Tag: Budget

Should You Incorporate Dinner into Your Thanksgiving Party?

Have you recently made the decision to host a Thanksgiving party? If so, do you plan on incorporating a Thanksgiving dinner into that party? While a large number of Thanksgiving party hosts do, you are not necessarily required to. If you are unsure as to what you would like to do, it may be a good idea to examine the advantages and disadvantages of pairing a Thanksgiving dinner with a Thanksgiving party.

Perhaps, the biggest disadvantage to including a Thanksgiving dinner with your Thanksgiving party is the extra preparation. Lets face it; it isnt easy to cook a Thanksgiving dinner, even a small one. Depending on the size of your party, you may find it extremely difficult, or even impossible, to prepare dinner for each and every one of your guests. That is why a large number of party hosts only choose to serve their party guests snacks and beverages.

In addition to the extra preparation, you will also find that including a Thanksgiving dinner with your Thanksgiving party is also likely to increase your party costs. Depending on the size of your party, you may need to purchase more than one turkey and additional side dishes. If would be planning a Thanksgiving party on a budget, it may be wise of you to forgo the Thanksgiving dinner. As long as your guests know that you will not be serving dinner at your party, everything should be all good.

Speaking of your party guests, the fact that they might assume that you are serving dinner can be a disadvantage to not serving dinner at your Thanksgiving party. As previously mentioned, it is advised that you inform your guests, either personally or on their invitations, that you will only be serving snacks. This may make it so your guest may be able to make other dinner arrangements, either before they leave for your party or after they return home from it. It may also be a good idea not to schedule your Thanksgiving party at a popular lunch or dinner time. This may make it easier on your guest, especially those who expect to eat at a certain time.

Although it may seem like there are a number of disadvantages to paring a Thanksgiving dinner with your Thanksgiving party, there are also a number of advantages to doing so. As previously mentioned, one of those advantages if your guests. Most guests would prefer if they were served dinner at a party; it allows them to eliminate cooking themselves; however, most would likely understand if you decide not to cook a large Thanksgiving dinner.

Despite the fact that Thanksgiving dinners can be time consuming and costly, as mentioned above, there are a number of different steps that you can take to not only save time, but also save money. In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, you will find a number of Thanksgiving food sales and discounts. If you shop where the sales are, you should be able to prepare a relatively affordable Thanksgiving dinner. Also, if you will be cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for a large number of individuals, you may want to ask your other party guests for assistance. In most cases, you will find that your close friends and family members would be more than willing to prepare a small side dish.

It is also important to note what Thanksgiving dinners are all about. While parties accomplish the same thing; there is just something about a Thanksgiving dinner that brings family, friends, and even neighbors together. By incorporating a Thanksgiving dinner into your Thanksgiving party, you could easily show your guests the love, thanks, and appreciation that you feel for them.

When it comes to including a Thanksgiving dinner with your Thanksgiving party, you will need to make your own decision. While you will want to make your own decision, it may be a good idea to keep the above mentioned advantages and disadvantages in mind.

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Ideas for party favors that will cut your cost

Most people do not think that party favors are important when organizing parties. Before maybe when the country is not in recession but now with the rising costs and uncertain times, it is no longer practical to burn money over something that is basically useless.

But this should not be the case. Party favors need not be something that guests will just store in their attic and forget after just days. They can be functional items that guests can make use of around the house. In these practical times, it is also good to be also practical. Your guests will not only remember your party when they use it, they will even thank you for it because they are using the party favors that you have given them. Although some people are still stuck with the little statuettes and figurines, a lot of people are already getting caught up in the trend of giving party favors that are actually functional around the house or the office.

But how can you do that, buy a beautiful and functional party favor while still staying close to your budget? Well, there are ways and here are some of them:

1. Use what you already have

There are many ways that you can save from your costs while still making sure that you give the best party favor possible. One of the ways is to take items that you already have and turn them into gift items. This will of course take considerable amount of time as well and craft knowhow. You can also make your own gifts by knitting or woodwork. You can use extra rolls of yarn that you have in the house or pieces of plywood that are rotting in the garage. The possibilities are endless.

2. Go for sales and promos

With these tough times more and more shops are offering discounts. So it is not wise to actually buy items in their full price. Wait for sales and promos because shops will surely offer them. This is of course granted that you have time to wait. Thus, it is important that you plan ahead of time so that you will have the luxury of time to still wait for promos. This will not only help you in cutting your costs for your party favors but also for everything that you need for your party including the food and the drinks.

3. Buy in bulk and try thrifts hops

As much as you can, buy items in bulk. You can also go to thrift shops that sell surplus. These will be vastly cheaper and being surpluses they are not exactly pre-owned. They will even be made of good quality materials. Do not be worried that items are not the same for everyone else. They need not be matching just in the same price range and of the same kind. As much as you can try to also stick to the same color palette so that it will not be so evident that they are different.

How to start making your own party favors

Although party favors is not exactly the life of the party, not as important as perhaps the food or the cake, it is still something that can make your party extra special and more memorable for your guests whether it is a childrens party or a wedding reception. But with how the costs of food and other commodities are rising, some people are foregoing with the party favors to cut costs. This is for them vastly better than not organizing any party at all.

But there are ways to cut costs and still be able to provide your guests with party favors. One of them is to do the party favors yourself. By putting in some of your free time, you can save to as much as 70 percent of the cost, at the minimum, 50 percent. This is not bad considering how much figurines and childrens toys are these days. Figurines are often used as party favors for adult parties while toys are used for kids parties.
If you are not a crafty person however, doing your own party favor gift can seem daunting. Well, it does not have to be. Even with no experience, you can make your own. Just follow these steps:

1. Choose a project

Depending on your budget, you must first choose a project that you feel you can do, whether it is decoupage, posters, music and video on cds or maybe even some knitting or woodwork. It is important that you first choose the project that you will do as it will be the basis ior your design and concept. In choosing a project, make sure that you also take into account the time frame on which you will do the project. If your sons birthday bash is already the day after tomorrow, knitting and woodwork are already out. They are more complicated to do and will take a lot of time in accomplishing.

2. Gather the materials

Once you have chosen the project, you can then scout for materials that will help you complete it. There are craft stores all around the country that you can go to. Often, their stores will have everything you ever need from wrappers to glue guns. You can also look inside your house and check out stuff that you can recycle and use as a party favor material.
If you have time, it is best to wait for sales and discounts because they will probably be selling stuff that you need at half the price. That way, you can further save up. This is the reason why it is good to plan ahead for a party.

3. Package it.

When you really come to think a about it, people often do not remember what the gift is unless it is truly remarkable. What people do remember though is the packaging for these gifts. This is why it is also important to wrap your party favors with a nice material so that it will not look cheap even if it is not purchased but only made.

What you should and should not do when giving party

What you should and should not do when giving party favors

Party favors may not be a priority during these times of economic recession when planning parties but no one will doubt that it makes a party extra special and extra memorable. This is why even while there is no more budget, people still do what they can to at least give a small token that will make guests remember the event. This is after all the purpose of giving party favors, so that guests will have something that will remind them of how happy they have been on that day.

It is thus important that you make sure that you do it right when you give party favors. Although there are really hard and fast rules in giving these gifts, there are things that you should remember and take into consideration. Below are some of the dos and donts of giving party favors.

1. Do include your name, the date and the occasion.

It is important that you put a piece of paper that will have your name, the date and the occasion you are celebrating. This will remind the guests where the gift came from even years after receiving them. Although some people even write the information on the item itself, this is discouraged as this renders the item virtually useless. Who in their right minds will use items that have names on them?

2. Do put them in a decent bag

Although you can hand the party favors in itself, it will also be good to invest in a small bag. This is especially true if the item is fragile and your guests just came from a dinner party, which means that they have only brought a small clutch bag. It will be a considerate thing to do to at least not expect your guests to lug around the gift all over the place.

3. Dont buy something expensive, just something beautiful and meaningful

You dont have to buy something costly. What is important in a party favor gift is that it is beautiful enough to inspire happiness in your guests when they look at them and it is meaningful enough to symbolize the occasion that you are celebrating. This is why it is important that you plan your purchase well and that you choose the item that will best symbolize you as a person and the occasion that you are celebrating.

4. Do buy something they can use

Think about your guests also. When choosing party favors, make sure that it is something that they will not only admire from a display case (unless it is a Swarovski or something) but something that they can use in their daily lives. Your guests will not only remember the occasion where they got it and the person that gave them, they will thank you for it.

Party favors may not be a vital part of a party like the foods and the drinks but it is nevertheless something that can add a little vibe and life in your party.

What to consider when giving party favors

Party favors are the least of peoples priorities when they are organizing a party these days. After all, one usually will only have a budget for the food and the entertainment and nothing left for other expenses. But those who do find a small piece of the pie chart and dedicate it to party favors muck up the whole process of giving party favors that it would have been better if they didnt give any. For me, it is better to give nothing than to give the wrong thing.

One of the most basic things that you should remember when choosing and buying a party favor kit is the purpose of giving it. It is a souvenir that will hopefully make the person remember your party and your event. Remember this when thinking of party favor ideas. Most people think that it is enough to just give a small token of a useless thing just as long as it has their names, the date and indicates what the occasion is. They dont realize that for their guests to actually remember them through the party favor that they gave, it should be something that they can use, preferably every day. The party favor should not only be beautiful, it should also be functional.

Another mistake that people do when giving party favors is to just give it with no information on it about the party or the celebration or to give it with the information engraved on it. The latter is actually done often and has actually been a practice in most cultures. Doing both is wrong because not giving any information about you or what your party is about defeats the purpose of giving the swag bag in the first place and giving too much information and actually putting them on the souvenir item is in bad taste.

What you should do is to put information on a separate small piece of paper and attach them on the gift. That way, they will have a reminder of where they got it, who gave it to them and what the event was. The gift itself should not have any trace of identification whatsoever. If they want to display the gift with the tag and keep it along with the rest of their souvenirs, they can choose to. The key here is the freedom to choose what they can do with the gift. If your guests want to use their gifts without having to explain every time about the inscriptions on it, it is their decision.

It is also much better to give one big gift than to fill the swag bag with small useless items that seem cheap and tawdry. This is not only very time-consuming to prepare but also costly when you really add up the total. Why not buy something that will cost around the same amount when you combined your small gifts? Giving one big gift will also make your party favor more expensive than it really is.