Frugal Holiday Parties

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

05 Oct 2009 01:20 PM

The Holiday season will be here soon.Are you prepared for the expense of socializing? Here are some frugal tips to get your through it all with both the holiday fun and the budget in tact.

I had a nice conversation with my mother-in-law last night. We started discussing what we were going to do about the upcoming holiday season and the Thanksgiving and Christmas get-together events. No one ever really wants to host either because of the work, and well, the expense. That is understandable, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve.

Two words have gotten me through the holiday entertaining season: Pot Luck! Organize a pot luck for your group, whether it is family, friends or your church community. A pot luck dinner gives you a chance to share everyone's best meals (I make some mean mashed potatoes, but my sweet potatoes leave a lot to be desired), as well as stretching out the expense for all of that food among everyone. Make sure to have a couple of extra dishes on hand just in case someone can't make it. Choose to do the main bit of dinner, if there is one, such as the turkey, in the case of no-shows.

Give up the gifts for everyone and instead chose one of these other options. You can each pick one person out of a hat for your gift giving. Everyone will get one special gift. Be sure to determine the amount of money that will be spent per gift.

Another really fun idea is to do a Yankee Swap or a Polly Anna. This turns gift giving into a game, and there is a lot of fun with it. Look for future blog posts because I'll describe this type of gift giving and offer some tips on planning it all.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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