Planning and Preparing for a Casual Thanksgiving Party

Have you recently made the decision to throw a Thanksgiving party? If so, have you decided which type of party you would like to host? If you are looking to host a Thanksgiving party, without having to give up a large amount of your time or money, there is a good chance that you may be interested in hosting a causal Thanksgiving party. Although a causal Thanksgiving party can save you time and money, it is still advised that you start planning and preparing for your party early.

When it comes to planning and preparing for a causal Thanksgiving party, there are a number of important tasks that you must complete. One of those tasks, perhaps, the most important one is inviting your guests. Your Thanksgiving party will not be a party if you dont have any guests. That is why it is important that you extend an invite to whoever you wish to have at your party. Since your Thanksgiving party will be casual in nature, you may prefer to give casual invites. In addition to traditional party invitations, you may prefer calling your guests directly or sending them a quick email.

When inviting guests to your Thanksgiving party, it may be a good idea to ask them to either confirm or deny their reservations. Having an exact number of intended party guests, or at least an estimated number, will help make your party planning easier. It will enable you to make sure that you have enough food or party favors to go around. An estimated number of guests may also help you save, even more, money. Of course, you will still want to be prepared for unexpected arrivals, just in case.

As previously mentioned, having an accurate guest count will help make it easier for you to purchase food for your party. Since you will be having only a causal Thanksgiving party, you may not want to cook a large Thanksgiving dinner. If that is the case, a small number of snacks and drinks may do. Before your party is set to take place or you begin shopping for it, it may be a good idea to develop yourself a food and snack list. You should list all of the foods or drinks that you would like to have at your party. Making a list will help to ensure that you get everything that you needed or wanted to have.

It is also advised that you consider what forms of entertainment, if any, you plan on having at your causal Thanksgiving party. The thing about casual parties is that most guests arrive expecting to have a good time. While this may put more pressure on you to plan an amazing, fun filled party, there are a number of advantages to this. One of those advantages is the fact that you have a wide variety of different entertainment forms to choose from. Popular entertainment, for casual parties, tends to include music, dancing, as well as party games.

Even when attending a casual party, such as a casual Thanksgiving party, guests expect to arrive at a clean house. For that reason, you will want to make sure that your home is as clean as it could possibly be. You may want to leave vacuuming and other similar task to the last minute, but there are other cleaning tasks that you may want to take care of ahead of time. One of those tasks may include cleaning up the outside of your home. You will want to make sure that entranceway to your home, both inside and out, is free of clutter or unwanted debris. The first step in pleasing your party guests to welcome them into a clean and inviting home.

Although it is much easier, in most cases, to plan a causal Thanksgiving party, it is still necessary to plan and prepare for your party ahead of time. By keeping the above mentioned planning and preparation tips in mind, your next Thanksgiving party should go off without a hitch.

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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.

Home Decors As Party Favors

Most people today prefer handmade, practical gifts over the traditional ones because they feel that these exude sincerity and effort. For those who are planning to give items as party favors, opt for items that can help one to beautify his or her home. Whether you will do it by yourself or ask a crafts store to do it for you, there are so many handmade options for to choose from.

Party favors perfect for the home

Home dcor accessories are the most common handmade items that people can give for those who love decorating their homes. This is because these will help the receiver in decorating their homes the easier and more practical way. How? If they will be receiving items from people that they can use, they can finalize the list of home accessories that they will need. This list is very important for the receiver because it will be easier for him or her to organize things inside the home once they start decorating.

If you are planning to throw a party and is thinking for a perfect party favor, the following are some of the major handmade home dcor and accessories that will help the receiver to have a house that is more organized and great looking:

– pillows. In living rooms and bedrooms, pillows indeed take a great part in the overall look of the house. This is because pillows soften empty corners of the bed as well of the chairs and sofas. The impact will be so much better if these are handmade. Today, there are so many types of pillows available in the market, you can choose from solid pillows, striped pillows, patterned pillows, floral pillows, floor pillows, rectangular pillows, and outdoor pillows.

– wall dcors. Whether it is framed or custom art, metal, or native, wall decors play an important role in making the house livelier because they fill empty walls and make them more pleasant to the eye. There are so many handmade wall decors available in the market today. These can be more appealing since they tend to be unique when it comes to style, material, and texture.

– handmade area rugs. These play a major role in any home decoration because it serves as a main highlight in various parts of the house. Today, there are so many styles of area rugs that you can choose from depending on the need, taste, and preference of people. If you are giving these a handmade gift, consider choosing handmade braided rugs, oriental tugs, Persian rugs, contemporary rugs, or character rugs depending on the taste of the receiver.

– unique handmade vases. Categorized into tabletop, floor, bud, and accent, vases play a very big role in the beautification of one’s home because each kind can highlight a certain part of the house and make it more appealing to people living inside the house and to visitors as well. Aside from holding flowers and other things inside the home, vases can also serve as decorative and artistic pieces. If you are giving this as a party favor, consider the handmade ones from exotic places because these are indeed unique and very sentimental.

Yummy Treat: Food As Party Favor

Party favors are great for personally thanking all the guests that have celebrated an impotant moment with you. This would make guests feel appreciated for their attendance and at the same their contribution. Party favors would surely make guests take home a part of the party in the own houses. But how do you make this kind of impact?

One of the most cost-efficient, simple and wonderful ideas for party favor, will be giving away food and treats. Among the most popular food that could be given away in parties would be candies and cookies.

Candy favors

Candies are great give-aways, whether it is a children or adult parties. You could put assorted and colourful candies in transparent and small jars. You could decorate the box or the bag where you will be putting it and even including a thank-you note.

You could make personalized candies. Remove the wrapper and create a new design on your computer. You could include personalized messages like a greeting or a thank you. Personalized candy wrappers are popular that there are companies who could design and make wrappers for you. But you could always do it on your own. Aside from being a party favor, you could also use them as invitation or announcement.

Chocolates

Chocolate, another tasty treat that would make your party unforgettable. You could always buy small chocolate ballotins that would have a couple of mouth-watering chocolates inside. You could even have your chocolate favor customized depending on the occasion. They are great for weddings and baby showers. You could also customize the box where you will be placing the chocolate. You could use simple ribbons to decorate.

Cookies

The great thing about cookies is that they could make them thematic or artistic. You could buy cookies with different designs, based on your party theme. You could also put them in containers depicting the theme or the occasion being celebrated. Cookies are great for the holidays. When giving cookie party favors, you could include the recipe, especially if it is for a personal recipe that people commends.

Desserts

They could be a little expensive that other party favors, but they are surely worth giving. You could give out specially made brownies or favourite dessert of the celebrant. There are also foreign recipes that would make good dessert give-aways. An example would be the lazzaroni amaretti cookies which are popular Italian desserts. You could buy them in bulk and just repack them creatively.

If you have a family recipe for dessert, you could share it with the guests. You could even share a famous snack. You could place them inside take-out boxes and design these boxes to suit the occasion.

Wines and drinks

There are affordable celebration wines which could be bought for less than $12.00, like the Italian Proseco. There are also cocktail drinks which can be given in special occasions. They could surely give your even a touch of class and elegance. If you would like to spend less than that, then you could give coffee and tea assortments. You could also personalize their packaging.

When giving away or having food party favors, always consider the theme, the occasion and of course, the budget. You could even give away spices. Bottom line is you give party favors to thank your guests and you would like to thank them in a special way.