Save on your next soiree
So you want to throw a suave soiree but aren’t terribly flush with funds? Here are a whole bunch of ways to cut costs on your next home celebration.
The invitation: Whether you invite people to your party via e-mail, Evite, or even old-fashioned paper, you’ll want to let people know, gently, that you’d like them to contribute to the cause. Various ways of saying “BYOB” include “feel free to bring a bottle,” “I’ll provide the mixers and some booze, but contributions to the bar are welcome,” “additional beverages lovingly accepted,” “bring something to help spike the punch,” and “guests who bring bottles will be greeted with kisses.”
Chilling out: Why pay for ice when you have a freezer? Start making ice several days before your party and you won’t have to buy any. Empty your trays into a ziplock bag a couple of times each day and soon you’ll have plenty to last you through the night of the event. You can also make one extra batch by transferring some ice to the refrigerator a few hours before the party starts. It shouldn’t melt too much in that time.
Feeling fruity: The grocery store is often not the cheapest place to buy lemons and limes for garnish. The prices can be a lot less if you buy them in bulk at small Mexican grocery stores (or a Jons market). You’ll also want fruit mixers, such as the popular orange and cranberry juices. Rather than buying gallon bottles of fresh juice, purchase several containers of the frozen concentrate. That way you can keep making it as the night goes on, and if you’ve bought too much it won’t go bad later. If you’re short on pitchers, start setting aside glass and plastic bottles a few weeks in advance, rather than throwing them out with the recycling. You can also buy plastic pitchers at 99-cent stores.
Bubbly: Two-liter bottles of soda water and tonic water often cost less than the more common one-liter bottles. These you’ll find in the grocery store, as opposed to convenience stores or liquor stores.
Beer me: Of course, the best way to save on beer is to buy it in bulk, but not everybody wants to throw a keg party. For my parties I don’t buy any beer at all, because my guests tend to bring six-packs and leave me to pick up the rum. But if you want to put out a starter supply, just go with the low-end stuff rather than the microbrews. Ironic hipster beer is very popular now, and luckily it’s cheap. Just pick up a couple of 12-packs of PBR and Tecate and call it done.
The hard stuff: Though large bottles of liquor are often cheapest at beverage warehouse stores, this is not always the case. Supermarkets sometimes have great sales on commercial brands of booze, as does Trader Joe’s. Also, while you’re in the liquor or warehouse store, look to see what’s on sale before you buy anything. Sometimes you can get premium brands for the price of the stuff in plastic bottles if they’re doing a promotion.
Snack attack: Even if you have no plans to put out a full food spread for your event, it’s always nice to set out bowls of stuff for people to snack on. The least expensive snack is probably microwave popcorn, and you can make more of it as the night goes on. (And people love warm food.) Pretzels are also pretty cheap, and really hit the spot when you’ve had a lot to drink. Another inexpensive way to impress your guests is by making soft pretzels like you buy at the ball games. The ingredients cost almost nothing, they only take 10 minutes to make and another 15 to bake, and you can customize the shapes to fit the theme of your party. (I always make them in the shape of letters that spell out swear words.)
Party prep: You want people to drink the booze they brought before they drink all of yours. So if you’ve bought multiple bottles of one kind of liquor, put out just one at time and keep the rest in a discreet location, such as beneath the sink. And even though most guests will probably drink the vodka first, if you put out an array of other liquors, you’ll look like a more generous host.
Party punch: If you’re really broke, a good way to appear less so is to provide a bowl of punch at your party. Just dump in a lot of orange juice, a little of something bubbly like ginger ale or soda water or Sprite, and float a whole lot of lemon, lime, and orange slices in the bowl. Then you can get away with adding a small amount of vodka, rum, or gin (or a little bit of each) at the beginning of the night, and making it stronger with your guests’ alcohol as they arrive. You can also get cheap punch bowls at thrift stores and dollar stores.
Ending early: Finally, you want your guests to get out before they drink you dry. Though calling the cops on your own party is one way to get the job done, I recommend a more subtle approach. When nobody’s looking, hide all of the remaining ice in your spaghetti pot. Eventually, your friends will get sick of warm gin and decide to leave on their own. Party on, dudes!
(This article was published in Frontiers Magazine. Read the original article here. )
The invitation: Whether you invite people to your party via e-mail, Evite, or even old-fashioned paper, you’ll want to let people know, gently, that you’d like them to contribute to the cause. Various ways of saying “BYOB” include “feel free to bring a bottle,” “I’ll provide the mixers and some booze, but contributions to the bar are welcome,” “additional beverages lovingly accepted,” “bring something to help spike the punch,” and “guests who bring bottles will be greeted with kisses.”
Chilling out: Why pay for ice when you have a freezer? Start making ice several days before your party and you won’t have to buy any. Empty your trays into a ziplock bag a couple of times each day and soon you’ll have plenty to last you through the night of the event. You can also make one extra batch by transferring some ice to the refrigerator a few hours before the party starts. It shouldn’t melt too much in that time.
Feeling fruity: The grocery store is often not the cheapest place to buy lemons and limes for garnish. The prices can be a lot less if you buy them in bulk at small Mexican grocery stores (or a Jons market). You’ll also want fruit mixers, such as the popular orange and cranberry juices. Rather than buying gallon bottles of fresh juice, purchase several containers of the frozen concentrate. That way you can keep making it as the night goes on, and if you’ve bought too much it won’t go bad later. If you’re short on pitchers, start setting aside glass and plastic bottles a few weeks in advance, rather than throwing them out with the recycling. You can also buy plastic pitchers at 99-cent stores.
Bubbly: Two-liter bottles of soda water and tonic water often cost less than the more common one-liter bottles. These you’ll find in the grocery store, as opposed to convenience stores or liquor stores.
Beer me: Of course, the best way to save on beer is to buy it in bulk, but not everybody wants to throw a keg party. For my parties I don’t buy any beer at all, because my guests tend to bring six-packs and leave me to pick up the rum. But if you want to put out a starter supply, just go with the low-end stuff rather than the microbrews. Ironic hipster beer is very popular now, and luckily it’s cheap. Just pick up a couple of 12-packs of PBR and Tecate and call it done.
The hard stuff: Though large bottles of liquor are often cheapest at beverage warehouse stores, this is not always the case. Supermarkets sometimes have great sales on commercial brands of booze, as does Trader Joe’s. Also, while you’re in the liquor or warehouse store, look to see what’s on sale before you buy anything. Sometimes you can get premium brands for the price of the stuff in plastic bottles if they’re doing a promotion.
Snack attack: Even if you have no plans to put out a full food spread for your event, it’s always nice to set out bowls of stuff for people to snack on. The least expensive snack is probably microwave popcorn, and you can make more of it as the night goes on. (And people love warm food.) Pretzels are also pretty cheap, and really hit the spot when you’ve had a lot to drink. Another inexpensive way to impress your guests is by making soft pretzels like you buy at the ball games. The ingredients cost almost nothing, they only take 10 minutes to make and another 15 to bake, and you can customize the shapes to fit the theme of your party. (I always make them in the shape of letters that spell out swear words.)
Party prep: You want people to drink the booze they brought before they drink all of yours. So if you’ve bought multiple bottles of one kind of liquor, put out just one at time and keep the rest in a discreet location, such as beneath the sink. And even though most guests will probably drink the vodka first, if you put out an array of other liquors, you’ll look like a more generous host.
Party punch: If you’re really broke, a good way to appear less so is to provide a bowl of punch at your party. Just dump in a lot of orange juice, a little of something bubbly like ginger ale or soda water or Sprite, and float a whole lot of lemon, lime, and orange slices in the bowl. Then you can get away with adding a small amount of vodka, rum, or gin (or a little bit of each) at the beginning of the night, and making it stronger with your guests’ alcohol as they arrive. You can also get cheap punch bowls at thrift stores and dollar stores.
Ending early: Finally, you want your guests to get out before they drink you dry. Though calling the cops on your own party is one way to get the job done, I recommend a more subtle approach. When nobody’s looking, hide all of the remaining ice in your spaghetti pot. Eventually, your friends will get sick of warm gin and decide to leave on their own. Party on, dudes!
(This article was published in Frontiers Magazine. Read the original article here. )
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