Cheap Dinner Party Ideas
If you are planning a dinner party on a budget, you don't have to sacrifice elegance and quality. Serve filling food that can be dressed up with fancy sauces and spreads. Add specialty items, such as kalamata olives, to everyday food to pack a flavorful punch. Make your own invitations as an inexpensive, personal touch, and choose cheap decor that adds a playful pop of color. Frugal party favors include customized bags of candy and nuts. Does this Spark an idea?
Inexpensive Invitations
If you are hosting a dinner party on a tight budget, make your own personalized invitations. Use colorful construction paper and decorate it with fancy calligraphy, stickers or clip art details. Punch a hole in the paper and enhance the invitation by tying a satin or grosgrain ribbon through it.
You can also use a card-making software program on your computer to print customized invitations
Filling Menu Items
You don't have to sacrifice quality when you are cooking on a budget. If you have a large crowd to feed, choose menu items that are filling but tasty. Delight guests by dressing up ordinary pizza with gourmet ingredients like artichokes and kalamata olives. Make your Caesar salad dressing to add pizazz to a basic green salad (see Resources for recipe).
Serve a variety of sandwiches with sun-dried tomato, pesto or olive spreads so guests can customize their selections. Buy a large bag of inexpensive potatoes and make homemade potato chips or french fries to serve on the side.
For appetizers, serve deviled eggs, bruschetta or a cheese and cracker tray, which are sure to please the crowd without throwing you off budget.
Pleasing Presentation
If you are serving inexpensive treats, create a pleasing presentation using low-cost garnishes. Dress up a roast or dips with sprigs of fresh herbs such as thyme, dill or rosemary. Use lemon, lime and orange slices to enhance a tray of cookies or cupcakes.
Budget Decor
Create a festive party environment using low-cost decor items. Use bright ribbons to add a pop of color to ordinary candlesticks, or buy detailed rings to enhance cloth napkins that you already own.
Dim lighting will add an elegant ambiance to your dinner party; hang a string of small white lights or use candles to set the mood.
Make a table centerpiece that will double as party snacks. If you are hosting a fall bash, place a bowl of vibrant red and gold apples in a crystal bowl, or fill a basket with pastel-colored candies for a spring soiree.
Frugal Favors
Even if you are on a strict budget, you can still send guests home with a sweet party favor. Make a batch of cookies and place a few in decorated cellophane bags for each party-goer. Create homemade chocolates and place them in little boxes tied with a ribbon.
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