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How to Throw a New Year’s Eve Party On a Budget

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How to Throw a New Year’s Eve Party On a Budget

It’s almost time to celebrate a New Year, but you’re still recovering from Christmas since Santa accidentally overspent this year. How do you throw a rockin’ New Year’s Eve party on a budget? Here are some easy tips for planning an impressive celebration without breaking the bank!

Invitations: 

Everyone knows that a solid invitation sets the tone for an unbelievable event. Because of this, you may be tempted to go overboard on fancy invitations with custom printed details. Don’t give in to the temptation.  Instead, choose a free alternative like Evite and save your budget for the food!

Food and drink: 

New Year’s Eve can lend itself to some pretty fancy food and beverages. If your party starts early, guests will be eating out of your hand (and ultimately pocketbook) for hours on end.  Simplify the food and drink menu by starting your party later in the evening, after guests have had sufficient time to eat dinner elsewhere.

Appetizers:

Focus your offered fare on a few appetizer and dessert staples that you can mass produce. Dress up desserts with edible glitter, chocolate drizzle, and fresh whipping cream or mint leaves. Spruce up appetizer trays with garnish and attractive displays. Prevent excess wastefulness by limiting portion sizes to bite-sized pieces or serve items in individual cups.

Whether you are serving alcohol or not, stretch beverages by serving mixed drinks or a punch. Add fruit infused water as a healthy, inexpensive option, as well as other flavoured waters and sodas.

Don’t be afraid to invite guests to contribute their favourite appetizer, dessert or bottle of bubbly.  Not only does it save on your budget, but it saves on prep time as well!

Decorations:

Chances are you still haven’t put away your Christmas decorations.  Instead of spending a small fortune on kitschy New Year’s Eve décor, recycle some basic Christmas favourites. Remove anything that screams “Christmas” (like red and green bows or ornaments) and repurposes items into something more “winter wonderland” in feel.

Simple gold and silver ornaments make a beautiful display housed in apothecary jars.  Festive platters and chargers add a glamorous feel. Candles add a nice ambiance.  Accent your space with a few golds, black and silver balloons or streamers. Consider adding a hint of glitter where appropriate.

Entertainment:  

No need to spend a fortune on a DJ or fancy entertainment. Turn up the volume and relive the best moments in music from the previous year.  If available, borrow a karaoke machine, and dance and sing along to your favourite hits.

To mix things up, play some games.  Invite guests to bring their favourite board and card games to add to a few of your favourites. Prepare a trivia game using headlines from the year.  Award a small prize.

With these tips and tricks in mind, you can easily plan a New Year’s Eve party that will delight your friends–without going over budget!

Are you throwing a New Years Eve party this year?

Let me know, til then–cheers m’deres!

New-SIG

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8 Comments

  1. We celebrated Christmas this weekend because of a death during Christmas weekend and next weekend will be our New Years while the family are all home,so these tips will come in handy.

  2. wow, some really useful tips here, thanks for sharing. Luckily it's my son who now does all the entertaining and cooking 🙂 for all of us.

  3. All great tips! I have to admit that we are not big party people when it comes to New Years, we keep it quiet and usually it ends up being a family movie night. Most years we are in bed before midnight.

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