Throwing a Large Party for Less
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.
Filed under: Food, Frugal living, Fun
Very good tips!
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.
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
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
I have hosted many parties in my day, both large (350) and small, but I have NEVER only spent $75 for 60 people! You never cease to amaze me!