Hosting a party or any type of gathering can be great fun and exciting, but it can break the pocketbook if you don’t plan ahead. Planning and budgeting are hopefully a lifestyle for you as it is for me, and it easily carried over to a recent bridal shower that my mom and I hosted for a good friend of mine.
Fellowship Location
We often think of renting a hall whether it be the township hall or the church fellowship hall for events, but that involves a cost. Why not host it at home? People actually prefer the cozy and inviting atmosphere that home gives. Our family lives in a 1,150 square foot 2 bedroom, 1 bath house, but we just hosted 20 ladies for that bridal shower. And they loved it! So don’t be afraid to do it at home.
Frilly Invites
Invites can be frilly without being expensive. Choose a pretty border or some clipart on your computer and create your invite. Be sure to include all the details such as What, When, Where, and How to RSVP. You can then e-mail them or mail them. Email helps to save on postage and is done quite often in our electronic world. Due to the fact that I didn’t get the invite list until two weeks before our date, I called everyone which worked just as well.
Food
Planning your food is one of the key parts of the party. It can either be enjoyable if you love to cook and serve or stressful if you don’t. Be sure to think through your menu ahead of time and make a grocery list. Choose inexpensive items that everyone loves such as a fruit and veggie tray. You can pick the fruits that are in season and on sale that week to help save money. Plus if you plan ahead, you can watch the sale ads to find almost everything on sale.
We choose the menu of chicken salad sandwiches, pimento cheese sandwiches, chips, fruit and veggie tray, red velvet cake, punch, nuts, and mints. We made the chicken salad from scratch which is much less expensive than buying pre-made. We also made our bread since we like it to have fresh ground whole wheat flour in it.
We watched for the chips to go on sale for the weeks leading up to it, and it did go on sale about two weeks ahead of time. We choose fruits that were in season – bananas, apples, and grapes – as well as wholesome veggies that were a good price – carrots, broccoli, and celery.
Since I decorate cakes, making the cake was a definite, but you can do the same! And the punch was homemade from various juice concentrates. The only things we bought pre-made were the chips, pimento cheese, nuts, and mints some of the least expensive items on our list!
Fun
Choose games that can be enjoyed by all. Depending on your audience, you can include quizzes, storytelling, reading of Scripture and Scripture searches, and so much more. You don’t have to have expensive prizes either. Find some candy on sale…there’s normally something on sale every week!
Fantastic Decorations
Decorations help make the party…but they aren’t the focal point. Since you are using your home, you don’t have bare walls to decorate. Your home is already decorated. You may choose to add some accent pieces such as balloons, colored tablecloths, or floral arrangements. We choose clusters of three roses tied with a ribbon and in a bud vase as that was what the bride was using at her wedding and had special meaning for her. We already had the bud vases, and I found the roses in a “bush” (bushes are less expensive to buy than by the stem) at Hobby Lobby on sale for ½ off. I even found the ribbon there ½ off!
Fast Clean Up
And finally, after it is all said and done, how about some fast clean up? Well, using paper products definitely helps with that, but they can quickly add up. If you are having quite a few guests, you may what to check out a bulk supplier, but in our case of 20 guests, we hit the local dollar store’s party section. 20 plates were $1 there. We found matching cups and napkins too! $6 plus tax had us fully set up in paper goods. We would have spent more like $20 at the “discount” grocer next door let alone to think what it would have cost at a party store. So don’t forget to price shop.
Now that I’ve shared all these hints, I can’t wait to host the next party!
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