How Much Does a Sweet 16 Party Cost?
Throwing a sweet 16 coming of age party celebrating your daughter’s birthday can be a daunting task.
Not only do you have to worry about the food, drinks, and decorations, but you also have to think about the entertainment!
How much does a sweet 16 party cost? What kind of party is right for your teenager?
In this comprehensive guide, we will answer all of your questions and help you plan the perfect sweet sixteen party for your teen!
You can have any size budget Sweet Sixteen party. From a simple large canopy with chairs and tables in your backyard for around $500 to an extravagant Sweet 16 inside a 5-star hotel for $30k. Or something in the middle, closer to your budget.
Picking the Best Day of the Week for the Sweet Sixteen Party
You can pick any date that’s before or after your daughter’s birthday. It will be just fine!
Picking on a Saturday will guarantee your desired guest attendance, but it also means paying more. Venues and vendors charge higher rates for prime-time hours on Saturdays.
The prices for a Sunday event will drop slightly, while attendance also decreases. It’s a Sunday, most people have work or school early the next day. Even if you have a large guest attendance. It will probably drop off halfway through the party. Guests will be courteous enough to show up after you invited them, but quickly exit mid-party after the important ceremonies are over. It might be slightly annoying buying extra food and other party favors and having to throw them all out.
Picking on a Friday is a bit of a gamble, most venues and vendors impose Saturday prices on Fridays. Your guest attendance can be very high or low. Some guests may arrive very late to the event, coming off work. So attendance can be spotty at best. It may look like no one is coming, and 30 guests show up out of nowhere mid-party. So you’re buying extra food and other party favors is a bit of a gamble.
Picking on a weekday will be the cheapest option. Venues mark down prices for weekdays. But guest attendance will be much lower. So you may waste a lot of money on food and party favors.
Venues
Tier 1 – Hotels, Golf Clubs, High-end Restaurants $$$$$
Tier 2 – Midsize Restaurants, Catering halls, Regular Halls $$$$
Tier 3 – Veteran Halls, Member Only halls, Local Pub Halls $$$
Picking a Tier 1 venue can be very expensive. These halls are usually reserved for a wedding reception or massive parties. Renting them can go from as low as $9k to $15k or higher. Hotels and High-end Restaurants tend to be the most expensive.
If you are still looking for a budget-friendly Tier 1 hall experience. I would look at golf clubs halls. Every state in the US has hundreds of golf clubs, and every one of them rents out a hall. Golf clubs are Tier 1 for venues, but they have the best options when it comes to elegance for renting without breaking the bank.
Golf clubs like hotels and some halls offer partition rooms; a giant hall can be broken down into 2 or 3 smaller rooms. This will reduce the cost to you, so if you look around you may be able to find a small partitioned room for $6k to $8k. I know it’s still a steep price, but these small rooms are still able to take in numerous guests up to 70 to 80.
Picking a Tier 2 is the most common for a sweet 16 party. A lot of restaurants and catering halls are dedicated to this very function. If you have ever been to a wedding reception, it was a Tier 2. They have waiters and cooks ready to serve your guests.
Most of them also offer sweet 16 party packages that can be very reasonable, some as low as $4500 to $6000. Tier 2 venues usually have a buffet set up where the guests can go and get their food.
You will also find that these halls have preferred vendors lists. They will recommend DJs, photographers, and decorators for you. This can save you some research time.
Picking a Tier 3 is the cheapest option. it’s not to say these venues are cheap or bad-looking. Some of these halls can be very beautiful with great prices from $2000 to $3000.
These types of sweet 16s tend to be modest parties and very casual. These venues tend not to offer any food service; so you will have to bring your own food. Tier 3 sweet 16 halls tend to be Veteran halls, member-only clubs, and local pubs.
Tip.
Most venues will give you an estimate over the phone or email, and some may even invite you to tour the hall.
Food
Most halls that offer food service will give you a quote for how much they charge per guest.
These can be $20 per guest to $40 or more per guest. Your total cost for food can be between $1600 to $3200 for an average 80-person party.
Food services vary from venue to venue, but most offer buffet-style eating. Venues that have waiters that can bring food to your guest’s tables tend to be the venues like hotels, restaurants, and some golf clubs.
You can also cook the food yourself. But even when shopping very conservatively. The cost per guest will usually reach around $17 per person.
Catering services prices go from $20 to $25 per guest. Catered dinner parties can cost $1500 to $2000 for an 80-person party.
Music Vendors
Sweet 16 DJs can be expensive, but a sweet 16 party without DJs can be dull and no fun at all.
This is an additional cost on top of the hall rental fee and can range in price from $500 to $1500 for sweet 16 DJ services.
If you are going the no-DJ-route. You will need to get a microphone and a small speaker system for announcements and music playing. You can rent the equipment at any Rent-A-center for a few hundred dollars.
Photography Vendors
Photography services can range from $700 to $2000.
Having a photographer take pictures at a sweet 16 is priceless; these memories will last forever and are something to treasure for a lifetime.
Photo booths can also be a great option to record events while at the same time giving your guest’s party favors. Photo booths can rent from $400 to $800.
Decorations
You can have a cheerleader sweet sixteen party, black and white ball, a Halloween themed party, or tiffany blue-themed.
The cost of sweet 16 party decorations can vary greatly depending on what type of decorations you choose, the size of the event, and if you are doing any DIY decorating.
You can find online sweet 16 décor for as low as $500 or as high as $3000.
But most likely your sweet 16 decorations will cost you between $1500 and $2500 if you hire a professional decorator that decorates the hall for you.
Sweet 16 Party Favors
Party gifts for sweet 16 parties can be anything from hats, sunglasses, beads, and keychains. Which can range in price from $2 to $20 per guest.
Sweet 16 Cake
The sweet sixteen cake is a centerpiece of all sweet sixteen parties and can be the highest single cost item for your sweet sixteen budgets.
A sweet 16 cake can cost anywhere from $300 to $500.
This does not include the price of a sweet sixteen cupcake tower or sweet sixteen bakery sweets.
Invitation Cards
Invitations cards can come out to about $3 to $4 depending on the design. Overall prices will vary, but expect to spend $80 to $120.
Sweet 16 Dress
Here’s a link to a Sweet 16 Dress buying guide. But a Sweet 16 dress can go as low as $300 or as high as $900.
Non-Venue Options
If after reading this guide, you still don’t have a budget for a venue hall party. You can try and have a backyard Sweet Sixteen party.
They are very inexpensive. You can have a pool party, outdoor movie party, your daughter can have a casual sleepover party with her female friends. Services like Kid’s Party World rent out great equipment for outdoor events.
There’s also a new rage of amusement park Sweet Sixteen Parties that have been popular in the last few years as an alternative.
Thank You!
So there you have it! By following these tips and guidelines. You can have a fabulous sweet 16 party without breaking the bank!