Gathering the Necessities
Find a couple friends to help plan the party. Planning a killer house party is a lot easier when you’ve got accomplices to spread the time and responsibilities out to. Talk to your friends, and see who is interested in helping. This will make things a lot easier on you. Consider the following: Who has what responsibilities. Try to spread the responsibilities out based on who is good at doing what. Who gets the cash. If it’s your home, you should probably get the largest cut of the cash. Consider this and talk to your friends ahead of time so everyone knows what they’re going to get out of the whole affair. Who has money and other supplies to bring to the table. You might want to include a friend who has a band or a good sound system in the party planning. Also consider people who have party planning experience and might have kegs or other important supplies. If you've got roommates, consider asking them to share the responsibilities of holding a "rent party." Then, you'll all work toward the common goal of making enough money for rent that month.
Make sure you have a good house or location for your party. With house parties, location is everything. After all, the main function of the event is to gather a lot of people. You’ll need to consider a few things to make sure you’ve got a good location: How big is your house? Do you have enough space for the number of guests you’ll be entertaining. Do you have an appropriate “main party” area. This could be a basement, a large living room, or a back yard. Do you have the permission of other relevant individuals (family, roommates, landlords) to have a large party at your home.
Gather important accessories and resources for the party. While the home is the most important part of throwing a house party, there are a number of important accessories that will help make your party. Remember, your party is all about making sure your guests are occupied and entertained. You don’t want anyone being bored or leaving. A boring party that lacks proper accessories could undermine your ability to have other parties later. A good stereo system. You’ll need a system that can fill your home or backyard with sound. Don’t go overboard, though. You don’t want your neighbors calling the cops and you don’t want to completely drown out conversation. A beer pong table and cups. Beer pong is one of the best ways to entertain your guests. Make sure you have all of the appropriate supplies. A poke table, cards, and chips, for more sophisticated crowds. A pool table or some trivia games. The money to buy or rent a beer keg and other alcohol. You won’t make any money if people have to bring their own alcohol. Because of this, you’ll want to make sure you have the money to pay for alcohol in advance of the party.
Determine how many people you can host. Figuring out how many people you can accommodate is extremely important in the whole planning process. You don’t want to go ahead and plan a party for 500 people if your house and backyard can really only accommodate 100. Consider: Seating. A small portion of people will be sitting at any given time. So don’t plan for more than 20% of your guests to be sitting at a given moment. Parking. Parking is extremely important, as most of your guests will probably arrive by car. Make sure you’ve got enough parking for the number of people you plan on hosting. Space. Take stock of the sorts of rooms and outside space you have to entertain. Can you fit 20 people comfortably into a living room? How many people can be standing around your pool in your backyard?
Put together a budget. Before you move forward, you need to put together a preliminary budget and make sure you have the money to lay down in advance of the party. Don’t cheap out here. You have to have all of the supplies to entertain your guests, especially if they’re going to be paying to get you’re your party. Consider paying for: Alcohol. Renting equipment (kegs, a sound system, or more). Contingency money if anything is broken at your home. This might just come out of your profits.
Talk to your neighbors. Let your neighbors know that you’ll be throwing a big party. Having your neighbors on board, or at least in the know, will make your party experience much better and will eliminate a few potential problems. Ask them: If there is a particular weekend that would be better for them. If they’re also planning on having an event on the weekend you’re planning on. If they’d like to come and join the party.
Make sure you have the small and basic things. When planning a party, you might get wrapped up with the big things like booking a band or picking a beer selection and easily forget about small things that will make your party a seamless experience for everyone. Don’t forget about things that seem small, but are critical. Remember to: Provide plenty of garbage cans. Have lots of coolers with ice. Provide ashtrays for cigarette butts.
Educate yourself about local noise ordinances. Before you hold your party, make sure you know local ordinances when it comes to noise. After all, you don’t want to get shut down by the cops for having your music too loud. Consider the following: Know if there are ordinances that restrict noise levels on certain days and times in residential neighborhoods. Communication with your neighbors is key. Even if there are ordinances, you’ll most likely be able to party on if you talk to your neighbors ahead of time and let them know what you’re doing. The best bet is to promise to turn the music down at midnight, and disperse the party by 2 A.M. Invite your neighbors as a way of heading off alienating. They might even want to contribute. Call your local police department to see if there have been any noise-related disturbances reported recently.
Advertise your party. Advertising will be key to having a large party that makes you some profit. After all, you want to maximize your profit and get as many people as you can fit into your house at one time. There are a number of ways to get the word out about your house party: Social media. Consider social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat to get the word out. Create an event page, and invite all of your friends and have them invite all of your friends. Make sure you include specifics and warn people that you’ll be charging. Word of mouth. Tell all of your friends and have them tell their friends. Talk to people in your classes and at work and invite them. Tell everyone that they are welcome to bring as many friends as they want. Flyers. Put up some flyers around campus or in your community advertising your party. Be careful with this though, as you might have some people come and try to take advantage of you or your guests.
Preparing the space. After you’ve made sure you have a good house and other supplies and advertised, you’ll need to prep your space. You need to make sure that the house is ready for your party and that spaces you want closed off are indeed closed off, and spaces you want people to hang out in are inviting. Remove valuables that can be easily stolen and lock them in a closed off bedroom. Move furniture out of the way in larger rooms so that people can walk around. Find some extra chairs and make sure you’ve got enough seating for your 20%. Setup a bar and snack area. If you can, do this in at least two different locations so you don’t have everyone hanging around one area.
Throwing a Bomb Party
Consider the law and the consequence of underage drinking. In order to have a really good party, you’ve got to make sure that the cops don’t shut your party down because of underage drinking. Because of this, you need to take precautions to avoid supplying alcohol to underage guests. This doesn’t mean you have to exclude people under 21, just don’t supply alcohol to them. Make sure you know the laws in your area. Don’t supply alcohol to minors. Post signs that say no underage drinking.
Hire a band or a disc jockey. At house parties, entertainment and music is key. You need to make sure your guests are entertained and are entertained with quality music that they’re into. Hiring a band or a DJ might be something that makes your party more appealing to people who are on the fence about coming. Consider hiring a local band that people around your town know and love. This might lure people to the party. Get a friend to have their band play. It doesn’t have to be for the whole time, but just for an hour or less. Find a DJ or a friend who enjoys playing DJ. This way, you’ll have someone dedicated to making sure the music is spot on for your guests.
Hire someone to manage security. If you’re planning on having a large party with people you don’t know, you should consider hiring someone to manage security at your home. Most of the time, just the presence of an intimidating person in a “security” shirt might ward off potential problems.
Have drinks people want to drink. The best house parties are parties where people don’t just get trashed, but enjoy drinking drinks that they like in a fun atmosphere. To achieve this, make sure you supply drinks people actually want to drink. Consider the following: Prepare a signature mixed drink. This might even be hunch punch. Supply jello shots. Pick a solid middle-of-the-road beer that everyone will like. If you want, you can pair a solid beer keg with a really cheap one and give people the choice.
Making Money
Use crowd sourcing websites to fund your party before it begins. One way of raising money for your party might be to invite investors beforehand by using crowd sourcing websites like Kickstarter and Crowdtilt. This way, you can get people to either donate or invest funds before you've even had the party. This will help reduce the amount of your own money you will need to use to buy party supplies and secure entertainment. Ask people to contribute as a "donation" via crowd sourcing. Ask people to contribute as investors via crowd sourcing. You can pay back upfront investments later with funds obtained at the party. Ask people to sponsor a specific aspect of the party, like hiring a band or buying a keg.
Raffle off liquor. Consider holding a couple raffles with the winning prize being a good bottle of liquor. This is one way to get people to pay you a little money for the hopes of a huge reward. It might also add excitement and entertainment value to your party, as you could market it to your guests as a main event. If you’ve got a DJ, have them announce the raffle and then announce the winner. Take a bottle of Grey Goose and try to sell 100 tickets for $1 each. The balance between cost and the tickets you sell is your profit. Check with local laws about raffling alcohol.
Sell songs. If you’ve got a DJ, a band, or are just playing songs yourself, consider getting your guests to pay for requests. You could ask them to pay as little as $1 a song. Over the course of a 3 or 4 hour party, you could potentially make some decent money just off of song requests.
Buy cheap. Make sure all of your party supplies – snacks and alcohol – are purchased as inexpensively as you can. Don’t settle for the closest liquor store or supermarket. Actively seek out places where you can buy your supplies for little money. If you’re in a city, county, or state, that levies high taxes on alcohol, consider traveling to a nearby/neighboring place that has lower taxes. This could be substantial depending on where you are. Call suppliers. If you’re planning a party for 300 people, chances are you’ll need a few kegs. Call suppliers and liquor stores and try to get the lowest prices. Buy cheap, but don’t cheap out. Don’t buy the cheapest brand of beer and liquor. Some people won’t like it, and won’t come back next time. Instead, find a “middle” beer/liquor that appeals to the most people possible.
Charge for admission. Charging for admission, at the door, is one of the easiest ways to make your party pay. However, there are a few pitfalls in this approach. The likelihood is that people will be coming and going in and out of your house and backyard all night. You can’t really expect to stop them each time they go in and out. Consider: Giving out wristbands to people who have paid. This way, you’ll be able to identify people who have paid and people who have not. Making sure alcohol is supervised. If you’ve given out wristbands, and you’ve got someone pouring drinks, you’ll easily be able to stop people from freeloading off of your liquor who have not paid. This approach also has the added bonus of weeding out underage drinkers. Providing food in addition to alcohol and other drinks. If you charge for admission, make sure that admission is worth it (otherwise people won’t pay). Relatively inexpensive hotdogs and hamburgers could go a long way in enticing people to pay up to get in. Know the laws in your area. Charging for admission to a house party might create liability for yourself.
Frame your party as a "Rent Party." Let your friends and other guests know that the goal of the party is to raise money for your rent that month. This is a good way to getting people to volunteer donations, as they'll not just be funding their own fun for the night, but they'll be helping you out in general. Pass around a jug or bowl at the party for donations. Ask friends to chip in whatever they can for the cost of the party. Make sure that the party is worth it, as some of your friends might be in hard times of their own, and won't take kindly to be asked for money if you have not supplied alcohol, food, and entertainment.
Ask for donations for alcohol. Charging for alcohol is at house parties is illegal in many places in the United States unless you have a license that allows you to do so. One way around this (in many areas) is to ask for donations for alcohol. This has advantages and disadvantages. It will help you with some people might not want to pay for a party they might not stay at. However, you’ll also run into people who won’t want to donate, and you could lose money. Know the laws in your area. People might circumvent you and bring their own alcohol – then you won’t make any money. You’ll need someone always standing by the alcohol to collect donation money.
Hold a tournament of some sort. One way to try to turn a profit from your house party is to hold a tournament and charge for playing. Entice your guests with a substantial prize, like a bottle of liquor or tickets to a concert if they win. Whatever money is left after you pay for the prize will be profit. Consider: Beer pong. Poker. Pool. Trivia.
Enjoy your party. Perhaps most importantly, your party should be a good time for you and your guests. While profit might be your priority, why have a party if you’re not going to have fun? Enjoy the part, enjoy the moment, and enjoy the fact that you are making all of this fun possible for other people. And in the end, your party might help pay your rent next month!
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