Are you in the process of trying to plan a fraternity formal in Daytona Beach? Feeling absolutely stuck? BigDaddy Formals knows just how you feel!
Florida is a popular place for fraternity formals. Who wouldn’t want to have a party on the beach with those white sands and the ocean lapping at your feet? Sounds like an amazing place to host a formal.
Planning anything at all is difficult, but fraternity formals can be especially hard. As college students, you’re all busy trying to pass your classes and complete your homework while also maintaining a social life. Formal planning requires time to plan, about a semester, and that’s a lot to ask when you’ve already got your hands full.
BigDaddy Formals has planned plenty of formals, so read on to get some ideas on how to start planning your upcoming fraternity formal in Daytona Beach.
1. Transportation: Getting to Daytona!
You’ve got a couple of choices for getting to Daytona Beach for your formal weekend.
If your school is nearby, the easiest thing to do would be to carpool with your friends. You’ll just have to figure out how to split everyone into manageable groups, and then you’ll need to know what everyone’s schedules are so you know when people can leave.
The biggest factor when it comes to carpooling, however, is whether or not the hotel you’re going to book charges for overnight parking (most do!). If they do, how much will it be for each car and each night? Will it fit into your budget, and is it a potentially cheaper option than renting buses through a transportation company?
If carpooling doesn’t sound like something you’d like to do, then you’ll want to take a look at renting through a transportation company.
When researching good companies to transport your group to Daytona Beach, make sure you find one that’s going to get you to the beach safe and sound, and it’s a good idea to know how many people will be in your group beforehand, too. This will give the transportation company a better chance to figure out how many buses you’ll need.
To get started, we recommend Daytona Limo.
2. Venues: Finding a place for fun.
Florida in general has a ton of places that you can choose to have entertainment and fun, and Daytona Beach is no different.
When it comes to choosing where your fraternity is going to have a night of fun, there are a few things you’ll need to consider.
First, this is a popular place for college students to go for spring break, so make sure you give yourself enough time to book the places you want before they fill up. If you’re absolutely set on having your formal weekend anywhere near spring break, then it is essential that you get everything planned and booked before you leave for Thanksgiving.
Secondly, think about these questions as you research:
How close are the venue and the hotel? Will transportation be an issue?
What is the venue’s sales contract like? Will you need to talk to an event manager, or can everything get done online?
Do they provide things like security checks or catering services? Should you work these sorts of things into the budget?
Having these questions in the back of your mind as you look for what your group wants will help you find the best venue for your event.
We love these Daytona Beach venues: Max Daytona, Sunset Riverfront Event Center, and Crystal Ballroom.
3. Hotels: Finding sleep in Daytona.
One of the most important pieces you’ll need to find: A place to sleep!
Daytona Beach is not only home to gorgeous beaches, it also happens to be the place where NASCAR’s Daytona 500 race takes place, so there’s plenty of hotels that you and your fraternity can stay at. (For the record, the Daytona 500 usually takes place in February, so if you do have your formal in Daytona Beach during this month, just keep that in mind.)
When choosing a hotel for your group, budget is key. Honestly, getting the budget settled before you even start researching would be best because then you’ll know whether to look for a more expensive hotel or a cheaper one.
Other things to consider:
What’s the hotel’s check-in like for large groups? How are you going to prepare in advance for that?
Does the hotel have decent parking either for your cars or for the buses to unload students?
Does the hotel have enough room for your group, and how much do they usually charge for groups of your size?
These are our hotel recommendations: Holiday Inn Resort Daytona Beach Oceanfront, Daytona Beach Ocean Walk Resort, and Delta Hotel Daytona Beach Oceanfront.
4. Putting the Final Pieces Together
Obviously, there’s a lot you’ll need to do in order to get your fraternity formal going! The three points above are really the major things you’ll need to think about, but there are some smaller details that you’ll want to handle, too.
One of the more important details comes down to payments. Someone has to make sure payments are gathered from everyone on time and then submitted to the companies on time, as well. Is there someone comfortable with doing that?
Do you know if you’re getting a good rate, or are the companies you’re talking to overcharging you? Can you negotiate with them to bring the prices down?
Also, will someone be in charge of creating an itinerary? Or how are you all going to decide what you’re going to do? If there are too many opinions and nothing gets settled, this could lead to stalling, which means less time to actually book things.
As we said earlier, Daytona Beach is popular with college students and families alike, so the worst thing you can do is hesitate and delay making any plans.
And if doing all of this sounds entirely stressful, you’re not alone. It can be very stressful to do, especially if you’re trying to do everything by yourself!
This is where using another company that knows the industry inside and out can be helpful. Most times, hospitality companies prefer to work with other companies that are familiar with the industry, and BigDaddy Formals has spent years building trusted relationships with companies in Daytona Beach.
We know just what to do to plan a fabulous fraternity formal, and we’ve done it before for hundreds of other students just like you. Let us remove the stress of event planning and get your formal moving forward for you.
To talk to one of our representatives about how we can help you plan your fraternity formal in Daytona Beach, fill out this form here.
To see just what we’ll do for you, look at the video below!