How to make money throwing house parties

The author of this is not a lawyer. None of the below text should be considered legal advice. This page is for entertainment purposes only.

Here are some ways that you can make money with house parties. Before we start you'll probably want to check laws in your area; it's possible that some of them will be illegal in your location.

Accept donations

While charging an entry fee or charging for alcohol is probably illegal in your area it's possible that you can accept donations and/or have a "tip jar".

As long as donations are optional it should be legal. Again please double check about your local laws first.

Raffles and tournaments

With raffles people buy tickets and a random ticket is chosen to win a prize. You'll need a prize. This doesn't guarantee that you'll make money, you can even lose money.

To run a tournament you'd get your guests to play games and the best player would win a prize. You're free to have prizes for the second or third players etc. but this will affect profits.

You could also have a percentage of the raffle or tournament income as the prize.

You'll probably want to check if tournaments and raffles are legal in your area.

Pay to request songs

Partiers can pay something like $1 to request songs. I don't expect that this would bring in a massive amount of money.

A buying party

You can do an Avon or Tupperware party and sell items to your guests.

Some alcohol companies could allow you to do tastings and take orders for the alcohol.

They process of the orders and give you a commission outside of the party. They do this to keep you legal.

If you have a home business you can sell your own products. If people are not interested in your products this idea will fail.

Alternatively you can get a commission from someone else selling products and services.

You'll want to let people know beforehand that there will be selling at your party. I wouldn't like it if I wanted to listen to music/socialize and there's a unexpected sales pitch.

Put footage on YouTube

If you have a monetized channel YouTube you can put videos of your parties on there. You should get consent from the people in the videos. You'll need lots of subscribers and views to make decent money.

You can arrange antics and try to go viral. Keep everything safe though.

You might want to film when people are fairly sober to ensure things go smoothly.

The downside to this is random people may turn up if they know you're partying regularly. Partying at different locations might be a good way to combat this. Also you may want to avoid live streaming.

Amount of people

If doing the donation route you'll probably need lots of people at your party to make money. This comes with increase risks; especially if people are irresponsible.

Risks

If you throw a big party your landlord may kick you out and/or your property might get damage.

Insurance probably won't cover any damage to your property if your activity is commercial. This shouldn't be a concern for small parties with responsible people.

If your party gets out of control the police may get called and shut your party down. You don't want this as the people at your party may ask for refund at get upset with you.

Handling the money

You'd probably need someone trustworthy to handle or monitor the money; even if it's you.

Be mindful of costs

If the goal is to make money you need to be mindful of expenses. Have a budget for your party and aim to bring in more than what you take in.

We have another article on the costs of throwing a house party.

Can you REALLY make money from throwing house parties?

In most cases you could make some of the costs of throwing a party back or a tiny profit. Massive profits from house parties are probably rare.

Alternatively you might want to get into event planning and plan other people's parties.

Ensure that the experience at your party is good

If you don't want people to feel unsatisfied at your party you'll need to ensure it's fun.

People should know what the deal is

You should probably give tell people about the donation option, tournament fees etc beforehand. If you surprise people things may not work out.

It'd be good if you put the information on the invitation. Of course ensure the activity that you're telling people about on the invitation is legal!

Thanks for reading

I hope that you have a successful party!