Hi everyone I need some help. We are having our daughters christened in August. We have an invite list of roughly 100 people (my husband will not budge on this), and we need ideas where we can have an after party wtih out completely breaking the bank. We realize it won't be cheap, but I want to keep the cost down as much as possible. We were thinking of a cook out at a local state park but all the pavillions are rented for that day. We don't want to ask the church to change the day because they already made an exception for us to have it that day. If the full guest list were to come we can not have it at anyone's home because I don't know anyone who's home could comfortably handle that many people. So basically I guess we have the options of halls, VFWs and that sort of thing. If anyone can provide any information as to the names of places or how much I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks again Moms!
Hi Janelle, Does the church have a basement you can use for the party? A lot of church's will let you use theirs and you can cater in the food, etc...
Have you considered schools? School will be closed in August, and perhaps you could rent out a gymnasium nearby?
Have you looked into using the church fellowship hall? As for the cost--instead of gifts, could you have people bring a pot luck dish to share? It would make it fun and eclectic and people love being complimented on what they bring. (Tell them to make something for 3-4 people. You could provide the beverages, cups, napkins, etc.
Instead of a state park, why don't you contact a party rental company and have a tent put up in your back yard. That way if it rains, people are comfortably covered and if it is hot and sunny, they have shade.
Good luck
Hi, Janelle,
I don't know where you live, but how about a chinese or italian restaurant? They often have rooms available during the day because most stuff is booked at night and you can keep the menu simple and inexpensive.
Does your church have a hall?
Good luck on the day!
Cheers!
What about the church hall? My sister did that when my nephew was baptized & it all turned out perfectly. They asked for a dontation for the janitor plus a little something you could give the church. It was really easy considering a lot of people were from out of town & this way they didn't have to worry about finding somewhere else after the service. You could have it catered inexpensively I'm sure and her church was really easygoing w/stuff. The other bonus was that the children had somewhere to run around while the adults socialized. I remember just bringing a lot of little things for the kids to do to keep them busy. Good luck!
Try your local Fire Dept. Most have halls that you can rent and the cost is reasonable.
Hi Janelle,
I would go the route of seeing if you can rent the local VFW, Community Center, Knights of Columbus - or sometimes, firehouses rent out their big room for parties/meetings. Good luck in planning for this special event!
Do you have a local Elks Lodge or an American Legion type place that you could call and inquire about renting their hall? Or, how about a fire house? Their prices are generally alot lower than a regular wedding hall type place and usually let you bring your own food. They usually have giant kitchens there that you could use to heat up the food. You would need to recruit some family members to help out with this. A few trays of ziti, a few hundred meatballs, a ton of salad & bread, a few cases of soda, 2-3 6' subs, some chips/pretzels on the tables, a special cake & your golden! If you don't think this is enough, you could also ask people to bring either an appetizer or dessert. I just did a party and invited people through evite.com and, on that site, you can request people to bring things; you put the list of items that you want on the list and, when they go to respond, it asks them to select something to bring. When they do, the item disappears off of the list. This works out well because you don't have to go thru the embarassment of verbally asking them to bring something & it also alleviates the "what should I bring" syndrome. This site also alleviates the cost of invitations & postage. Good luck!
Not sure where you live but I know of two places.
The Byram Veterans Club in Greenwich CT. It's 7 miles from White Plains. Their number is 203 531-9846. The other place is Buon Amici's Restaurant on Central Ave in White Plains, NY.
Their number is 914 997-1399 and talk to Chris. They have excellent food and very helpful! With a great wait staff!
At the veterans hall there is a kitchen. And you bring in your own food. There are alot of places around to work with.
Good luck and enjoy!
Rose
Hi Janelle,
I don't have any better advice than what you mentioned. Maybe you could do the cookout in your or a friend's yard and rent a tent. Just know that if you were going to try to get a VFW/Legion hall, they get booked up,too. We had our daughter's Christening last August at a VFW. We booked it in May and still got the only available date in August. Good Luck!
Call your town parks system. A lot of times they have a pavillion that can be used. I know in my town we do...
Hi
I am not sure where you live. Have you tried Echo Lake Park in Howell? They have a beautiful pavillion and parks.
Rachel Q
We had my son's in the church hall/gym and it was great. I even found a place that would do bbq on location and they took care of everything. It was not overly expensive, it was yummy, and everyone had a great time. Good luck!!
Gina
Hi Janelle,
You have a lot of great ideas here. Something else you might consider is doing the party on another day when the restaurant or hall is available. My sister-in-law did this with my nephews confirmation. She had the party one week later at the VFW hall since there was no available places the day of confirmation (think everyone had booked all the venues). The big problem here is out-of-towners who can't hang around for a week.
Good luck and enjoy your day.
Have you tried calling your local YMCA? They rent out their halls/gyms too.
Where do you live? Need to know town, city before I can
help. How about firehouses and ambulance corps that
rent out rooms.
Have you tried the local fire station. There are some in the area that I live that are pretty attractive. There usually is a large meeting room and an attached kitchen. You can probably do some decorating. A small donation to your fire department would most likely be appreciated.
Diane
HI! Talk to your church (or another church near by) and see if they have an area where you can have the party right there. A lot of churches have basements or large rooms that host parties for a reasonable donation and then the guest wouldnt have to travel to a 2nd destination!