The end of the year is approaching and that means that many among us are planning to host a New Year’s Eve party of some kind. The challenge is that hosting a New Year’s Eve party can wind up being quite expensive. If you end up having a lot of food, providing beverages for everyone, decorating appropriately, and so on, the costs add up quickly.
Here are some strategies for keeping the cost of a New Year’s Eve party low without ruining the fun.
[See: 8 Big Budgeting Blunders — and How to Fix Them.]
Don’t add to your holiday decor. People don’t come to a party for the decorations, so don’t go to any great expense or effort decorating your home. One simple step is to evaluate your holiday decorations during the week before the new year and intentionally leave up any decorations that continue to make sense, such as holiday lights, while putting the rest of the decorations away.
If you insist on decorating, go simple. If possible, make your own decorations. Complex and flashy decorations just aren’t needed.
Encourage guests to bring beverages or snacks to share. If you’re expecting a bunch of guests, it can feel like you’re expected to provide a ton of food and beverages. Take some of that cost out of your own pocket by asking your guests to bring a snack or beverage to share with everyone. If everyone invited shows up with some kind of finger food or a bottle of wine or some beer, your costs for hosting the party go down rapidly.
It’s easy. Whenever you send out an invitation, whether by text or email or snail mail, just include a little addition telling people to bring a beverage, snack, side or something else. What exactly you ask people to bring depends on your plans for your specific party.
[See: Prepare Your Finances for the Holidays.]
Use the dollar store for small incidentals. Need napkins, plates or something else? Those are perfect things to find at your local dollar store. You don’t need to be fancy at all with things like this, so get inexpensive versions of these items.
No one will know the difference between “fancy” napkins and dollar store napkins or between “fancy” plastic plates and dollar store plastic plates. Speaking of which …
Get a big package of reusable plastic plates. Most people simply don’t have adequate numbers of plates to serve a lot of guests, so they’re often tempted to turn to paper plates. Don’t use paper plates, especially if you’re going to host parties like this in the future.
Instead, get a giant pile of plastic plates and put them out on the table next to the food. When people finish with their plates, either encourage them to put the plates in the sink or set out some sort of bin for those plates. Then, after the party, wash all of the plates and put them away in storage for next year. It’s actually pretty easy to clean up a big pile of snack or light meal plates or bowls.
Light meal? That brings us to the next tip.
Don’t make a big meal. There’s absolutely no need to prepare any sort of elaborate food for a New Year’s Eve celebration. Make something simple, preferably something that you’ve prepared in advance, and spend time mingling with your guests instead of in the kitchen. Not only will it improve your social opportunities, it will save you a lot of money.
One strategy is to make two slow cookers full of soup. When everyone has arrived, just set out the slow cookers along with some crackers and other necessary accouterments and let people serve themselves. This means that the hosts spend almost no time in the kitchen during the event, as they have the soups ready to go before anyone arrives and the additional items are already set out, too.
[See: 20 Tips for Saving Money at the Grocery Store.]
If guests offer to help, accept their help. Polite guests will often offer to help with party planning, bringing items, preparing food, decorating and so on. Accept their help. They’re often doing it out of relief for not having to host a party themselves.
Let people bring extra items. Let people come early to help set up. Let people bring decorations or party games or whatever else they’re interested in bringing. All of it is welcome and saves you time and effort. Don’t feel the need to be the “perfect” host that doesn’t need anything from the guests. Let them help if they want.
If you follow these strategies, you’re going to have a low-cost and low-stress New Year’s Eve celebration that allows you to simply enjoy the party instead of worrying about tons of details and lots of expense. Have fun and have a happy 2017.
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Plan a New Year’s Celebration Without Breaking the Bank originally appeared on usnews.com
