Tips on cutting costs for party

Make-it-3

Planning an afternoon 40th birthday party for around 50 or so people at home, not done anything on this scale before, so any general tips please.

Drinks - How to estimate quantities? Where to buy? No car - so will need to order online from supermarket I guess. What ratio of alcohol to soft drinks. Alcohol - beers/wine (white and rose as summer) and maybe a Pimms style cocktail rather than a full bar!

Food - Needs to be relatively simple spread won't have a great deal of time to "make" anything. Thinking traditional English favs.

Disposable plates/glasses/cutlery - where is cheapest to buy?

Also decorations/bunting/table cloths - where is cheapest to buy?

Probably need additional serving plates/jugs/cool box

Don't want it to look like a cut-price do - so smart tips to make my money go further please.

FutureGirl

Cutlery and plates probably best to go to the pound shop. I got 80 forks for 99p from the 99p store. They also do plates, knifes and napkins etc.

Decorations I'd get from eBay. You can get some good deals on there. IE the happy birthday shiny things you scatter around the table are about £3 for 500. You could probably also get the plastic cutlery and napkins from eBay as well as you'll need enough for 50 people.

You could potentially get decent plastic jugs from eBay swell for serving jugs, and probably even serving plastic plates to keep the food on, whilst on the table, on there!

Major supermarkets tend to do buy 6 get 25% off on wines around this time. Plus some of them also do spent £60, get £15 off when you do it online.

For food I'd make sandwiches as that is cheaper than buying ready made. You can get sausage rolls and other party style foods from Iceland. You can go inshore and buy stuff then they can deliver it to you if you spend £25+. They also do some decent desserts in there as well.

swingaloo

Im doing a party for 40. the drinks is difficult to answer as we don't know your guests. What I have done is made a list of guest and put them in columns, those who will be drinking alcohol and those who don't or wont because they are driving and it gave me a good idea of what quantities to get. For instance, out of my 40 guests only 28 will want alcohol so maybe look at who is coming rather than how many are coming.


I personally would avoid Ebay as by the time you have added the postage to everything you are buying you wont save much at all.


I've got plastic cutlery from asda, they do packs of clear plastic knives, forks and spoons for £1 a pack. Likewise I got some square plastic plates in pastel colours from asda which are quite nice.


Ive bought a lot of my crockery, serving plates, glasses etc from the local charity shop. They charge 10p for glasses and plastic ones cost far more than that at the supermarkets. Ive also been able to get white tablecloths from the charity shop.


Depending on when your party is keep an eye on the wine offers at the supermarkets. The offers seem to change weekly. 2 weeks ago I bought 8 bottles of Proseco which had been £12.99 and were on for half price, they are now back up to £12.99 in tesco. The same one is £14.99 in Morrisons.
If you have time keep watching the prices and only buy when you are sure its a good deal.


For the 'sweets' what about making it simple rather than buying gateaux and such get some tinned peaches and do a big dish with a jug of milk or cream and also a big dish of strawberries and jug of cream so people can just help themselves and its fast and easy to prepare.


If you google 'party food images' there are loads of photos with some fabulous ideas to make things look impressive without too much cost or effort.
Good luck.

zanuda

Make-it-3 wrote: »

...
Drinks - How to estimate quantities? ...

I used to be involved in running an annual picnic for the place I worked. And the tip from predecessor was - meat (for kebabs) 0.5kg per head, drinks - bottle of wine or equivalent per head.

It looked excessive but it was actually just right. But you have to take into account - picnic was almost a day (maybe ~5h), far from civilization. Another thing. Maybe you don't eat and drink that much, but some guys do and more than that. So with big numbers the average works.

7roland8

Food should be no problem but I wouldn't wnat to be buying 50 bottles of wine! Why not ask to bring a bottle rather than a birthday gift.

TBagpuss

what is the timing o the party? if it is afternoon rather than going in to the evening then the food /drink can be lighter than if you are going over a meal time.

Cream Tea? Make big batches of scones (you can freeze them) buy clotted cream and strawberry jam - maybe some big bowls of fresh strawberries too - looks good, traditional, and simple.

Sanwiches - you can make your own in bulkif you then cut them into strips they make easier finger food and look nice.

All of the supermarkets do party food - so you can buy things such as sausage rolls, spring rolls etc.

Dips - hummus, sour cream & chives etc + raw veg such as celery, sweet peppers, carrots and cucumber are cheap and easy (and if you are thinking buffet / finger food, they are easy to manage for people who may be standing around!

If you want something more substanatial consider soup - it is easy to make in bulk, need not be expensive and can look very impressive, and you can serve it in mugs (or disposable cups)

Booze - definitely no a full bar - you are having a private party, you are not a caterer. Think about your guests and then consider getting boxed wine and multipacks of beer. If you have a lot of beer drinkers then you could buy a keg.

mrsdee

Hi
you mention it's an afternoon affair so I would be tempted down the afternoon tea route as mentioned above. You could still serve alcohol but it wouldn't be heavy stuff and you could keep it all relatively simple. In fact we've just been to a wedding do just like this! So there was tea, coffee, soft drinks and then Pimms and sparkling wine. Most people only had a glass or two of alcohol tbh as it doesn't go so well with afternoon tea anyway! Then for the food, cakes a mix of fruit and plain, chocolate, (you may find friends offer to bring some anyway!), scones which are easily made and frozen, jam, cream, maybe some small sandwiches/rolls (get friends/family to help make these). You don't need masses - but enough to fill people up a bit. Appoint some friends/family to be on tea duty.

BJV

It is a balancing act between time and money. Yes you will save more if you can make everything at home BTH the offers that most supermarkets have are so good that it is almost as cheap.


Afternoon I would go for cold sandwich's and for something hot curry and rice??? Just in case our beautiful British weather lets us down. Mega cheap to make and really bulks out.


The bring a bottle is a good idea and tea and coffee. Some people will want to drink but a lot because of the time of day may only have a glass or so of wine. People only have a choice if you offer them one and as long as you offer red or white I don't think it is a problem.


My OH runs a hotel and they estimate that you will get an average of 6 glass's of wine per bottle. So how many to order is up to you.


For me I suppose the main point is that some of the best parties I have ever been to have been done on a shoe string. It is not the amount that you pay or what you drink. Instead it is the occasion and the people that you are with. So what ever happens enjoy!

UnluckyT

I would second pound land or 99p shop for plates, cutlery, napkins. Maybe crisps, cakes, sweet treats and soft drinks.
Iceland you could get defrostable cream cakes party cakes packs and bbq packs, maybe soft drinks, sweet cakey treats and crisps.
If you have a Lidle, aldi or asda nearby you could get bits they're.
Saintsbury Im sure do party platters, sandwiches, pork pies sort of thing.
Perhaps instead of sandwiches, cut up French sticks into chunks and have plates/bowls of cheese, cold sliced meats, coleslaw, potato salad, with bowls of salad, crisps, cocktail sausages, sausage rolls and a selection of veggie equivalent.

pickledonionspaceraider

Booze, knowing what to buy could be very difficult and covering all bases will be costly

Ask folk to bring a bottle. To be honest, a lot probably will even without prompting

On my birthday party, we had 60 people at a 'at home do' - and ended up with enough booze to sink a ship - the booze I had brought barely got touched

nearlyrich

Aldi "Pimms" is just as good as real Pimms and it's about a fiver a bottle rather than £16. I also like Aldi crisps and other snacks they are very similar to other brands at a fraction of the cost. Pound shop for disposable plates cutlery and reusable salad bowls and platters.