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Simply Thrifty

The Frugal Dinner Party

by Kevin Humphrey on February 3rd, 2006

The Frugal Dinner PartyKelly from ThrifyMommy.com tipped me off to a recent article in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix newspaper entitled Frugal Dinner Parties. The reporter is attempting to host a dinner party on the cheap and chronicles the experience in her piece. I can’t say that I was overly impressed with the results, but she does present a pretty good list of ‘Tightwad Tips‘ full of some penny-pinching ideas for entertaining on the cheap.

First and foremost is the perennial standby, the Potluck dinner party. Of course, one of the most important things to remember when hosting a potluck is to properly ‘assign‘ types of dishes to the invitees. I recall one potluck I was at years ago when the host didn’t and we ended up with a feast of salads and desserts. Oh, and the guy who showed up with the bag of chips!

Some other tips from the article include doing it yourself, which as a former chef and caterer, I can attest to being much cheaper if you’ve got the time for it. Setting a theme like a Hawaiian beach party or a Mexican fiesta allows you to serve cheaper eats like tacos or ham steaks without it coming off as chintzy. Going with ethnic dishes can also provide a chance to serve up something flavourful, yet inexpensive to make.

Personally, I’m a potluck kind of guy. My social tribe for the last several years has been one full of folks who are artisans and/or self-employed and I don’t think any of else could actually afford to host a dinner party on our own. In fact, now that I think of it, I can’t recall a single dinner party that I’ve been to in years that wasn’t a potluck.

You can find the Frugal Dinner Parties article here. Kelly’s Thrifty Mommy site (www.thriftymommy.com) is newly launched and I invite you to head on over there for a quick look. Kelly is interested to hear which of those ‘Tightwad Tips‘ from the article is your favorite.

POSTED IN: Around the House, Frugal Gourmet

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