If you are looking for a DJ for a birthday, an anniversary, a retirement, a graduation, or a party at your house, the first thing you want is a number, and most DJ websites will not give you one until you fill in a form. We publish ours. Private celebrations use the same three packages as our corporate work, starting at $2,500, and this post explains what is in each, which one a home party needs versus a venue party, what changes the number, and what lighting costs if you want it.
The packages, and what each is for
Each package covers up to four hours of DJ performance, event-specific music preparation, and setup and breakdown. Sound and microphone coverage are confirmed against the room. The difference between them is how much program the party has and how much preparation that takes.
| Package | Price | The private party it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate Mixer | $2,500 | One space, a straightforward evening: a house party, a backyard graduation, a retirement dinner with a toast, a restaurant private room with music from arrival to the end |
| Corporate Celebration | $3,500 | A full evening with an arc: a milestone birthday or anniversary programmed from arrival through dinner into dancing, with a few microphone moments and a do-not-play list to honor |
| Corporate Premier | $4,500 | A party with a run of show: a large anniversary or a big milestone with a timed program, a slideshow, several speakers, a surprise reveal, or two rooms in use |
The names say corporate because that is most of our work, but the packages are the same and so is the job. A sixtieth birthday with eighty guests, a toast from each child, and a dance floor is a Corporate Celebration whether or not anyone in the room has a job title.
Home party or venue party: which package, and why
Most home parties are the Corporate Mixer. A house holds one space that matters at a time, the program is a toast and maybe a cake, and the job is four hours of music that fits the crowd. What a home party adds is logistics, not programming: a dedicated outlet, a level six-by-six-foot footprint, a canopy if it is outdoors, and an agreed cutoff for the neighbors. None of that changes the package price. Here is what a home needs in detail.
A venue party splits. A restaurant private room with forty people and a toast is still the Mixer. A banquet hall or hotel room with a hundred guests, a dinner service, a program, and dancing after is the Celebration, because the music is being programmed against a timeline rather than a crowd, and that takes preparation before the night. The Premier is for the party that has a planner, a printed schedule, and cues that have to land on time.
If you are not sure, describe the evening and we will say which one fits. We do not push a Mixer into a Celebration; the extra preparation is real work and we only charge for it when the party needs it.
What changes the number
The package is the base. A quote moves beyond it for reasons you can see coming:
- Hours. Four hours covers most parties. A party that starts at six and wants music until one is seven hours, and the extra hours are priced on the quote by the hour. Deciding this in advance is cheaper than deciding it at 10:30 with the room still full; here is how running long works.
- Cocktail hour in a separate space. If guests gather on a patio or in a bar area before moving into the main room, that space needs sound too. Cocktail hour coverage is an add-on.
- A second room that needs its own sound. A basement dance floor and a main-floor dinner, or a restaurant's bar and dining room both in use, is a second sound zone: a second speaker set, fed from the booth, at its own level.
- Early setup or idle time. If the venue requires us to be set up by three for a party starting at seven, the hours we wait are on the quote.
- Extra microphones. Two wireless microphones cover almost every private party. A program with a panel of speakers, or a family member who wants to sing with a backing track, needs more.
What does not change the number: the guest count within reason, the genre, the number of requests, the do-not-play list, or the planning call and timeline we do before every event. Those are the job.
Lighting for a room in a house
Lighting is the add-on people ask about most for home parties, and the answer depends on what the room is doing. A living room with the ceiling lights on is a living room. The same room with the ceiling lights off and a few fixtures on the walls is a party, and that change is what most hosts are actually asking for.
Small Venue Lighting starts at $450 and covers a home-sized space: LED fixtures for the booth and the dance area, colored to suit the party, on stands or on the floor, run from our power. It is sized for a living room, a finished basement, a garage, or a restaurant's private room. Room up-lighting, the fixtures along the walls that wash them in a color, is quoted per room, because the number of fixtures depends on the length of the walls. Intelligent moving heads, the fixtures that sweep and pulse, are quoted per event and rarely make sense in a house; they need ceiling height and throw distance that most rooms do not have.
Two things about lighting in a house. Fixtures draw power, so the dedicated circuit matters more with them than without. And uplights along a wall need the wall to be clear, which means the console table and the framed photos move for the night. We tell you that in advance rather than moving furniture when we arrive. Whether you need lighting at all is a fair question, and for a daytime or outdoor party the answer is usually no.
Questions to ask about any DJ quote
Whoever you are comparing, ask for the same things so the numbers line up. How many hours does the price cover, and what is the rate after that? Is setup and breakdown included, or billed? Is there a planning call, or does the DJ arrive with a laptop and ask what you like? Is lighting in the price, and if so, what fixtures? Are you insured, and can you send a certificate to the venue? What is the backup if you are sick or something breaks? A quote that answers all of those is comparable. A quote that is a number and a date is not.
The full breakdown, including the add-ons, is on the pricing page. To get a quote, send us the date, the address or venue, roughly how many guests, and what the evening looks like. We reply within 24 hours through the contact page or at (201) 705-3139, with a package recommendation and only the add-ons we think the party actually needs.