Tickets are already being snapped up for the upcoming blowouts this summer. But with funds dwindling, which does the discerning event-goer choose?

Here, we take a look at four of the biggest balls of the summer calendar, to help you decide where to best invest your holiday funds.

£39.50 – £43.50, times TBC.

Powderham Castle.

Number of tickets: unknown (2681 likes on Facebook group) Dress Code: Black tie.

ESB are offering “two stages, huge headline acts [to be announced], cirque du soleil aerial artists and performers, walkabout entertainers and fire breathers, specially designed sound and lighting, spectacular fireworks, massive circus big tops, free fairground and free transport to and from the site.”

They are certainly going balls-out with their venue, entertainments and ticket price, especially since it’s their first year. BUT – and it’s a big but – with no previous experience in Exeter, and the headline acts not confirmed before first ticket release, they are taking a real gamble with this one; as you might be.

£10 – £18.50, times TBC

Exeter Phoenix

800 tickets (593 attending on Facebook event).

Dress code: None.

The boys at Thick As Thieves and Beats & Bass are bringing something different, with Shadow Child, Kill Frenzy, Friend Within and Kry Wolf performing on the main stage, accompanied by the B&B and TaT in-house DJs spread across the club’s four stages. To accompany the local and foreign talent a free BBQ has been rumoured.

If you haven’t already been to the Phoenix, it’s definitely something to cross off your Exeter bucket-list. This one’s no black tie event, and is a third of the price of the other three balls. Anyway, who says you can’t shuffle in heels?

£34, 6pm-2am.

Shobrooke Park.

2000 tickets sold, more to come (2138 attending on Facebook event).

Dress code: Smart

EGB boast spacious grounds and a host of attractions, including: free hot air balloon; live burlesque tent; Bavarian beer house; lakeside live music amphitheatre, featuring the winners of Exeter’s Got Talent; whiskey and cigar tent; dwarf ringleader; land zorbs and human skittles; secret bar; free shisha; popcorn and candyfloss; 80’s-themed dance tent; champagne bar; carnival stalls; DJs including Ben Pearce, Harry Wolfman and Real Connoisseur. Also, there’s a few hidden bottles of champagne can be found around the premises to those looking hard enough…

Think a pocket-size Secret Garden Party, in shiny shoes. With last year’s EGB proving a huge success, it looks like 4Play and Original Sin are going to be bringing back bourgeois-bohemian on an even grander scale.

£35 – £55 (dependent on optional food/drinks), 8pm-2am.

The Great Hall.

1800 tickets (sold out 3 years running).

Dress code: Black tie, with a Roaring 20s twist.

The Students’ Guild (not to be confused with the Student’s Guild – that poor soul who clearly didn’t read our ‘Know Your Guilds’ article) promise an “all-inclusive event that will combine great music, entertainments, beverages, a main meal and midnight munchies, all against a [Roaring 20s] themed backdrop.”

For those sadly leaving Exeter, this looks like one the majority will be forking out for. More than anything, it’s the last opportunity to celebrate and get in those last valuable hours of gold-rushing. Every year it gets stellar reviews, and has the added bonus of a theme if you’re into flapping. It’s going to be big, lairy and the last chance to get our gladrags on at a uni event.