Apply Mathematical Knowledge to Plan a Party

Are you looking for a way to show your students the relevance of decimals and percentages to life in the real world? Look no further than Teach Starter’s plan a party math investigation!

This open-ended mathematics investigation has been designed to deepen students’ understanding of decimals and percentages within the context of financial literacy.

The Scenario

Your class has asked your teacher if you can celebrate the end of the school year with a party. Your teacher has agreed, provided that the class takes full responsibility for planning the event
and works within a budget. Food, party decorations and serving supplies will need to be purchased from your local party supplies shop, Pandora’s Party Palace. Luckily, they are currently having a sale and items can be purchased at discount prices.

Before planning the celebration, your teacher and classmates must discuss and agree to a fair budget for the party expenses. Once decided upon, each student must create a party plan for
the class celebration. The party plan must provide a full list of all food, party decorations and serving supplies to be purchased, the quantity of each item required, the total cost per item and the overall cost of the celebration. Your teacher will then select one of the party plans to put into action!

The Task

In this investigation, students must use their knowledge and understanding of decimals and percentages to plan an end-of-year celebration for their class. The party plan must adhere to a budget agreed to by the class, as well as a set of conditions laid down by the teacher. The students must use the party supplies catalog provided to select food, party decorations and serving supplies for the celebration, then record all costings on the worksheets provided.

Throughout this investigation, the students will:

• Calculate discount prices on food and party supplies
• Select food, party decorations and serving supplies
• Calculate the total cost of their selections
• Create a party cost sheet

You’ll find everything you need to implement this 3D shape robot project in the comprehensive student workbook. The workbook contains the following:

• Teacher notes, detailing a range of important information about the investigation
• Answers for all discount calculations
• A detailed description of the investigation for students, including step-by-step instructions
• Party supplies catalog
• Various recording worksheets and party planning templates
• A checklist for students
• Reflection questions

Differentiate This Plan a Party Math Project

Catering to individual learning needs when implementing student-led project work can be challenging! Before delving into this project with your class, check out our recommendations for how to keep your less-confident students AND your high fliers engaged and on track to succeed!

• Supporting Students – Less-capable students could be supported in their learning by allowing them to use digital technologies when performing calculations. Alternatively, the task could be simplified by reducing the number of items on the party supplies catalog, or reducing the number of people attending the celebration.
• Extending Students – More capable students could be challenged to complete calculations for a range of additional scenarios; such as sourcing reasonably priced entertainment for the celebration, further reducing costs by a certain percentage or catering for an additional number of people.

Download to Plan the Perfect Party!

Access the printable student workbook via the Download button at the top of the page. To save paper, we recommend that you print the workbook as a double-sided document.

Be sure to remove the teacher notes and answer pages before making workbooks for your students.

Click for More Real World Math Projects 

Looking for more resources to help your students connect their math knowledge to the real world? Click below for some suggestions from our teacher team: