Throwing a holiday party is one of my favorite things to do. The holidays provide excellent opportunities to cook up wonderful recipes and share good food with friends. The only problem is the expense. Holiday parties can be pricey. Luckily, my partner and I have devised ways to keep our costs down without sacrificing holiday cheer!
Every Christmas we throw a tree trimming party, inviting our closest friends over for some eggnog while they help us decorate our Christmas tree. We've hosted this party for years, and below are my cost-saving tips learned through out those years.
1. Make a Budget
Sounds simple I know, but making a budget really forces you to think about every single purchase and prioritize your items. How much food, booze, and holiday decorations is always determined by our budget. Don't underestimate the power of this tip!
2. Make the Party a Potluck
For the last couple of years, our parties have been appetizer potlucks. We ask every guest to bring one small appetizer to share. Having guests bring an appetizer cuts down on your expenses immensely and unlike a side dish or main dish, an appetizer doesn't impose too much on your guests. This started as a cost cutting decision for us, but it quickly became the center of the party. All of our guests were excited to share their dish and there was always plenty of food to go around.
We still make two or three appetizers, however. We do this to ensure that the first couple of guests arriving have something to snack on while the rest of the guests arrive.
3. Only Offer One Cocktail
This is another one of our tricks to keeping the costs down. We make a large batch of one cocktail and that's it! We usually get one or two bottles of wine and some bottled water, but no more. Stocking a full bar can burn a whole through your budget very quickly, so this tip makes a huge difference. For our tree trimming party we make a large batch of classic eggnog. Guests will usually bring more wine or beer so there is always plenty of booze to go around.
4. Shop at Your Local Ethnic Market
We do this for our regular groceries anyways, but shopping at your local ethnic market is WAY cheaper than a big chain grocery store. Lucky for us, Los Angeles is filled with Mexican, Korean, and Persian markets so there is lots of variety. Produce especially is immensely cheaper at these markets. We always walk away with bags and bags of fresh produce and only pay about $10 dollars! Find your local ethnic market and compare prices.
5. Buy Christmas Decorations the Day After Christmas
Ok, I know this won't help you for THIS year's holiday party, but this an extremely thrifty way of stocking up on decorations for your party. Paper plates, napkins, and cups are all on sale the day after Christmas, so why not take advantage and stock up for next year's party? Actually, even today might be a good day for discounted merchandise. In preparation for our party last weekend I made an emergency stop at our local craft supply store and they had TONS of holiday napkins and plates for 75% off. I happily stocked up and now I'm set for next year!
These other small tips can also help keep costs down:
• Schedule the party before or after dinner time. Guests won't expect dinner and you won't have to provide as much food.
• Refrigerate leftovers and get creative with bagged lunches. Can you turn an appetizer into a lunch? I'm sure you can!
• Freeze leftover wine and use in sauces. Quarter of a bottle of wine left? Place it in a resealable plastic bag and freeze. It might not freeze all the way, but you'll be able to use it when making sauces.
Do you have any cost saving tips for holiday parties? Leave a comment and share your tips!
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That Yule Log is gorgeous. Is there a post for that?
A $3 loaf of french bread can be stretched a long way into appetizer toasts. Carmelize some onions, top with a little provolone (or gruyere if you're feeling fancy) and toast under the broiler is one example. Bruschetta is another. White beans, a little olive oil, garlic, a little lemon juice, all smashed together make great dip. Homemade crackers are cheap and not too hard. Ditto homemade breadsticks. Buy nuts in bulk at a coop, toast, and toss in a spice mix or glaze them. Seasonal fruit & veggie trays are also really easy and cheap and I think people appreciate the healthy crunch of fresh fruits & veggies during the sugar, salt, and fat-laden holidays. Bacon-wrapped dates dipped in soy sauce and broiled are another relatively cheap, relatively easy hot hors d'oeuvre. Home-popped popcorn, especially the stovetop kind with either a carmel or kettle corn topping or spiced or just salted is also really easy and cheap. People love popcorn.
I find that most people are not really expecting shrimp cocktail and puff pastry spinach purses and tiny filet mignon steaks on top of twice baked baby potatoes. They like simple, non-messy finger food, a mixture of hot and cold, salty and sweet, soft and crunchy. If you can get those down, you're set!
A note on serving - if you've got the storage room, scout local thrift stores for dessert plates, serving platters, extra silverware, and stemware. If you look, you can get this stuff for extra-cheap (we're talking $0.25-0.50 per plate/glass). I find that people appreciate real silverware and dishes, even if they are mismatched. It helps if you've got a dishwasher, too. : )
I love entertaining, but haven't really gotten to do any yet this year! Chafing at the bit. Maybe in the New Year, when I'll take my own advice, plus the single cocktail suggestion! Had a cocktail party last New Year's and spent $70 on booze alone. The upside? We didn't have to buy booze for the rest of the year! Lol...
Awesome tips, thanks for posting them! It's always hard (at any time of year) when you want to have a bunch of friends over but have no money for it. With these ideas, it's no only possible, it's realistic too.
I like the idea of serving only one cocktail. I've hosted a few sangria parties, which had uh, sangria and munchies. I also went to a great mulled wine party in grad school that was a huge hit. Sort of the winter version of a sangria party.
Some of VintageJenta's tips sounded great too.
However, I'm not a fan of buying things a year in advance when they're on sale, keeping things in storage a whole year is just not practical unless you have endless storage at your house. I'm in an apartment and space is at a premium. Is it worth keeping it a whole year to save a buck? Not really.
http://single-girl-gourmet.blogspot.com
I find that Giada's fiery angel hair pasta is perfect for parties, especially dinner parties. It's expensive and easy to make. It's vegetarian, so it accomodates different dietary preferences.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/fiery-angel-hair-pasta-recipe/index.html
When hosting parties, the key is to not overdo it, as the commenter above stated. Personally, I love cheese platters.
And spending less on the food allows you to allocate more of your party budget to the wine and beer!