One thing that NOBODY, understandably, enjoys about entertaining these days is the cost of hosting a party. Trust me, I get that whole-heartedly. But, after having many-a person over for a meal, I have finally figured out some tricks and techniques to lower the cost of entertaining to a bare minimun. I thought I'd share some tips with my readers and hopefully help you guys save a buck or two in the future!!
As an example of some tricks, I included some pictures of our dinner party yesterday evening. We had some co-workers/friends of my husband over for dinner and it was a BLAST!!! It was a perfect Florida evening, with the sun setting over the lake in our backyard and the perfect amount of chill to not make the air hot and muggy. So, of course we decided to eat outside on our patio and have appetizers inside.
Here are some tips I used to keep the cost of this evening well below extravagance : )
First up, I did all of my (meal) grocery shopping at Aldi. As I have shared before, Aldi has prices that are truly inconceivable and I always leave satisfied that my grocery bill is significantly slashed. Not to mention, you can find almost anything at Aldi these days. Just be prepared for a non-traditional shopping experience and I don't think youre wallet will leave disappointed.
To add onto that, I typically serve meals that will yield leftovers for my husband and myself. This time around, I purchased an inexpensive, glazed ham (which I brilliantly did not get a picture of...haha) to serve our guests. The savvy thing about that is, I can save on our cost of lunch meat for the week since we have so much ham leftover for sandwich fillings. That saved me about $4.00 extra in this week's grocery bill. I also purchased pita chips for an appetizer, and only used half the bag as I was serving it with other appetizers. So half a bag of pita chips are our "chips" for this week's home-cooked lunches. Yet another thing I love to serve for side items are mashed potatos. We made a huge pile of potatos, and still have half the pan left, so there is a side item for our weekly dinners at home. As you shop for a party, you simply have to keep in mind what will serve the most and last into your weekly grocery needs. This way you arent shopping for TWO grocery lists and breaking the bank.
As suggestions, some of my many favorite inexpensive appetizers to serve are deviled eggs and tortilla chips and salsa. Both can be purchased for LESS than two dollars. And, lets be honest, who dosn't love chips and salsa?!
Many times people feel obligated to splurge on making their homes look nicely decorated for entertaining. I definitely understand the need in sprucing up your home when others come over. But there are inexpenisve, small ways to make your house look appealing without spending a fortune. To me, flowers are the best way to add color to a spring event without spending a fortune.
Yesterday evening, I bought these little cuties for $0.96 from WalMart. That's right...ninty six cents a piece!!!! So I spent roughly three dollars on curb appeal. WAHOO!! I then arranged the flowers in a pre-existing planter.
I also bought two boquets of flowers from Aldi at the awesome cost of $3.98 per boquet. I put one of them in the main room of our home in a nice vase to bring a pop of color.
As far as tablescape goes, I hit up one of my favorite places of all time for those items....you guessed it...Goodwill. I found four cream linnen napkins at $0.49 a piece and a table runner at $1.99. I also found four of these ugly napkin rings 4 for $1.00
My cure for these guys was to use some crafting supplies I already had (like ribbon) and craft girls/guys napkin rings for the party
GIRLS
GUYS
I also bought two plates and a teacup at the cost of about $3.50 and used my hot glue gun to create a groovy appetizer stand. Here it is:
For the table centerpiece, I used a white little pitcher I bought at Goodwill for $1.99 and put in that other boquet of flowers I mentioned earlier. I also put two glass candleholders on the side (from Dollar Tree) and two tapered candle sticks (also from DT 2/$1.00). I put my little cream napkins/their respective holders on the plates. This is an idea of what it looked like (minus ugly water bottles).
Even though I'm not sure I've found perfection in doing these events quite yet, it's all a fun and awesome learning experience and I get better every time. I hope these tips are helpful for you guys!!!! Until next time,
Eliz