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When shopping, avoid expensive ingredients like foreign cheeses and fresh seafood. Instead, look for the fixings to make budget-friendly bites like miniature meatballs or low-cost cheese and bread plates at home. A prettily presented platter filled with domestic cheeses, nuts, toasted baguette slices, and dried fruits will please the palates of your guests for less.

Mixing Up the Sit-Down Dinner

Roasted turkey might be a holiday mainstay for some of us, but mixing up your menu can equate with huge savings. Cheap, versatile cuts like pork shoulder and skirt steak yield delicious results, while a belly-warming dish like potato leek soup or a beautifully sauced linguine will charm guests with its simplicity. To inspire more budget-friendly menus, look to ethnic cuisines. Hosting a Mexican fiesta or a Thai noodle party lets you deliver big flavors for mere dollars per serving. You never know: Pork mole might become your go-to party dish.

Satisfying the Sweet Tooth

When the prices of the elegant cakes at the neighborhood bakery don’t fit your budget, employ scratch-baked American classics like chocolate chip cookies and ice cream sundaes for your dessert course. No matter how refined your guests, no one can resist the nostalgic tug of a hot fudge sundae or the scent of fresh-from-the-oven cookies served with a pot of coffee or steaming mugs of hot chocolate for dessert.

Paula Jackson

Direct: 320-762-7106

Cell: 320-760-9051

paulajackson@realtor.com

www.PaulaJackson.info

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DECEMBER | JANUARY 2010

Holiday
Entertaining for Less

How to Practice the Art of Thrift When Planning Seasonal Parties

Written By Ashley Gartland

This time of year, we’re normally spending big
bucks on multicourse holiday dinners, elaborate parties, and New Year’s Eve celebrations for fifty of our closest friends, no less. But this year, life may have been a bit harder on our wallets and left us wondering if we should join the seasonal party circuit at all.

Fortunately, you don’t have to cancel your plans to host a party this holiday. Instead, you can cut the cost of throwing a fete—trimming a few dollars here and a few dollars there—without hampering your guests’ abilities to have a good time. Whether you’re hosting your extended family for dinner or inviting your closest work colleagues over for a New Year’s Day brunch, we’ve gathered the tips to help you entertain well on a budget this year.

Imbibing for Less

Most hosts head to a big-box store like Costco to pick up bottles of discount wine for their holiday parties. That’s a good start, but you’ll find better savings in the world of box wine. In recent years, the quality and reputation of box wines have improved dramatically, such that they’re becoming mainstays on the party circuit. Economical box wines hold more wine than a single bottle and keep the wine fresh longer than conventional bottles, making them perfect party wines. And, if you feel ashamed serving box wines to your sophisticated friends, consider this: You can always pour the box wine into a fancy decanter pre-party. Your guests will never know the difference.

Sparkling cocktails are an obvious pick for your mixed-drink menu; they’re festive and cheap because you don’t need to use top-shelf bubbly to make a quality champagne-style cocktail.

In fact, middle-of-the-road sparkling wines like Segura Viudas Aria Estate Brut Cava and Cristalino Brut Cava make the best mixers. Combine them with a few ounces of fruit juice (try cranberry or pomegranate) or a sweet fruit liqueur to create the perfect fizzy drink to toast the season.

Prepping the Perfect Party Platter

Supermarket party platters are convenient options when you’re piecing together a party buffet in a pinch, but if you’re willing to prep the food yourself, you’ll cut costs.

Decorating on a Dime

There’s no need to rent table linens for your next big fete. Instead, comb through the pieces tucked away in your linen closet, then borrow any remaining items from family members or your neighbors. (Just make sure they’re on the guest list, too.) And don’t forget that Mother Nature offers her own handy decorating pieces. A moss-covered branch works well as a centerpiece, while pinecones can serve as free place card holders and give a table setting rustic appeal.

Hiring Budget-Friendly Help

If you’ve used caterers for previous parties, it can be overwhelming to tackle the preparations and cooking on your own this year. If this is the case, place a call to your local culinary school and ask if any talented students would be interested in working your event. The students will likely jump at the chance to practice their skills in a paid setting and you will get the help you need for far less than you’ve paid in years past.