging on fancy crockeries! Choose paper plates instead to save yourself from some taxing dishwashing and spending extra bucks.
Avoid Paying for Sweets and Prepare Them Instead!
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You would obviously like to welcome your guests with sweets bought from the market. But the truth is this is the only time of the year when they will not be happy to see it (reason being lots of 'mithai ke dibbes' already lying at their home and waiting to be forwarded further).
So prepare homemade desi laddoos for a real Diwali celebration! This will demand extra efforts but will save your bucks when prepared in huge quantity. Your guests are going to jump with joy while you will be receiving a flood of compliments. See… totally worth it!
Dude, Don't Let the Drinks Drink Away Your Budget!
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Look for amazing cocktail recipes online and offer them to your guests as refreshments with snacks. Who cares about the crockery when the drink is lip-smacking? Bingo!
Moreover, preparing soothing cocktails for your guests instead of serving alcoholic drinks can save you a lot of bucks. Avoiding alcohol in Diwali party can severe you from heavy expense as your guests can never have enough of it.
P.S. If your friends are understanding and want to help, you can ask them to drop by with the drink of their choice. This will brush off the drink expense without eliminating alcohol from the party.
Takedown the Host Cap, You Are Also the DJ
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To avoid the extravagant expense, you have to be the in-house DJ for the Diwali party. Make a playlist of popular tracks which you know are your guests' favourites.
Arrange for some cool speakers (you can always borrow them for one day if you don't have them) and hit the play button.
Have You Rechecked the Guest List?
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Your moments of celebrations should be a gathering of people you love and who love you back. So cut the crap of fake politeness and invest your love, care, time and money in people who are there to stay.
What Your Guests Actually Want is Quality and Not Variety
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While your Diwali party certainly demands quality and quantity both when it comes to food and drinks, it certainly doesn't call for variety. So thinking that the more variety you serve your guests the more special it will be is totally not the case.
Bringing forth a lavish variety will shoot up your budget and may even take away your focus from quality. So your menu can even have only 3 varieties of starters and 4 varieties of the main course. Just amp up their dressing and taste, and keep enough of it for everyone.
Money Doesn't Help in Making Memories, a Barrel of Laughs Does!
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That's true! Your guests want to enjoy. So let the banters go around! Set up a series of fun games that the majority of your guests are interested in playing (I know, don't play a Monica please).
Keep sweet little handmade gifts or some glorifying titles for the winners. Try to involve more team games as they are full of teasing and childish competition. After all, it's going to be these moments which your guests will recall years after over all the decor and desserts!
And Here Comes the Biggest Expense to Avoid
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Light some colourful sky lanterns instead with your guests. Looking at them soaring away from your terrace would be a fun activity to do together. It does feel magical!
We hope all these ideas have made your Diwali party-budget planning easier than the Diwali Ki Safai (shivering and sweating with just the thought of it).
If any of you smarty pants have got more knacks to save on this panning budget, please share it with me. Will use it myself to save more bucks!
