Party On A Budget

I decided to give the Drum Majors of the Renegade Regiment a party to celebrate their accomplishment of making the cut. The first thing I do when I decide to host an event is choose my date and time. Then I choose a backup date and time just in case something happens. I always schedule my parties to last for 2 hours. Now usually my parties last longer and that's ok. Since everyone is going digital nowadays I create my invitations for any event on Canva. Canva offers free templates that can be downloaded or you can print for a small fee. The next thing I do is decide the theme so I can create my invitation around my theme and menu.

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My theme for this party will be Movie Night starring the Drum Majors. Here's my invite I used for my event.

Here are some before pictures, sorry for the night pics. I actually forgot to get some before pics during the day, I hope you get the idea of the space.

Amazon is so awesome when your trying to find items to purchase in bulk for parties. Dollar Tree is also one of my favorite places to shop. You can purchase everything for your event for a $1. Dollar Tree has really stepped up their party section over the years. I purchase everything from serving dishes to napkins to balloons and all for $1 per item. In this post I'll list everything I purchase or made with my Cricut to make this party extra special. Let's decorate!!

To create the movie screen I used a plain plastic table cloths that you can get from Dollar Tree or even Walmart. I used a white table cloth because my movie screen that came with my projector is thin and I wanted to create a thicker white screen so you can't see the shed (as you can see in the pic below). I then took red table cloths to create the curtain look and the black table cloth just to give the look of a actual movie theatre screen. I took some black ribbon I had around the house to use as a tie back for the curtains.

My table cloths you see in the picture below were purchased from Amazon and I use them not just for entertaining but also when I setup for craft shows. A great investment or you can use plastic table cloths. I already had foldable tables around the house that I was able to use. If you don't have any tables you can always borrow maybe from a friend or depending on your budget you can rent tables and chairs fairly cheap at a party rental company. I used a plastic table cloth for my round patio table.

Ok, so let talk decorations I used my Cricut to create my table decoration. I used black card stock and cut out music notes to place on my tables. Of course you can always cut out items like stars to place on table for an added effect. I used two sided tape to secure my music notes to the table. If you don't have a cricut or any type of cutter you can always purchase cutouts from a party store or amazon.

To create the look for my tables and my porch I purchased the following:

• 16" letter balloons (window)

• Red and black latex balloons

• Balloon stand kit (3piece)

• Plastic table cloths

• Red bandana (drape around the balloon stand)

• Balloon garland strips

• Napkins

• Music napkins (amazon)

• Paper plates

• Red carpet photo backdrop (amazon)

This was my first time using garland strips and to be honest I had a different vision that didn't come out but it still looked great. The red carpet is another item that I reused from a previous party. I have a tote that I call my party tote, I several items that I have saved over the years of doing parties, instead of throwing things away I keep some of them to reuse later. Never fail I always get to use something to add that special touch to an event. The red carpet you see I used at my daughter's birthday party when she was 6 years old and now 10 years later I get to use again!! I plan on doing the same with a few of the items I purchased for this party.

Now I get to add all my little special touches to make the theme come to life. I kept my menu super simple as these are teenagers and my experience a lot of times I am throwing away food especially when I do kid events.

My menu:

• Slider hamburgers

• Chips

• Rotel

• Pop

• Desert

The plastic nacho trays I already had from a previous movie night party I hosted for Halloween. At the time I could only find these at Sam's. I have used these for different events when nachos or Rotel was on the menu.

I also setup a concession table with different candies and popcorn they can choose from. You can always purchase the box candies that you find at the movie theatre from Dollar Tree, Walmart or Target for $1 or you can always purchase in bulk at Sam's Club (you'll need membership). Since my event was around Halloween I just purchase a bag of Halloween candy. I found the popcorn bags at Dollar Tree to serve the popcorn in. The small popcorn boxes I also purchased from Dollar Tree. The popcorn you see I purchase from our popcorn store called the Popcorn Popper it was definitely worth it. Also as you see below I had swag bags for them with some keepsakes.

For my front porch I got a 5 balloons blown up with helium and use balloon weights. You can purchase balloon weights for a $1 a piece from Dollar Tree or Walmart. All my balloon weights I've collected over the years and let me tell I am glad I did.

I set up chairs in yard and the last thing I did purchase were a couple of plastic ottomans from 5 and below. I had all my guest strut on the red carpet as I was acting as the paparazzi and I also had each of them take a pic with my backdrop which also can be a party keepsake. For added fun I dressed up and acted as a movie usher. Party was a success!!!

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I hope I was able to give you some great ideas for your next movie night or party with a movie theme. Make sure to follow us on social media @eloncreations for more ideas. Don't forget to subscribe to our blog. Thank you for reading our blog.