Typical cost splits by event type

A holiday party, a gala, a kids’ party and a conference spend differently. Memorise the four shapes and you can sanity-check any quote in seconds.

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Typical cost splits by event type.

A holiday party, a gala, a kids' party and a conference spend differently.

Memorise the four shapes and you can sanity-check any quote in seconds.

Four shapes to memorise.

If you know how four event types spend, you can sanity-check any quote in seconds.

The percentages below are of the spendable budget after contingency, for GTA events, before tax.

Why each shape looks the way it does.

The shapes are not arbitrary; each follows from what the event is for.

A corporate holiday party is a food-and-drink event with a small program, so more than half the money is the room and the bar, and entertainment is there to make 300 colleagues mingle.

Spotting a quote that is out of range.

A DJ quote of 6,000 dollars for a 100-person holiday party is 17 percent of a 35,000 dollars budget on its own; the shape says entertainment and AV together should be about 18.

Either the quote includes production you did not ask for, or it is high.

A two-minute sanity check.

Find the quote's category in the table and the percentage for the event type.

Multiply the spendable budget by that percentage. That is the whole category's allowance.

Questions to ask a vendor whose quote is out of range.

High: "What is in this that I did not ask for?" Production packages, extra hours, travel from outside the GTA and premium equipment are the usual answers, and some of them you want.

High: "What would the price be for exactly the brief: two hours, this room, your standard kit?"

That is the lesson. The worksheet and the quiz are just below this video.

What you will be able to do

• Recall the cost shape for four event types
• Spot a quote that is out of range
• Explain to a client where the money goes

Four shapes to memorise

If you know how four event types spend, you can sanity-check any quote in seconds. The percentages below are of the spendable budget after contingency, for GTA events, before tax.

Why each shape looks the way it does

The shapes are not arbitrary; each follows from what the event is for. A corporate holiday party is a food-and-drink event with a small program, so more than half the money is the room and the bar, and entertainment is there to make 300 colleagues mingle. A gala puts money into the things that make donors give: the program, the auction or paddle raise, the stewardship cards and the follow-up, so print and planning are higher and the room is slightly lower. A kids’ party is short, the food is simple, and the entertainer is the event, so entertainment is a quarter. A conference is sessions, so AV, badges, signage and sponsor fulfilment take money that a party would spend on the bar.

Once you can explain why a shape is the way it is, you can adjust it. A gala with no auction moves its 12 percent print-and-stewardship line down and its entertainment line up. A conference with an evening reception borrows from the holiday-party shape for that evening.

Spotting a quote that is out of range

A DJ quote of $6,000 for a 100-person holiday party is 17 percent of a $35,000 budget on its own; the shape says entertainment and AV together should be about 18. Either the quote includes production you did not ask for, or it is high. A $900 photographer for a 200-person gala is suspiciously low; expect $2,000–$4,000 for the hours.

A two-minute sanity check

1. Find the quote’s category in the table and the percentage for the event type.
2. Multiply the spendable budget by that percentage. That is the whole category’s allowance.
3. Compare the quote with the allowance. One vendor should rarely consume the whole category unless they are the only vendor in it.
4. Compare the quote with the typical GTA range for that service. DJ $900–$2,500; four-piece band $2,500–$6,000; close-up magician $600–$1,500 for two hours; stage illusionist or mentalist $1,500–$5,000 for 30–45 minutes; photographer $1,500–$4,000 for six to eight hours; photo booth $800–$1,500; uplighting (20 fixtures) $600–$1,200; ten-person round table set $60–$120.
5. If the quote is above both, ask what is included. If it is below both, ask what is excluded, how long they have been doing this, and for a certificate of insurance.

Questions to ask a vendor whose quote is out of range

• High: “What is in this that I did not ask for?” Production packages, extra hours, travel from outside the GTA and premium equipment are the usual answers, and some of them you want.
• High: “What would the price be for exactly the brief: two hours, this room, your standard kit?”
• Low: “Does this include HST, travel, set-up and a second person if needed?”
• Low: “Can you send a certificate of insurance and two references from events of this size?”
• Either: “Is this your busy season price or your off-season price?” A November Thursday is not a June Saturday.

Explaining where the money goes

Clients accept a budget they understand. Show the shape as a bar chart (the calculator draws one), point to the two biggest bars, and say what moving each one would mean. “Half of this is the room and the food. The only way to spend meaningfully less is fewer people or a Tuesday.”

Worked example

At the Harbour Gala’s revised $40,000 envelope, the shape puts $12,000 into the program line (entertainment, AV, print, stewardship). The committee had budgeted $3,000. The conversation that follows is the one that raises net proceeds, because the program is what makes donors give.

The full shape at $40,000, spendable $36,364 after 10 percent contingency: venue and F&B at 50 percent is $18,182, which still falls short of the hotel’s $24,000 all-in and tells us the hotel will take a larger share than the shape wants. Entertainment and AV at 15 percent is $5,455; the two strolling magicians and the mentalist at mid-range GTA prices use about $3,100 of it and the AV beyond the hotel’s inclusions the rest. Print, stewardship and gifts at 12 percent is $4,364, which funds the stewardship cards the CEO hands out at the door, the program and the paddle-raise signage. Photo at 5 percent is $1,818, inside the typical range for six hours. Décor at 8 percent is $2,909, more than the low florals and pin spots we actually plan, so décor gives up money to the venue line. The shape does not fit perfectly, and it is not meant to; it tells us which lines are fighting and which have room.

Numbers to remember

• Venue plus food is about half of almost every seated event.
• Entertainment and AV: 15–25 percent depending on the type; a quarter for kids.
• Photo: 5 percent, and rarely under $1,500 for a professional at a full-evening event.
• A single quote above its whole category allowance needs an explanation before it needs a negotiation.

Common mistakes

• Applying the gala shape to a cultural wedding. Fix: build from quotes and use the shape only to spot outliers.
• Rejecting a high quote without asking what is in it. Fix: ask; you may want the extra, and you can always ask for the base price.
• Accepting a low quote because it fits. Fix: a COI, references and an itemised quote before a deposit.
• Showing the client line items before they understand the shape. Fix: the chart first, the lines after.

Worksheet

Download the worksheet, complete it for your own event (or the running gala example), and keep it in your course binder. It takes about 10 minutes.

Download the worksheet (PDF)