You don't have to pay a fortune to decorate a room or a banquet hall for a wedding, Sweet Sixteen or other formal parties. We're tracking down pretty, but affordable floral arrangements for my son's Bar Mitzvah party. Here are some of our options:- Wholesale flowers: If you're buying large quantities, it's possible to purchase flowers directly from the wholesalers. Many areas have floral districts where the prices are at a steep discount.
- Home Depot: Small containers of pretty flowers and plants are available for $1 a container and sometimes less in the garden section of Home Depot. Purchase plants that have been marked down and build decorative arrangements around those flowers. For one formal party, we purchased trays and trays of flowers and then arranged the plants in pretty containers and tissue paper. When the party was over, we encouraged our guests to take the flower pots home and use the plants in their own gardens. We planted the leftovers in our balcony garden.
- Nurseries: Assorted plants and exotic flowers are also available at cheap prices. What's more, it helps to ask for plants that are about to be discarded or marked down.
- Call event planners and caterers: Ask about weddings and other formal parties that will be held shortly before your party. Offer to buy either all or a portion of those floral arrangements. After a wedding or other formal party, the flowers are either tossed, donated to charity or given away.
- Pick the right location/right time: If you're planning a wedding during a holiday season, the hall/party room may already be decorated with festive touches. And some settings --a botanical garden, for example -- require fewer decorative touches.
Here are a few related posts:
Tips for Thrifty Weddings & Honeymoons
Big Party; Small Budget: A Frugal Event Planning Guide: Pt. 1
Mutiny: Rebellion Against Used Party Clothes: Frugal Event Planning Guide Pt.2
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