We love to entertain. Nothing makes us happier than having our home filled with friends and family members. Some days I think the only reason my husband wanted to buy a house was so that he would have a place to entertain.
Since entertaining is so important to us, we have always known that we would need to make room in our budget for entertaining costs. A budget that didn’t include these costs would just be unrealistic for us.
We also knew, though, that we would have to set some limits to our entertaining budget. We didn’t want our entertainment spending to be out of proportion with the rest of our expenses, so we started hunting for ways to save on entertaining costs.
Go potluck. The real fun of entertaining doesn’t come from physically preparing meals for all of your friends and family. The fun comes from interacting with the people you care about. Rather than spending the whole day in the kitchen, why shouldn’t you share the work of entertaining? If everyone contributes a little something, no one will feel a pinch in their wallets.
Plan some type of entertainment. What types of things do you and your friends like to do? Are you board game people? Ask everyone to bring their favorite game so that you have a wide selection of games to choose from. Do you like sports? A game of touch football in the backyard may be the perfect way to spend an afternoon. Just be sure to plan entertainment ahead of time so that you are not tempted to run out and buy something at the last minute to entertain your guests with.
Skip excessive decorations. With the exception of Christmas parties (and possibly Halloween parties) most adult gatherings don’t need a lot of décor. Don’t spend a lot of money of cheesy extras. Instead, focus your energy on cleaning and preparing your home for the big day.
Forget paper invitations. Most family gatherings don’t require you to send out formal invitations. (There are a few exceptions, of course.) Rather than spending money on invitations and postage, why not invest a little time and call or email all of your prospective guests.
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It’s all about the Potluck baby! But ya know, I went to a friends apartment on Sunday, and she and her husband provided for EVERYTHING. That is generous. Now I feel bad hosting a potluck.
No need for decorations, and the music is simply from my wife’s 80′s playmix!
Great Post. Ifyou can’t go pot luck–at least go homemade. Maybe have some guests show up a tiny bit early to help!
There are so many cheap (but unique) party type foods out there–its a no brainer to sae this way.
As a matter of fact, instead of pot luck, just have some of your guests bring the alcohol—the food is much less expensive!