# How much would you pay for this? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 8, 2004, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-for-this/244173 "2004-05-08T12:27:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-for-this/244173/21 "2004-05-10T21:32:20Z")
Silver Fire, by your responses it seems to me that you really haven’t come to grips with the distinctions between throwing a party and promoting an event. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I get the impression that you see these two things as two points on a scale of “big parties”, when in reality they are on entirely different scales. Because you can throw a helluva big party without converting it into a business, as long as you don’t cross some lines, like selling tickets and alcohol. There’s nothing to stop you from inviting all of your friends to pny up 20 bucks a pop to buy beer and hire a band. And they can spread those invitations on to more of their friends. You should know in advance what it will cost (and if you don’t, figure it out before sending invites), so you’ll know that you need _x_ number of people to buy in. If you don’t get there, you either shitcan the idea or accept that you’ll cover the difference out of pocket. To me as a host, 100-200 people would be a hell of a party; 2,000 would be a nightmare. It’s hard to say from your description of your land, but it seems possible you have a chunk large enough for several thousand. Is that correct? According to [this site 1969’s Woodstock](http://www.woodstock69.com/file7.htm) was on 600 acres. About half a million people were there. I can also give you a relatively high assurance that if a thousand or more people attend, you personally won’t have much time to kick back and enjoy. You’ll be trying to control the vendors and resolve a gazillion little questions and problems that always pop up. ---
**Author:** ![sperfur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@sperfur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sperfur)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-for-this/244173/22 "2004-05-11T04:54:48Z")
> [@Silver Fire](#): > > How does this work? So I approach the owners of X Bar and say… what? And then they pay me a percentage of the take? > > Neat! I had another suggestion earlier about asking local bars/liquor stores to “sponsor” the event. Lower cost in exchange for advertising. I think I like your idea better. Why not do both? The sponsor doesn’t have to be a bar, it can be any business that wants cheap advertising. You could have a few sponsors and put their logos on your flyers. You could try to talk your insurance agent down on the price of liability insurance by making them a sponsor, too. $20 bucks here, $30 bucks there… > [@Silver Fire](#): > > 1. I ran into some obstacles today; nothing major and I could probably (maybe, possibly) get everything together before July. I’ll still work on it now so, please, if you have any more ideas/advice, help me out, but I honestly think it’d be better if I put it off until next summer. Which. Really. Sucks. But it’ll give me more time to deal with any issues that might come up, get the best things (be in insurance rates, liquor/food/… vendors, etc) rather than settling with the most convenient, etc. July is way too hot, anyway. I’d shoot for mid-September. You may not have to wait until next year if you have an extra 2-3 months to get everything together. Good luck! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-for-this/244173.md?page=1)