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Sunday, December 18, 2011

DIY Sunday: How to Throw a Budget Friendly Holiday Dinner Party

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to help throw a holiday themed dinner party for a combined group of our friends.  After tons of planning, we were able to put on this fun-filled party with few expenses, but yet giving our guests a bucketload of goodies.  We fittingly named it Eat, Drink & Shop, because frankly that is what they did!

Here is how we did it.

We drank a lot of wine.
Mackenzie, Terrie and I got beautified and smiled even though we were tired!
We practiced our games...free entertainment!
We baked our hearts out.
And drooled over what our guest could purchase.
We hit up the Dollar Store for guest party bins and filled them to the brim!
We gave away one huge door prize.
We decorated with thrifty finds.
I cooked up a menu that came out to be just around $2/person!
We sold our homemade gifts.
And in the end we marveled at our decorating skills and wished we were sitting at the table!

To recap, this is how the night went...

Our guests arrived, each paying $15 to attend the dinner party.  They got seated, we served drinks, played an opening game, served the first course, re-filled drinks, handed out a door prize, re-filled drinks, served the main course, played another game, re-filled drinks, handed out another door prize, re-filled drinks, served dessert, and re-filled drinks.

Thank god we got cheap wine!  These girls were thirsty!

Each of us that took part in the dinner was also selling our homemade items.  At this point we opened the shopping area for our guests to browse, mingle and you guessed it, drink more wine.  We had everything from jewelry, greeting cards, stocking stuffers, blankets, cookbooks, cupcakes, breads, cookies, clothes, hats, the list goes on and on.  All handmade.

In the end, we were exhausted, but it was so much fun we are already thinking of doing a spring dinner/show.  And we all came out ahead and made some money!  We shopped for deals, made items ourselves and in general just kept costs low.

So...would you come to our Eat, Drink & Shop party?

Would you like to comment?

  1. I think that was a great idea - if I lived closer (I know I am only a state away!) I would have been there!

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  2. And I would have loved to have you there Biz!

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  3. What a wonderful fun idea, of course you have always rocked. I bet I could get Lori and Sarah to come with me. Of course we would have to get a hotel after having our glasses filled so much. So happy for you ladies that your dinner was such a success.

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  4. Jolene (Everydayfoodie)December 18, 2011 at 11:25 PM

    What a great party idea!!!! The menu sounds so good too - white lasagne! Yummmm!

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  5. WHAT A SUCCESS! love this idea and every detail! great job!

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  7. Table looked great!! but why would you charge your guest 15 dollars to eat if you were inviting them and throwing the dinner party??

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