Tag: Time And Money

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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Chinese Recipe Tips

Chinese recipes usually call for very specific ingredients and ways to cook everything. There are many tips you can use to save time and money and still have a top notch meal or add ingredients to make a good meal great.

You can cut corners on rice, kinds of oil, even the kind of meats you use. Many people take the meat out of a recipe and call it vegetarian.

A delicious alternative to regular cooking oil is sesame oil. Just a few drops mixed with your normal oil or used by itself, sesame oil makes any dish have a very unique flavor.

Shrimp cooked in vegetable oil tastes like greasy shrimp but shrimp cooked in sesame oil taste like a Chinese treat. Sesame oil has a strong and unique flavor that many people automatically associate with Chinese food.

It is higher in fat so if you are on a diet, it might not be a good choice.

Rice is common in all kinds of Chinese recipes. If you make a lot of Chinese food, you can cook a lot more rice than you know you will use.

You can freeze this excess rice and use it later on for fried rice. This will save you the trouble of cooking a whole new batch and it tastes just as good.

Dont be afraid to change recipes. If you have a great recipe for chicken, try using crab or shrimp next time or changing some vegetables around.

You might have just created your own unique recipe! This can be a lot of fun and the more familiar with Chinese recipes you get, the better your creations will be.

Cheap Party Favors

Handmade items are among the most popular choices for people who want to give out party favors these days. This is because these items reflect more effort and sincerity from the organizer like you. But, handmade items don’t necessarily mean that they are cheap. In fact, there are many handmade items that are more expensive than the regular ones.

In this time of crisis, one of the things that people on a tight budget should learn is maximizing their resources. For those who have knowledge on baking, one of the good party favors for them to bake a cake, cookies, or bread for them. This is quite practical because you need not spend time and money in finding the item after the party. To make your handmade party favor more presentable, you can place it in a personally-crafted colorful box or wrap it in a nice cookie jar.

If you have talent in cooking, you can the cook dish or create your very own specialty dish or dessert for and give it out as a party favor. This is also quite practical because it can add up to the food that you have prepared for the party.

If you are into crafts, one of the party favor ideas is personally-crafted items. Handmade items such personalized cards; a painting, a portrait, a sculpture, or even a hand-sewn piece of clothing can be a party favor. Those who are inclined to photography can give out printed photo of the celebrant and place it in a nice picture frame. This would definitely one of the gifts the celebrator would not forget because she or he can display it. Those who are literary inclined can write a simple poem or short story about the celebrant and print it in a nice paper to be read during the party.

Maximizing your resources

If you dont have the knack for any of the mentioned above, dont despair because there are still lots of good party favor ideas out there. What you can do is organize your budget and scout various bazaars and stores on sale inside the malls to find a good yet cheap party favors. The following are some good party favor ideas available for you when you search malls and stores:

1. A set of unique decors and ornaments. This may include a set of angels, figurines, and other items that are nice to display but not so expensive. If you have decided to give this, make sure that you choose something that the recipient likes such as his or her favorite cartoon character or something that can add up to his or her collection, if any.

2. A food basket. This should contain all the favorite food of the attendees. If they are figure conscious, wrap up a wide selection of fruits and veggies as a party favor. If the attendees are into healthy foods, try to wrap up items that are healthy or if they are into wines, wrap up at least two to three bottles of cheap wine that comes with small crystal glasses.

3. A box or basket of sweet treats. This is the perfect party favor for those that have “sweet tooth”. One great party favor idea for attendees is a box or small basket of sweet treats including candies, tarts, and different kinds of chocolates.