OPSA can help you run your school ball/event

  • Creation of tickets and posters
  • Ticket sales
  • Payments to suppliers, etc
  • Accounting
  • Budgeting and general advice

Contact OPSA’s Events staff for more information.

Form a Ball Committee (many hands make lighter work) and set a budget to determine a ticket price. Some things to think about:

  • Numbers? Attendance numbers will determine the budget.
  • Date? Leave yourself enough time to plan and sell tickets, and make sure parts of your School aren’t on placement or exams, etc.
  • Venue, make sure you know what is and isn’t included in the venue cost
  • Other costs? eg cleaning, security, etc.
  • Theme?
  • Live band, DJ, or playlist? Don’t forget to factor in costs of sound equipment hire if they need gear.
  • Decorations?
  • Catering, eg set menu or finger food?
  • Ideal ticket price? Make it too expensive and people will not come.
  • Maximum numbers for venue?
  • Minimum numbers needs to be financially viable?
  • Cancellation date for venue?
  • Cut off date for ticket sales? Otherwise you won’t know if it’s financially viable until it’s too late to cancel. A good idea can be to make the ticket price dearer in the last week eg $50 Tickets: $50 ($60 if you buy within a week before the ball).

Some money saving tips:

  • Some venues will allow you to supply your own food.
  • Venues that are not professional events venues (ie where you have to do more of the work and jazz them up with decorations, etc) will be cheaper, and give you the opportunity to make it a different ball to others.
  • Be thoughtful about decorations and theme, some students have done excellent decoration on very minimal budgets.
  • Candles are a cheap way to create atmosphere (though can be dangerous around intoxicated people).
  • Photographers: Some local companies will attend your ball with a portable studio and take shots for free as long as you help them promote the shots to attendees to buy afterwards.
  • Clean the venue yourself (make sure you have a team and don’t get lumped with it all yourself).
  • Bigger numbers get better deals, so consider joining with another School and having a joint ball. This could be a similar School, or something out of the box (eg Nurses & Builders Ball).
  • Try to seek some sponsorship and deals.
  • Contact suit hire, dress & accessories vendors, hairdressers, restaurants, etc and do a deal to include discount vouchers along with your tickets.

Making a budget:

  • Create your own spreadsheet of costs to calculate how much you’re paying, and how much money you expect to receive (eg through ticket sales/sponsorship).
  • Calculate worst-case scenarios (ie highest costs and lowest attendance numbers). This is better than being massively optimistic and being disappointed.
  • To cover your expenses, ensure you sell the tickets for more than cost price.
  • Don’t forget hidden costs like security, cleaning, glass breakage, etc.
  • Ensure that the GST is included in the venue etc prices.
  • Find out exactly how and when the venue wants paid and if they require a deposit.

Remember, OPSA is here to help you organise your school ball, if you need help or advice with budgeting contact OPSA’s staff.