How to hire a tent, chairs and plates for a function in Bengaluru

A basic shamiana and 100 plastic chairs. The one shop that prints plastic chairs doesn't say per what or for how long, so get the tent and the chairs quoted together. Quotes only compare if every tent house prices the same thing. Give each of them these:

• The size in feet, from your own tape (question 4).
• Side walls, if there's any chance of rain (question 5).
• What goes on the ground: a carpet or durries, or nothing.
• Putting it up, taking it down and transport, and how many days they'll bill. A tent put up the day before can count as two days.
• GST, and a bill that shows it.

Borrowing still works. If your apartment, a temple hall or a community association near you keeps chairs and vessels, that costs nothing but a thank-you and the washing up.

Fans, lights and power are usually extra. Ask whether they're in the tent quote. A generator is a separate hire, and our sound and light rentals guide covers it.

Our read: the styled set is chosen to match, for photos. Neither page says what the extra pays for. For a pooja, a condolence or a meal at home, plain covered chairs do the job.

Through mytribe, tables and chairs come with a decor job. We don't have a tent house or a rental shop yet. Dream Decor sets out chairs, tables and a dance floor as part of a decor job. Ask for the price.

Smart Chef Catering keeps to the food. Nazia, who runs it:

If the caterer hires the crockery, ask who washes it and who takes it back. For chairs and a tent, see question 2 and the ones after it. If a cook is doing the food at home, our guide to cooks for functions covers vessels and gas, and our party caterers guide covers what a plate costs.

Rows of chairs fit more people. For a pooja or a condolence, with chairs in rows and no tables, the same tent seats more. Guests standing with a plate need about 8 sq ft each.

Chairs: one a guest, and a few more for elders who come early. Tables: a round table seats about five, so 100 guests need about 20 tables.

These sizes are for the seating only. Add room for a stage, a dance floor or a buffet. The same guide says the most common tent for 100 to 150 guests seated with a dance floor is 40 by 80 or 40 by 100 ft.

Transparent and dome tents are for a party that wants to be seen and photographed. We found no Bengaluru price for either on a business's own site. A clear tent gets hot under the afternoon sun, so ask about the timing.

Finding a plate bank. One non-profit, named in the sources, lends steel plates and tumblers for events from branches across India, with a request a week ahead. It opens Monday to Saturday afternoons, so for a Sunday function you keep the plates till Monday. Large orders can carry a handling charge, and it may ask you to put up its banner.

The deposit. Its English rules say 10% of the items' value, and its Kannada rules say the full value, 10% in cash and 90% by cheque. Ask which applies.

Renting crockery. One Bengaluru styled-rental business rents crockery by the set. A plain white set of 16 plates, 16 quarter plates and 16 small bowls is ₹7,500, and 40 plates, 40 quarter plates and 24 bowls ₹15,000, delivery and pickup extra. That page doesn't say for how long. Its dessert plates and glasses are rented for 24 hours. Its sets start at ₹4,800, for small 5 inch platters with a ₹10,000 minimum order.

What's banned. Plastic plates, cups, glasses, spoons, forks, straws and thermocol decoration. Paper plates, areca and leaves are fine. Ask any caterer or tent house which plates and glasses they'll bring.

Washing a hired set. Crockery from a rental shop may have to go back washed, or carry a washing charge, so ask before the day. Diviskitchen told us she sends someone to collect her hired vessels, and that families want reusable plates these days.

Running a society's festival? Our guide to Ganesh utsav in apartments covers the committee's side.

Plan for it to stay a day. Shubham Parties collects what he rents the next day or the day after, and someone has to watch the chairs and vessels till then.

Ask these too:

• The time they'll come. On a festival day a tent house has many jobs, so write it down against your muhurta.
• To see the stock that's coming, or visit the godown, if the photos on WhatsApp look newer than you'd expect.
• Whether the vessels are kept for vegetarian functions, if that matters to your family.