Entertaining on a Budget!

At this time of year, some people open their home for friends and relatives. They look forward to hosting parties with wonderful decor and food.

Budget Woes

Unfortunately, with the economic constraints, persons are scaling back on the size of parties or not having them at all.  The problem is that guests do not often realize the amount of money that hosts of parties have to put in order to ensure that a party is a success. A large part of the expense is food and drink.

Instead of buying expensive drinks, one option could be to offer guests a home made drink.  This will cut down on costs as only the ingredients need to be bought. A delicious drink can go a long way to pleasing the palate of all the guests.

A crowd favourite for appetizers at parties are chips and dip. The dips can be homemade instead of purchasing expensive dips and you can provide your guests a wide array of sauces.

When you put out inexpensive snacks and appetizers before serving the main course it helps to cut down on your guests appetite so less main course will need to be served.

How about asking each guest to bring their favourite dish?

What about offering a prize to the person that brings the best dish?

Just make sure to give everyone a general theme or type of dish they should bring. That way you don’t end up with 10 different kinds of macaroni salad. If you don’t feel comfortable giving food assignments to your guests, wait for people to volunteer!  Anytime someone asks if they can help with the party or bring something just give them an item off your menu.

Cut down on food expenses by reorganizing your buffet table. Place less expensive items like chips, veggies, dips and salads at the beginning of the buffet. That way your guests fill up their plates before they get to the more expensive meat at the end of the table.

Decorations
Skip buying expensive decorations and try your hand at making your own! A quick search on the Internet will give step by step instructions on almost any decorations project. Use whatever you have on hand to give your party space fun.

Have you been to the beach lately? Well maybe you can find some shells to add as accent pieces.
If you put together the right colours any space will come alive!
What about the invitations?   Rather than sending out paper invitations, start a Facebook event or use an Evite!

So how do you entertain on a budget? Let me hear from you!

Tags: parties