10 frugal tips for holiday entertaining

Lack of money should never stand between you and throwing a good party.

If the purpose is to gather with friends, they'll be forgiving so don’t blow money trying to impress people who already like you. Casual works better with frugal but don’t let that keep you from using the good china. If you’re set on hosting a sit-down meal, scale down the number of invites.

Planning ahead saves time and money. Waiting until the last minute can cause you to go overboard with your spending and, worse, pay full price.

Since alcohol is a huge chunk of the budget, many frugal websites recommend serving a punch to get the festivities started. To figure out the amount of alcohol to buy, the LCBO’s “Party Calculator Estimate” lets you input the length of the party (only up to 3 hours), type of party, number of people, percentage drinking beer, wine, and/or spirits. My calculation for a cocktail party for 10, with four drinking beer, all 10 drinking wine, and nobody drinking spirits, is $132.60. They made me buy a case of  24 bottles of beer, instead of a case of 12, or the singles they also sell at the store that sometimes go on sale. They also had me serve 8 bottles of wine, even though a half bottle of wine equals three drinks.

The good news is that almost everyone brings a bottle of wine to the party; however, in the above scenario, I chill at least 12 beers, and have six bottles ready to pour. When The Star's wine critic Gord Stimmell recommends a wine that costs less than $10, buy a case and serve it as your house wine. As for spirits, I still have leftovers from my engagement party almost twenty years ago. Spirits can last a really long time.

10 frugal tips for hosting a party

• Set a budget and stick to it.
• Create a menu. Cheaper cuts of meat benefit from a slow cooker/crock pot and taste great. Slice the cooked meat and serve with buns. I served 20 people for $20 this way with a pot roast.
• Write a shopping list. It lets you cross off ingredients you already own and stops impulse purchases once you’re in the store.
• Shop at dollar stores for napkins and crackers and outlets for some of the food. Dimpflmeier bakes great cakes for a low price.
• Stock up on non-perishable items as they go on sale like pop, crackers, nuts, napkins, and frozen foods like shrimp.
• Cook ahead of time as much as possible. Frozen appetizers at grocery stores are expensive - easy to heat and fancy - but expensive.
• Round out cheese with homemade dips. I love stinky cheeses but they’re expensive. Buy one larger wheel of cheese, and then surround it with dips like hummus and tapenade. They’re easy to make, taste great, cheap, feed a crowd, and can be made ahead of time.
• Learn how to throw a pizza - it's the easiest thing to make and everyone thinks you're brilliant. (I make a modified Biba Caggiano recipe and double it as does this blogger on  Dream Kitchen).
• Consider a cocktail party. Guests won’t arrive ravenous and you only serve appetizers, and, perhaps dessert.
• Think potluck. If it’s a gathering of close friends, you provide the sparkling clean space, dishes, glasses, cutlery and the main course. Your friends round out the appetizers and dessert.

 Contact Peggy Mackenzie at pmackenzie@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter:@PeggyMackenzie