Read more for all the details on How To Host A Dinner Party On A Budget.
Are you like me and love hosting dinner parties but not in a position to break the bank?
I absolutely love having people over but sometimes I’m unable to because I know deep down that I need to be saving!
Every year, I go all out for a huge Thanksgiving dinner and have smaller dinner parties with people throughout the rest of the year.
I think hosting a dinner party on a budget is a skill that I have come to know and love so I’m sharing my tips with you!
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I’ve hosted 1-25 people in my home so I’ve had a lot of trial and error. When my husband and I first moved out, we actually lived in a studio apartment so that was tricky but I made it work.
A huge thing I learned by hosting parties is that the things that you freak out about is something your guest will never even see or know about so why let it stress you out!
Are you planning a dinner party soon? What tips do you have?
HERE IS HOW TO MAKE How To Host A Dinner Party On A Budget:
Plan Every Step
Whenever I have a party to plan, I whip out an old fashion notebook and list out everything that I need to plan and get prior to the party. This list includes:
- Guestlist
- Decor
- Drinks
- Appetizers
- Main Course
- Dessert
- After dinner coffee/tea
- Activities
- Cleaning
Accept Help From Others
A lot of people especially family will try and lend a hand. Depending on your guestlist and how many people are coming, you’ll need it! It’s best to plan out what someone can help with if they offer ahead of time. The day of is going to be hectic as you’ll be running around getting everything together so it’s best to not have people bugging you asking what they can do!
Some things that you can get someone to help on the day of or prior:
- Picking things up
- Setting up decor
- Prepare salads or appetizers
- Mix some drinks
Shop The Sales
Don’t be afraid to shop whats on sale! Every week or so grocery stores have sales in their flyer. Some weeks beef is on sale, some weeks chicken is and pork, duck, fish etc. Same goes with cheese and drinks too!
Look through the flyers and see what you can buy on sale the weeks prior and store in the freezer/pantry too!
Pastas, flour, rice go on sale often and if you find a nicer quality nice, you can buy this ahead of time.
The only things you really want to wait to get are produce, desserts and meat!
You can get drinks and pantry items way before your event date!
DIY Decor
You don’t need to buy all new decor! Just use what you have at home and try to DIY decor that you can reuse over and over again. I wrote a really great post on how to DIY some outdoor party decor that defintely won’t break the bank!
Now that lots of things are opening and more gatherings are allowed, we’ll be able to host more! Hope you enjoyed this post on How To Host A Dinner Party On A Budget.
Are you excited to start hosting soon? I’d love to know in the comments below!
Happy hosting!
Xo,
Lynn
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These are such great tips! Hosting can get expensive, but your tips make it easy to save.
Thanks so much, Michelle xx
Some great ideas! Definitely come in useful for people!
Thank you so much for reading x
I donât think Iâve ever hosted a dinner party before but itâs something Iâve always wanted to do but I never knew where to start so this is really helpful! And itâs great that it can be done on a budget x
Awesome, thanks so much for commenting, Aaliyah xx
This is great advice, I always find hosting to be such a stress and so expensive. I’ll definitely be hitting the sales in anticipation!
Thanks so much for reading, Jodie! x
I love hosting people – it’s like I am born to do this! I do struggle with the anticipation and workload sometimes, especially when there is quite a few guests, but your tips will be definitely helpful for my next one (our dad’s 60th birthday!) so I am already in planning mode x
OMG thats wonderful! My moms 60th was this year and we were gonna do a family trip so its just *hopefully* getting pushed to next year! Thank you for commenting x
Great post! I love that we can invite people round to our houses again, and this is a fantastic way to save money and have a lovely night x
Thanks for reading, Eleanor! x
DIY decor and shopping the sales section are both such practical and helpful tips! I love having people over as well but it can be difficult on the wallet. Will look into some DIY decor next time đ
Agreed! Thank you for reading, Andrea xx
Definitely such a great idea to make sure that you shop sales a week before, there’s always so many! Loved this !
Thanks so much for reading xx
These are great ways to host a dinner party on a budget Lynn! It doesn’t need to cost a lot of money to have a lovely dinner party with family and/or friends! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Thank you for reading, Lucy!! xx
Great post Lynn! In the past I have always hosted the big family dinners. I’ve really missed it the last couple years. I can’t wait to have people over again and when I do, these tips are going to be so helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Same with me too! Thank you for reading, Tiffany! x
These are some really good tips!! I especially agree with asking others for help xx
These are great tips. I have too hosted parties on a budget. I always try to Save where I can.
Glad to read it! Thanks so much x
Thank you for commenting, Della x
I definitely love the idea of shopping the weekly grocery store sales! In my area, coupon booklets are sent in the mail and tend to have coupons and sale alerts for tons of local stores, including the grocery stores. It’s such a quick way to save money every week!
xoxo,
Sydney
Right! Especially if you know when you’re event is ahead of time, its easier to plan đ Thank you for commenting, Sydney xx
I absolutely love having people over but I was a college student until recently and we couldn’t do much haha. But now that I’m working and can spend, I’m looking forward to when the pandemic has gone down to have people over for casual parties! This post will definitely come in handy for me then đ
Amazing! Thanks so much for reading, Sumedha xx
I love hosting, but can definitely get overwhelmed when it comes to be big parties! I will be taking these tips on board đ x
Thank you for reading, Mia! xx
Really great tips Lynn! I love the idea of making your own decor x
Thank you so much for reading, Caroline xx
I love hosting brunch/dinner parties and I sure can use some of these tips when things are back to normal!
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
Thanks so much for stopping by x
This is so so useful thank you! Iâm hosting next week so will be using these tips x
Thank you so much for reading! xx
I’m big in budgeting this is such a useful post. I will apply this to a future dinner party as the restrictions ease up.
Thank you so much for reading, Savana! x
This is a fab post with great suggestions. I’d actually LOVE to host a dinner party at some point. Perhaps not with 25 people but it sounds so much fun and I love cooking and food! x
Thanks so much for reading, Jenny!xx
I love hosting even tho I’m looking forward of inviting some of my friends to my apartment and play music on those
vintage vinyl radio (which I repurpose!) Pasta can never fail it’s cheap and easy to make and who doesn’t like pasta?
Michelle| http://www.brokebutflawless.com
Hehe agreed! Thank you so much for reading, Michelle xx
When I visited my hometown, sometimes my family host a dinner party and many relatives will come to help! These would be great idea for the next opportunity đ Thanks for sharing Lynn x
Thanks so much for reading, babe xx
Love your suggestions. Potlucks are my go to when I am low on money or time!
Right! Potlucks are lovely so not one person gets stuck with it all! Thanks for reading x
Hi Lynn, what a great post! I love that you are creating ideas when on a budget! I totally agree with accepting help from others as friends are there to help and I also love shopping in the sales, a really great read. Alicia
Thank you for reading, Alicia!! xx
You make a good point about accepting help because guess what? I never do. I’m terrible at delegating in the kitchen.