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!
All I can say is WOW! At the time of writing this I had 27 respomses. You Mom's are all wonderful for offering your words of advice! I have a lot of research to do it seems! Thank you all again so much, and I will update again when I have made a decision.
Hi J.,
Not knowing the area you live in makes it hard to suggest any places I may know of. I can guess that in August you might want to be somewhere where it is not extremely hot like by water or in air conditioning. If you feel comfortable emailing me what town or city you live in I might be able to help.
M.
Hi J.,
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!
Have you considered schools? School will be closed in August, and perhaps you could rent out a gymnasium nearby?
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!!
G.
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.
D.
Have you tried calling your local YMCA? They rent out their halls/gyms too.
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 J.,
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!
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!
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 ###-###-####. The other place is Buon Amici's Restaurant on Central Ave in White Plains, NY.
Their number is ###-###-#### 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
Depends where you're from. There's a great ambulance corp hall in W. Milford, NJ that's a steal to rent, only $150, but that could be hours from you LOL!
Why don't you ask the church if you can use their reception hall (assuming they have one). Our church was more than happy to permit us to use theirs and it saved the guests time from having to travel to another location. All you have to do is ask a few of the guests to help set-up prior to and help clean-up (perhaps a few close trusted friends could assist with those tasks)? Usually there is a kitchen attached to make it easier as well. Or you can have it catered. Most churches won't even ask you for a donation to use their hall or if they do, they expect you to set the donation amount. It's worth a try.
Enjoy your day!
Hi, J.,
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!
I know in our town they have community centers that can be used for a large event like yours. There is plenty of space outside to BBQ, etc...
Hi J., 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...
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!
Hi J.,
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.
Hi J.
I had my sons christining at a diner. They had a special room for large parties. This particular room held 75 but check out the local diner they might accomidate more. Bonus you don't have to cook or clean up. I had 40 guest and it came to 650. Or if you have the room in a backyard, rent tents and have the local deli cater the food. I know some places have someone to hire to set up and clean up. I hope this helps.
D. B
Hi
I am not sure where you live. Have you tried Echo Lake Park in Howell? They have a beautiful pavillion and parks.
R. Q
Call your town parks system. A lot of times they have a pavillion that can be used. I know in my town we do...
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.
Hi, does the church have a community hall where you can serve cake and coffee? Don't sweat it. It is not a wedding and the babies don't even understand what is going on. The important thing is the christening, not the party. Also, you can have everyone come to the christening and just have a small gathering for the God-Parents, and immediate family at a local restaurant. Good Luck!
Hi J.,
I don't know where you live but it's so expensive to do party's now. It seems no matter where you go it's up there. One suggestion would be when you make the food, if you are going to do it yourself at a hall or park, have your food cold. Hero, salads etc that would make it easier on you. I know that the VFW halls let you bring in your own food but then they charge you per head for your soda/drinks. It gets really expensive. Does your family help with making things when you have a party? I know mine does...my whole family always helps each other when there are party's and it's a great help. I don't know how you are about Chinese Buffets but I know that they usually offer a nice deal. Usually about a 4 hour time that you can be there. Most offer a separate room and in August it would be air conditioned. Not everyone loves Chinese Buffets but they are reasonable enough and they offer a wide range of choices. Good luck...let us know how you make out. D.
Try your local Fire Dept. Most have halls that you can rent and the cost is reasonable.
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 had my daughters baptism party at the Holiday Inn in Mt.Kisco NY. The food was excellent and we had actually been married there too. I forget how much it was but I remember thinking that it was the same or even less that renting a hall and then having to order the food in and alcohol. Doesn't hurt to check it out.
Not sure where you live but we had our child's dedication at Mr. Dominics on the lake. It was about $650 for 70 people. If you google mr.dominics there are various prices per person for different buffets. We were going to have it at a park and cookout etc. but as I added up the cost of all of that it came pretty close to the mr. dominics price minus all the hassle of set up and clean up.
Where do you live? Need to know town, city before I can
help. How about firehouses and ambulance corps that
rent out rooms.
