Parties on the Cheap (via Mowser)

Throwing a Large Party for Less

August 5, 2008

Last weekend we celebrated my husband’s birthday with over 60 of our closet friends . We decided to hold the party after church, so that meant serving lunch. I knew that this party could easily cost a few hundred dollars if I didn’t plan carefully. Here are some things I did to keep the party costs to a minimum.

Decide why you are having a party. For many years when I hosted a party, it would mean a chance to show off my latest cooking or baking skills. Then one day a good friend enlightened me, having a party is about visiting with friends and making memories. It isn’t about the food. When people ask what they can bring, tell them! Many times in the past I would decline help because I didn’t want to burden people, it is my party after all. This is quite silly. Many of my friends love to cook, and the ones that don’t can easily pick up a bag of chips or buns at the store. Keep the drinks simple. For our last party we served water and lemonade. Keep the food simple. Last weekend’s menu consisted of sloppy joes (crockpot), hotdogs, baked beans, corn, watermelon, veggies, and chips. I spent less than $75 on food, drinks, and paper products for 60 people and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Make your own cake. I am not a cake decorator, but store bought mixes make things very easy. We had 2 cakes, cupcakes, plus a giant tub of ice cream. I spent about $10 (out of the $75) for all the desserts. There is no way I could have purchased a cake for 60 plus ice cream for under $10.

My final tip isn’t about money. When hosting a party plan a menu that you can prepare ahead of time. I had the sloppy joe meat ready early in the week. The veggies were cut up the day before. I probably spent about 3 hours total in food prep for the party and that included decorating the cakes, which takes me a long, long time. The day of the party I only cut the watermelon and boiled the hot dogs and corn. This made for a very stress free party.

Since we regularly host parties at our house (although normally not for 60), I would love to hear some of your ideas for throwing an inexpensive party.

Visit Mary’s blog for more Tightwad Tuesday.

Comments

Stacy says:

August 5, 2008 at 5:48 pm

Very good tips!

Nancy says:

August 5, 2008 at 9:35 pm

Excellent tips, particularly about the cake. We always make our own cakes – decorating them is now a family tradition. Best effort – Dad’s R2D2 cake, made for our son when he turned 6. Most crunchy effort – our daughter’s self-decorated cake (when she turned 6), covered with a one-inch layer of colored decorating sugar (pink and purple, yum).

Twice I hosted four parties each Christmas, for our entire Navy command, and I made nearly everything myself. (I let Costco make the cream puff balls.) Planning ahead and choosing items you can pre-make really help. I made frozen logs of cookie dough in October and sliced and baked them the day before each party. I made pre-frozen hors d’oeuvres that I broiled as guests arrived. One hot dip, a couple of cold ones, a shrimp plate…you get the idea. I borrowed Mom’s tablecloths and washed them between parties.

Watermelon is a perfect summer party dessert – I recommend it highly.

Mary aka Canadagirl says:

August 6, 2008 at 9:52 am

Wow you did GREAT on your savings.!!! I will have to post what we did to hoast our dinner for 50 people the night before our wedding . But I wanted to stop by briefly now before VBS.

Blessings and ((hugs))
In Him <
-Mary

Robyn says:

August 6, 2008 at 10:14 am

I like to make homemade pizza. My family loves it as well. We had a ‘party’, if you will, of friends and I had each family bring toppings. I made the dough and pizza sauce. We then all had a great time of topping the pizzas!! Even the kids enjoyed this one!!

Thanks for the party tips!!!

Robyn