Drawing up a budget for an event is one of the top priorities to consider when planning an event. You’ll need to list all the important necessities for the event while adequately allowing for unforeseen circumstances. A budget allows you to keep track of your spending and determines the amount of cash you’ll need for your expenses.

To create a budget isn’t much work as you might think, it’s an easy step-by-step process. Start off by opening a new spreadsheet document on either Google Docs or Microsoft Excel.

Before you start planning the budget, there are certain things to take note of. They shouldn’t be left out in budget planning. Some of these things include the permit you’ll need to pay for the venue where you’ll be hosting the event and a line item to be able to cover for any hazardous activities or services.

#1. The first thing you do on the document is create a column on the spreadsheet. Each column should have different headings to label them and to categorize your planning. For example; Item, description, amount needed, approximate cost and actual cost.

#2. Enquire about the things you need to buy; get the average cost for every item you’re planning to buy so you can know the amount of cash you’ll be planning to spend after you have gotten the list of prices for your item. Every little item that you will need to spend money on needs to be included in the budget. Put them down in your spreadsheet to keep you in track of your spending.

#3. In the description column, enter a description for every item and the amount of money you’ll need for it. Add all the little information so that it will be a reminder for you to buy them.

#4. Calculate the amount of all the items you’ve inserted in. You’ll arrive at the total amount of cash (event budget) to carry out your expenses. If the total price of everything added together is too much for your liking, cut down on some expenses that are not too important or reduce the amount of items you’ll be buying. Better still, opt in for a cheaper price that can offer the same service. That will save you money and also ensure you have what you need to satisfy the guests.

#5. It is advisable to have extra cash included in your budget. There are some unexpected expenses that will arise at the very last minute of the event; hence, it is crucial that you have some cash that can be used to cover emergencies or unforeseen situations.

#6. You are now ready to start off by creating your very own event budget. Do not forget to inquire about the actual cost for the things that you will need to buy or hire; track the cost of these things closely just in case there’s a change in price, so you could do the necessary alterations in your budget.