We know that the holidays are fast approaching.  We're all watching our pennies, but that doesn't mean that we can't host a holiday party for friends and family and still keep it all in the budget!  Why don't we brainstorm on how we can host a party and still save.  What are some of your tips, comments, recipes, decorating ideas, and anything else you can think of?

 Here are some of the things I was mulling over last night.

1.)  Start planning now.  Everyone knows the key to saving money is to plan ahead and be organized.  Now is the time to decide what type of party you'd like.  Do you want to have a small dinner party, or an informal get together? Think about your guest list.  Who do you know for sure you want to invite?  Keeping the party on the smaller side is more than likely going to save you money.  Do you want to provide everything, or do you want to go potluck?  Edey posted a great Flylady link in another post about getting your home cleaned and organized.

2.)  Send out the invitations soon.  "Premium" days in the month of December quickly fill up on people's calendars.  Once your guest list is ready, write out your invitations (a cheap pack of Christmas cards from the dollar store will work nicely) and get them in the mail by November 21st.  There's always free online invitation services like www.evite.com for your friends and family that have email.

3.)  What about children?  You might want to consider having an informal get together where your guests can bring their children.  Formal adults-only parties are always fun, but its nice as a guest to know you don't have to book and pay a babysitter for another holiday party.  If you have children of your own it makes it much easier.  Will there be a teenager or two to keep an eye on the other kids? You can set them up in a den or separate room with a TV and some Christmas classics on VHS or DVD.  What about some crafts for them to do?  Not only will the activity keep them happy and occupied, it also gives them something to take home.  There's plenty of great low-cost craft ideas on the internet, just do a search for "christmas crafts for children" and you'll have all the ideas you'll ever need!  Plan the crafts out now so you can gather up the materials a little at a time when the budget allows.  For pre-made craft kits, small toys and other things like that, try www.orientaltrading.com.

4.) Decorating isn't even necessary if you're already set-up for the holidays.  What about some ideas for a beautiful and frugal centerpiece for your holiday dinner table or buffet?  I always take a box of colored round Christmas bulbs and mound them up in a glass bowl on our kitchen table.  Its festive, easy and looks really elegant.  Candles of varying heights on a platter are always nice, just make sure there's nothing flammable dangling that could cause a fire.  Look to your local dollar store to suppliment your decorations.  If you don't have a nice table-cloth you can pick one up cheaply here, or cover your table in a nice print of Christmas wrap (bought on sale last year after Christmas, of course. )

5.) What about food and drinks?  Going non-alcoholic can save you a lot of money. So can mixing up an punch where you're using a large ratio of juice/soda/sparkling water to alcohol.  If you've received bottles of win through out the year that you haven't used, consider a mulled wine in the crockpot.  BYOB is always an option.  If you're serving alcohol be prepared to take keys and call cabs if necessary.  In this day and age you can be held responsible if someone drinks at your party and has an accident driving home.  

Platters of sliced cheese, crackers and summer sausage are a nice buffet filler.  If blocks of cheese go on sale throw them in the freezer now to use for your party. Crudite and a dip are a snack buffet staple.  Chop your vegetables for the tray yourself a day ahead, its always cheaper than buying pre-chopped veggies and platters.  A simple dip of sour cream and a powdered ranch dressing envelope should run you under $3.00 and can be used for veggies or potato chips.  How about making up a big container of chex mix for your guests to nibble on?  Buy ground beef on sale and bake off and freeze meatballs. When party time comes dump them in the crockpot with a jar of grape jelly and a jar of chili sauce for an easy delicious hot option.   Platters of homemade cookies, candies, brownies and maybe some cupcakes with a sprinkling of green, red or blue sugar (made from granulated sugar and a drop of food coloring mixed with a fork) are all easy and don't require a fork.

If you'd rather have a dinner party, plan your menu now and pick up ingredients a little at a time or when they go on sale.  Make what you can a day or two ahead so you have more time to spend with your guests and less time in the kitchen.

If you don't have enough serving pieces check out your local dollar store, thrift/second-hand store, or ask to borrow from someone.  Why buy a punch bowl you'll use maybe once or twice a year when your aunt has a lovely one that she'd be willing to loan?  You can get plates, cups, napkins and disposable silverware cheaply at a dollar store or discount place like Family Dollar, Dollar General or Ollie's.

 So what are your tips and ideas?  I think it would be easy to pull off a small holiday party for under $50 if you're organized and shop for bargins.  What do you think?

One of my favorites is having a pot luck where everyone brings something they like for everyone else to try it's a great way for people to make/ try a variety of diffrent things with little stress on the hostess. (I usually bring a desert cause most everyone brings either a side or main dish).

 Another idea for tablecloths is to measure your table and just buy a piece of holiday material. You dont even have to hem it. Of course the best time to buy is on the after holiday sales. I have a nice one for July 4th. Found the material on sale at walmart years ago. If you sew, you can him up the ends. Babs

Hit the day-old bread store and use toast instead of crackers, or roll the crustless bread with cold cuts and/or homemade spreads.  This also works for fondues. You can whip a little buttermilk into the cream cheese to stretch it, before adding seasonings.

If you want to make guacamole, use half frozen peas or broccoli (stems only, no florets) to replace the expensive avocados.  If you serve hummus, use sunflower seeds, ground in the blender or food processor, and Chinese sesame oil in place of the tahini.  Of course, you can buy low-fat or fat-free sour cream, yogurt, and cream cheese.

Buy in bulk!

If you have a Sam's (or similar) membership or know someone who does and can tag along, buying in bulk can really help your budget when it comes to the food part. One example is unless you find a great sale somewhere, you can often get big blocks of cheese from Sams for much cheaper than you could in the local grocery store.

One of the cheapest appetizers that I do and bring places when we have a party are tortilla rolls: I "fill" mine with sour cream and onion spread (very lightly otherwise they'll be soggy) and sliced ham. Roll up the tortilla into a log and then slice into cute little spiral appetizers. You can fill them with just about anything so get creative! Also, the tortillas can be bought in bulk if you are making a lot. This makes a great presentation for little work.

I second the pot-luck thing! Most people are more than willing to bring something... even if it's jsut asking someone to bring some 2liters of soda, it's still a help to the host/hostess.

Have a blessed day!

Julie

I have two parties in December, Christmas is here, and I am hosting the Ladies Bible Study on the 15th.  Thanks for ideas.  

Luckily our decorations are just the Christmas things, the tree,stockings, etc.  The kids cut out snowflakes.  

On November 23, my DH and I will be hosting our daughter's adoption party.  Throughout the adoption process, there are a couple of times in which one can celebrate.  However, ours didn't quite hit those marks.  We found out 16 hours before our adoption placement was to occur.  So we signed papers at our kitchen table, without much of a to do.

But now we're throwing a very special party.  It's an adoption placement, official adoption, baptismal and thank you party all in one right before U.S's Thanksgiving.  Boy, will we have a lot to be thankful.

Since our party is bigger than what we can hold in our house, we're having it in a small convention room in a hotel.  A good family friend is letting us use the room at a down time (from 2:00 until 5:00 p.m. on a Sunday.)  We're also allowed to bring in our own food, and will purchase coffee from the hotel.

I bought bright colored plastic tableclothes in orange, red, yellow, and green  These are 8' tableclothes for fifty cents a piece.  I found some silver colored planters that I put in dried fall flowers.  Those will be used on every other table.  A small pumpkin will be on the other tables.  I found napkins that have all of the fall colors on them.  We will be using paper products and those are bought.

There will be a small program, about 40 minutes long telling our adoption story, doing a balloon release, presenting a slide show, and my brother will sing a song.  During this time there will be appetizers of Vegetable pizza made with crescent roll with cream cheese and topped with veggies and cheese, tortilla roll ups, marinated tortellini skewers, smoked almonds, an apple ball with nilla wafers and gingersnap cookies, smoked salmon ball with crackers, apricots dipped in white chocolate.

Most of the ingredients for these items are from Sam's.  I bought blocks of cream cheese, tortilla's, nilla wafers, dried apricots, and crackers.  In addition all of the cutlery and paper products were bought there as well.

Then after the program and balloon release, we will have Cream of Potato Soup, buns with asst meats and cheese, hot crab dip, various crackers,  asst veggies with dip, asst fruit with dip.  For dessert pumpkin rolls, caramel apple cheese cake, double chocolate cheese cake, or white cake with raspberry filling.  There are home made caramels and cream cheese mints.

To drink we will have coffee, hot apple cider, punch and ice water.

On each chair will be a fall colored balloon.  Towards the end of the program we will go outside and do a balloon release.  So the balloons will be used as decorations as well.  There will be a couple of table top sized balloon bouquets as well.

I sent out invitations to everyone who is important in our DD's life.  Evidently it seems to be well received.  The invitations were homemade with a picture of DD when we got here, and a picture of her now.

The invitations went out Friday, and we have received many RSVP's, already.

Ariana, these are great ideas for a great party, no matter what the size. We keep our gatherings to 12 or less but even if there are more people, you can keep to a budget and get by with less. Potlucks are a great idea (and we do those a lot) but for parties where you don't want your guests to have to bring things, these are great ideas to keep the cost low.

Your party sounds lovely, BUT. . . I am concerned about your plans for a balloon release.  Celebrating your occasion will lead to death and/or injury when these released balloons migrate into the environment.  Balloons that are released often wind up in lakes, rivers or the ocean, depending upon how far they travel, and can choke, strangle, maim or poison wildlife, birds, and marine animals who eat or get entangled in them.  

I don't want to rain on your parade, but I would emphatically urge you to re-consider that part of the party planning.  Why pair a joyful occasion with the potential for environmental damage and suffering?

Thanks in advance for reconsidering it.

 Sincerely,

Laura

 Striving--congrats on your DD's adoption! That's fantastic!

We're having a first-night party for Hanukkah...we always invite our friend from temple, my family (DH's family is a couple of continents away) and our friends for the holidays, and the list is pretty well set. As far as decorating, what exists as far as Hannukah-specific stuff tends to be either ugly or overpriced, so I just go with blue and silver...I think a color-theme instead of trying to find holiday-specific makes it a lot easier and cheaper when decorating. The Hannukiah is of course the centerpiece, and we'd light it party or not. For food, we're being unhealthy and doing lots of fried stuff (because the oil reminds us of the oil that burned)...the traditional dish, latkes (fried potato cakes) is not particularly expensive, and I canned some applesauce this summer to have with them.  I'm also going to make homemade donuts, challah (bread), probably carrot kugel (my carrot kugel is probably my best dish), and a big cheese puff main dish and let everyone else bring the drinks, vegetables, and desserts. For the little ones, I got a bunch of dollar store gifts, little dreidels, and I'll get some gelt (chocolate coins). I'm a big fan of Oriental Trading Company for party-favor type things. Holidays at our house tend to be big, loud, crowded, casual things, but they're happy and fun, and if we run out of food (hasn't happened yet) we can always order a pizza.