If you are planning a holiday party, you already know that food can be one of your biggest expenses. However, you can plan the perfect party and still cut food costs. You don't even need to consider serving expensive appetizers and beverages to throw a great party this holiday season. A little imagination, creativity, and effort can make your festivities a truly memorable occasion.
Here's just a few fun and simple ideas for stretching your holiday entertainment budget by saving big on the food cost at this year's holiday party:
Thirst Quenchers On A Budget - The start to any successful holiday party is the beverages. Rather than put a table out filled with cans of soda and bottles of water, buy big liters of soda and jugs or pitchers of fresh drinking water. A casual party will allow guests to travel around with their cups, returning to the table to refill with ice and more soda. If your holiday party is more formal and you have someone serving your guests, you'll still want to use the larger bottles, but keep them out of sight. Consider mixing up a punch out of frozen concentrated juices and a splash of clear soda. It's inexpensive and pretty to boot! Don't forget to keep coffee as well as hot tea and iced tea handy during the entire event. It's inexpensive and you will be a good host.
Your Basic Snacks - Serving snack food at your holiday gathering doesn't have to be boring. Arrange a variety of fresh fruit and cheeses on pretty seasonal platters. Be sure to shop around for fruit and buy in season to save money. Have another platter or two for sausages and other cheeses along with a variety of crackers. Put out a big tray of fresh cut veggies with an assortment of dips. Purchase an assortment of veggies and wash and cut your own to save money and get a bit creative with your dips, looking for recipes to make your own, to make your veggie tray a bit different from others. Buy nuts in bulk to save money, and put them in little pretty dishes all around the room to encourage mingling. Consider some bowls of olives in and among the trays of cheese.
Fun Finger Foods - Small sandwiches, chips, dips, and vegetable trays are relatively inexpensive. Buy, wash, and cut your own vegetables to save money and to control the quality. Try making some fun little Pinwheels, which are basically just any ingredients, like sliced ham, spinach, and cream cheese, rolled up inside something thin, like a tortilla, then cut into little circles. Even seasoned boneless chicken wings or meatballs can be purchased for relatively little expense and served easily. To dress things up a bit, buy a bunch of the cheapest fresh greens you can find and use them to garnish the chicken wings and veggies platters for a real festive "catered event" look. Simply supply holiday napkins and small, sturdy paper plates and allow your guests to serve themselves. This is a perfect opportunity for easy mingling.
International Night - If your holiday party will be a dinner party where fingers foods are not appropriate, you may want to serve inexpensive dishes chosen from a particular nationality. Every country has some sort of dish that's frugal as well as delicious. If Italian food is your favorite, try spaghetti with garlic bread and an antipasto tray. If you find a good price on plain cheese pizza, you can add different toppings to have a nice variety while still keeping the price down. A Mexican meal is also easy to plan. Anything from simple Tacos, to Enchiladas, to Mexican Rice will certainly please your special holiday guests. Warm Tortilla Chips and fresh Salsa will stretch out the meal. Some surprisingly inexpensive meals to make are Greek dishes. Consider classic Greek Salads with big chunks of bread. You may also want to try Cabbage Rolls, or Lahanodolmathes, which are easy to make and quite inexpensive.
Potluck Time - A holiday potluck is a great way to get to know your guests! What better way to share your holiday than to share your recipes. Potlucks are appropriate for very casual holiday gatherings of folks who feel comfy together or folks who want to get to know each other better. Casual is the keyword here. When you are the host of a holiday potluck, you want to be responsible for at least one main dish, then you can choose to make it a real potluck, meaning you have no idea what's coming, or you may want to ask people to bring something within a certain food category. My opinion is that if it's a potluck, make it a real one, but if someone asks you what they should bring, than you can certainly steer them toward something you may want to round out the dinner. Potlucks are fun and you will surely end up with an interesting assortment of foods. Remind your guests to bring their recipes, unless they are keeping a family recipe a secret!
Just Desserts - If you plan your holiday party for late evening, you may want to have a Dessert Party. There are many dessert recipes that are inexpensive and easy to make. For instance, you can purchase a undecorated angel food cake, inexpensively, from any grocery store that has a bakery department. Then, with very little expense and even less effort, you can create an assortment of toppings to go over your cake. Serve by drizzling some melted chocolate, powdered sugar frosting, fruit toppings, or what have you, over slivers of cake on dessert plates and voila!... you have a fancy dessert! Buy a bouquet of fresh carnations, fresh lavender, or lilacs, and sprinkle their petals on top for a real fancy touch. Yes, they're edible. Serve freshly brewed coffee with a few small pitchers of cold, flavored cream, really inexpensive non-dairy creamer, and your party is complete! No one will guess you hardly spent any money at all.
Traveling Party - These holiday parties work particularly well when several people within the same circle of friends is celebrating the same holiday season. If you have three families in the same neighborhood, each family takes a portion of the party and hosts it at their house. One family starts out with hors d'oeuvres and beverages, the second family with the main dish, and the third family with desserts and coffee. You want to get together on the menu so that the three families are on the same page when it comes to the atmosphere of the party. The food should be casual as people will be coming and going. This kind of holiday party is never a sit-down dinner and should always be served buffet style. Try to plan a specific block of time for each "course", knowing that you'll need to be a bit flexible to allow for the flow of people-traffic through each house.
If you can't afford expensive catering for your holiday party, you need to get creative with your menu and your plan. It's really not that hard to come up with frugal and fun ways to save big money on your holiday party budget. Give it a try! - 30289
Here's just a few fun and simple ideas for stretching your holiday entertainment budget by saving big on the food cost at this year's holiday party:
Thirst Quenchers On A Budget - The start to any successful holiday party is the beverages. Rather than put a table out filled with cans of soda and bottles of water, buy big liters of soda and jugs or pitchers of fresh drinking water. A casual party will allow guests to travel around with their cups, returning to the table to refill with ice and more soda. If your holiday party is more formal and you have someone serving your guests, you'll still want to use the larger bottles, but keep them out of sight. Consider mixing up a punch out of frozen concentrated juices and a splash of clear soda. It's inexpensive and pretty to boot! Don't forget to keep coffee as well as hot tea and iced tea handy during the entire event. It's inexpensive and you will be a good host.
Your Basic Snacks - Serving snack food at your holiday gathering doesn't have to be boring. Arrange a variety of fresh fruit and cheeses on pretty seasonal platters. Be sure to shop around for fruit and buy in season to save money. Have another platter or two for sausages and other cheeses along with a variety of crackers. Put out a big tray of fresh cut veggies with an assortment of dips. Purchase an assortment of veggies and wash and cut your own to save money and get a bit creative with your dips, looking for recipes to make your own, to make your veggie tray a bit different from others. Buy nuts in bulk to save money, and put them in little pretty dishes all around the room to encourage mingling. Consider some bowls of olives in and among the trays of cheese.
Fun Finger Foods - Small sandwiches, chips, dips, and vegetable trays are relatively inexpensive. Buy, wash, and cut your own vegetables to save money and to control the quality. Try making some fun little Pinwheels, which are basically just any ingredients, like sliced ham, spinach, and cream cheese, rolled up inside something thin, like a tortilla, then cut into little circles. Even seasoned boneless chicken wings or meatballs can be purchased for relatively little expense and served easily. To dress things up a bit, buy a bunch of the cheapest fresh greens you can find and use them to garnish the chicken wings and veggies platters for a real festive "catered event" look. Simply supply holiday napkins and small, sturdy paper plates and allow your guests to serve themselves. This is a perfect opportunity for easy mingling.
International Night - If your holiday party will be a dinner party where fingers foods are not appropriate, you may want to serve inexpensive dishes chosen from a particular nationality. Every country has some sort of dish that's frugal as well as delicious. If Italian food is your favorite, try spaghetti with garlic bread and an antipasto tray. If you find a good price on plain cheese pizza, you can add different toppings to have a nice variety while still keeping the price down. A Mexican meal is also easy to plan. Anything from simple Tacos, to Enchiladas, to Mexican Rice will certainly please your special holiday guests. Warm Tortilla Chips and fresh Salsa will stretch out the meal. Some surprisingly inexpensive meals to make are Greek dishes. Consider classic Greek Salads with big chunks of bread. You may also want to try Cabbage Rolls, or Lahanodolmathes, which are easy to make and quite inexpensive.
Potluck Time - A holiday potluck is a great way to get to know your guests! What better way to share your holiday than to share your recipes. Potlucks are appropriate for very casual holiday gatherings of folks who feel comfy together or folks who want to get to know each other better. Casual is the keyword here. When you are the host of a holiday potluck, you want to be responsible for at least one main dish, then you can choose to make it a real potluck, meaning you have no idea what's coming, or you may want to ask people to bring something within a certain food category. My opinion is that if it's a potluck, make it a real one, but if someone asks you what they should bring, than you can certainly steer them toward something you may want to round out the dinner. Potlucks are fun and you will surely end up with an interesting assortment of foods. Remind your guests to bring their recipes, unless they are keeping a family recipe a secret!
Just Desserts - If you plan your holiday party for late evening, you may want to have a Dessert Party. There are many dessert recipes that are inexpensive and easy to make. For instance, you can purchase a undecorated angel food cake, inexpensively, from any grocery store that has a bakery department. Then, with very little expense and even less effort, you can create an assortment of toppings to go over your cake. Serve by drizzling some melted chocolate, powdered sugar frosting, fruit toppings, or what have you, over slivers of cake on dessert plates and voila!... you have a fancy dessert! Buy a bouquet of fresh carnations, fresh lavender, or lilacs, and sprinkle their petals on top for a real fancy touch. Yes, they're edible. Serve freshly brewed coffee with a few small pitchers of cold, flavored cream, really inexpensive non-dairy creamer, and your party is complete! No one will guess you hardly spent any money at all.
Traveling Party - These holiday parties work particularly well when several people within the same circle of friends is celebrating the same holiday season. If you have three families in the same neighborhood, each family takes a portion of the party and hosts it at their house. One family starts out with hors d'oeuvres and beverages, the second family with the main dish, and the third family with desserts and coffee. You want to get together on the menu so that the three families are on the same page when it comes to the atmosphere of the party. The food should be casual as people will be coming and going. This kind of holiday party is never a sit-down dinner and should always be served buffet style. Try to plan a specific block of time for each "course", knowing that you'll need to be a bit flexible to allow for the flow of people-traffic through each house.
If you can't afford expensive catering for your holiday party, you need to get creative with your menu and your plan. It's really not that hard to come up with frugal and fun ways to save big money on your holiday party budget. Give it a try! - 30289
About the Author:
Planning an easy Christmas dinner this year? It may seem impossible, but not when you start planning your menu with a little help fromFreeQuickRecipes.com.
