How To Host A Sweetheart Dance On A Low Budget!

January 11, 2019

Hey everyone! Welcome back to the second half of the school year! My name is Stephanie Hamilton and I am the Media & Marketing Specialist with My School Dance. Now that we’re in the second half of the year, students are starting to become more drained and they don’t have as much motivation. What better way to kick off the new year by hosting a Sweetheart Dance in February for the students? This will get them interacting with one another and they’ll have a fun event to look forward to.

A lot of schools tend to not have a Sweetheart Dance due to the limited budget they are provided for school dances. I’m here to tell you that even if you are on a low budget, you’re able to host a Sweetheart Dance. Everyone always assumes dances are going to cost a lot of money, which can be true. However, I strongly believe that if you try, you can plan a dance without exceeding your budget. I’ve listed some ways that your school can plan a Sweetheart Dance while on a low budget below:

• Venue– Usually, the venue is one of the most expensive components when planning a dance, but you don’t have to go all out for a Sweetheart Dance. That’s the best part. This is more of a casual dance, compared to Prom. Host your dance in your school’s gymnasium or cafeteria. Basically, any area in your school that is big enough to hold a decent amount of students. The venue doesn’t need to be some extravagant event space. By using your school, you won’t have to pay for a venue at all!
• Decor– A Sweetheart Dance requires very little decor. All you have to buy are balloons, streamers, paper, and maybe a few lights. Check out your art classroom to see if there’s anything you can use from there as decorations. Some easy things you can do with these supplies are create paper flowers and hearts, hang streamers and lights around the ceiling, create balloon hearts, and make tissue paper pom poms.
• Music– Instead of hiring a band or a DJ, reach out to your students for volunteers. Usually, there’s at least a few students that are already in bands or sing. Or you can post flyers around town and see if any bands are willing to volunteer their time to perform for the high school. If you can’t find volunteers, the next best thing would be to make a playlist on your phone or laptop and hook it up to a bluetooth speaker.
• Photo Booth– Photo areas are becoming more and more popular at big events, like dances. Instead of hiring a Photo Booth company, create your own DIY backdrop for students to take pictures by. My School Dance’s Pinterest page has many different ideas for backdrops that doesn’t require a lot of time or material. Try to get a volunteer to take pictures for students or have a volunteer from the Photography or Newspaper Club take pictures for a set amount of time.
• Food– There’s no need to have food at all of your dances. For the most part, students tend to go out to eat after the dance is over. If you feel the need to have some sort of food, ask local businesses to donate food for the event.
• Tickets– Use My School Dance so you’re able to sell tickets online to the students. This is free for all schools and will make the management process a lot easier than the old methods.
• Volunteers– Ask parents or teachers to volunteer their night to help chaperone, set up, and clean up the dance. Most will be willing to donate a few hours to help the students.

Now that we’ve figured out how to plan a Sweetheart Dance on a low budget, what are you waiting for? February is only one month away! Get to planning and start managing this dance with My School Dance! There’s no cost for schools to use our platform. Sign your school up today!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656