Daughters 18th bbq party on the cheap

cjj_2

Any ideas for daughters 18th. She wants a bbq. What should I have on my shopping list (food & drink). How do I make the yard look nice. Want to make it special for her without spending loads. She has invited 15 people.

Sallys_Savings

If you're handy with a sewing machine, how about making fabric buntings out of scrap pieces of fabric on bias binding. (using just one colour/floral shabby chic colours/or just based on a couple of colours)
Dig out your christmas lights and beg/borrow other peoples to have draped everywhere.
Put tealights in old glass food jars (you could paint them if you wish too)
Food -
Tesco value tortilla chips (taste ok at 29p a pack)
Jacket pots or pot salad
Homemade coleslaw - 1/2 cabbage, few carrots, red onions and mayo.
Tuna pasta salad - tuna, red peppers, pasta and mayo
burgers and buns
sausages/chicken/kebabs (look in iceland etc)
Rice salad

Patrick20

Sally has definately got the cheap part done but for an 18th birthday? Perhaps upgrading to Tescos finest tortilla chips would suit the bill better. And as for meat stay well clear of iceland. Beef conective tissue anyone? want alzheimer's in the future? You dont need much decoration but as long as youve got the drinks in, and a bit of grub it should be a cracking wee bbq

The coleslaw idea is great though and Ive always fancied tandoori chicken done on the bbq, bit of spices in a mayo to make a dip, stick a pita( get good ones cheap ones taste like rubber) at the side filled with a little salad.

Hope you get the weather because thats what makes a bbq.

prettypoppyknickers

we have have bbqs for the last 4 or 5 weekends and ok as a group of 8 our us we all put a tenna in per couple and that buys everything

we always buy a big 40 piece pack from tesco for 5 pounds tesco value buns at 12 for 29p hot dog rolls and then make our own kebabs mmmm steak kebabs i want some now

buy lambrisco cheap and cheerful and a couple of crates of beer and get her friends to bring a item i promise 18 years olds really dont mind!

Patrick20

Bring Your Own Booze is definately an option.

edinburgh_lesley

Hi cjj,
I bought too many "Happy 18th" banners for my daughters birthday that never got opened, and if you pm me i will pop them in the post for you x
lesley x

mhagster

I make a nice dish with tesco value tortilla chips;

saute chopped bacon, mushrooms and onions together.

layer chips on bottom of dish, layer bacon etc , then grated cheese, then repeat. Pop in oven for 10 minutes until cheese has all melted.

Delicious and cheap!

FreebieRocker

You can get cheap burger buns and hot dog rolls from tesco for a pretty reasonable price. I wouldnt think you'd have to spend any more than £2 on enough for everyone.
Tesco cheap coleslaw is actually really nice if you don't fancy making it yourself as the others have suggested.

crazy_saver22

i'd say bring own alcohol - for my 18th i supplied some of the alcohol but not much - no one complained and actually everyone asked my if they should bring their own - every 18th i been to has been own alcohol!
errm ask guests what meat they want that way nothing wasted!

maggie111

edinburgh_lesley wrote: »

Hi cjj,
I bought too many "Happy 18th" banners for my daughters birthday that never got opened, and if you pm me i will pop them in the post for you x
lesley x

That is so nice!!!


An easy way to decorate is to save all your jars and things... place them sporadically throughout the garden filled with cheapy cheap flowers - eg, line the path with one every now and then.

For an 18th, booze will be your main problem. Make sure you make "punch" - cheap vodka, or some spirit you've got in your cupboard you never use, mix with cheap fruit juices and place some orange segments, apple bits, lime etc - looks fab, tastes great and saves everyone washing down large quantities of wine!!

Costco do a MASSIVE cake for £11 - if you can get there (does a friend have a membership?) they do a LOT of big stuff, like massive cheesecakes, 30 bread rolls etc, certainly a good idea if you're doing a party for a few.

Make sure you stock up with the "padding" for a bbq - coleslaw, potato salad, baked potatoes.

A good idea on top of burgers and sausages is to do chicken skewers. Get a load of cheap chicken breasts and skewers (soak wooden skewers for a good couple of hours to stop them splintering and burning on bbq) get mushrooms and peppers - make sure you've got more veg on than chicken as the chicken is the expensive bit!

Don't forget the sauces like mustard and ketchup. And lots of bog roll if you've got a lot of people round getting drunk!!

A local party shop should do you a cheap deal on a load of helium balloons. Choose a colour scheme, buy balloons, flowers and a table cloth in those colours - no more than £20 and will give a really good cohesive look.

sarahf191979

You can make your own potato salad too, boil your potatos allow to cool, then add some chopped onions, and chives and cheap mayo you can make loads for less than £1.50 and it fills you up.

You could also use the jam jars as tealight holders if the evening is getting darker.

And Iceland do big BBQ packs for a Fiver, with 8 jumbo sausages, 8 big burgers and 8 chicken legs in. A couple of them and some kebab sticks should be pleanty.

The punch is a great idea, love the idea of adding the fruit, I may try that at our next familiy BBQ.

HTH
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