So it is your birthday celebration or you are planning your best friend's bachelor party. You want to go out to the bars and celebrate with all your friends. You are the party organizer - the planner - but does that mean you have to be the purchaser of the limo or party bus (so you and your friends can have all drink without the worry of a DUI)? Not anymore if you use technology right!
Here is how you leverage technology to have everybody pitch in for the limo/party bus:
1. Use Evite - Set up an account in Evite and create your party invitation with the theme, date, times, all the details.
2. Click on Invitation Options and choose Requests Payments from your Guests.
3. Set a price per guest - so if the limo or party bus costs $750 complete for the night and you expect 17 party goers - maybe make the cost be $50 per head ($850 total). This gives you a little wiggle room - in case some people you were counting on say they can't attend. If you get all 17 people - you can buy some decorations for the limo or some alcohol to enjoy on-board with the $100 extra.
4. Set up a Paypal account - Evite has teamed up with PayPal to allow you to collect money for your events.
Directly from Evite's website "Now your guests can safely and easily pay you back online. Enter the amount you wish to collect. Note: Paypal may charge a fee for their service. Please visit Paypal for more information."
5. Send the invitation out and watch the replies and money come rolling in to pay you back for the limo/party bus for the evening.
Important cautions -
-Most limo companies are going to want only ONE credit card for the reservation and usually at least 50% non-refundable deposit to secure the reservation. Many Friday and Saturdays book early - so you will probably need to book the limo before you have launched the invitation.
-Most limo companies use that credit card on file to charge for any damages or overtime. If your friend throws up on-board the limo - collect the damage fees from your friend that night, because that fee will be applied to your credit card.
That's it - a great way to make sure and collect money from your friends for a great night out. Make sure you aren't stuck holding the bill for the festivities by using Evite and Paypal!
