Importance of Budgeting a Special Event

Budgeting ensures you will have enough funds for each expense.

In special event planning for your family, client or organization, the budget component sets the stage for success. Without a budget, you have no way to manage your expenses. You don't know if there will be sufficient funds to cover event expenses, which can result in owing money after the event. Through budgeting, plan a limit for each major expense.

Set Goals

An event is designed to provide one or more benefits to attendees. You must set goals for what the event will accomplish before creating a budget. Even though guests come with their own expectations, you use budget planning to ensure that the event accomplishes what event planners and sponsors have identified as important. With the right goals, you can begin to search for service providers and choose the best ones to make the event enjoyable and memorable.

Balancing Needs

Just like a government budget, a special event budget requires balancing different expenses and prioritization. If you have $100,000 for food arrangements, for example, decide how much will go to the caterer and how much will go to other costs such as tables, chairs and servers. Budgeting like this requires talking to stakeholders, including co-planners and event sponsors. The amount allocated to each expense matters, especially if stakeholders review your final budget. Don't make spending decisions without consulting your collaborators.

Revisiting Expectations

The initial budget you propose for an event, including categorized expenses, may result in a more expensive budget than you and your collaborators can afford. That is when you must go back to the drawing board and revisit the goals. If you change the expectations for the size of the event and amenities offered, you can trim the budget, ensuring that it is feasible to hold with available funding.

Plan for Hidden Costs

With written commitments from event sponsors, you plan for adequate funding for all of your event arrangements. Create a buffer by bringing the total budget, including all expenses, to several thousand dollars under your funding level. If you incur extra fees, such as providers charging for rushed service or delivering more supplies and/or manpower than agreed, you will have the ability to cover these hidden costs. If you budget exactly or over, it will be difficult to pay all expenses owed to service providers after the event.

References

• Stanford University: Budgeting for Events
• Mount Holyoke College: Budgeting Your Human and Financial Resources