The holiday season is all about togetherness, and there is no better way to spend the occasion than to host a party for your loved ones at home. However, hosting a good Christmas party doesn’t have to mean cutting through your savings to make the event memorable.

There are tons of ways that you can host an entertaining party without having to overspend. In this blog post, we present a guide on how you can throw your own budget-friendly Christmas party.

Set your budget and priorities

The most important step to hosting a budget-friendly party is to know how much money you can comfortably spend. Once you have a number in mind, set apart the amount and mark it for “Christmas Party” so you can keep a track of how much you have spent and how much you have left at all times. 

Next, even before spending a single penny, make a list of everything that you need for the party. The best way to do this is to start listing what’s most important such as appetizers, drinks, desserts, tablecloths, dishes, decorations, and paper goods. Be sure to exclude anything that you can reuse from previous parties or events such as dishes and decorations. 

Once you have the list, sort it so that the essentials are on the top of the list and the nice-to-haves are at the bottom. Doing this will give you the flexibility to cut things off from the bottom that you don’t really need when you are running low on funds.

Skip the alcohol

We’re not trying to take away the Christmas spirit, but the bottom line is that alcohol is expensive, and very much so when you are buying for a large group of people. The best alternative that we can recommend to alcohol is hot cocoa. You can add a hot cocoa bar to your party to have something unique yet festive.

The good news is that it’s fairly straightforward to set up a hot cocoa bar, too. All you need is some cocoa, toppings, and Christmas-themed cups. Make a large serving of hot cocoa and add delicious toppings such as marshmallows, whipped cream, candy canes, and sprinkles. You’ll notice that the hot cocoa disappears almost as quickly as the alcohol, but will only cost you a fraction! 

Send out digital invites

Invitations might not seem like a large expense when you want to host a party but the cost of envelopes, stamps, and Christmas-themed cards can add up substantially, especially if you have a large guest list. You can cut down on this expense by sending out digital invites instead.

How will you create and send out such invites? Follow this process:

• First, select a Christmas invitations template that you like.
• Next, use the simple and intuitive design tool that PosterMyWall offers to customize the invitation and make any changes you want. Be sure to add in all the essential information including the address, timings, phone number, and dress code (if any).
• Once done, download your invitation as a high-quality image. Once downloaded, send out the invite to your guests via email, WhatsApp, or social media as you deem necessary.

Encourage guests to bring food they like

We’ve all been in an awkward situation where we don’t know what to take to a party but also don’t want to go empty-handed. The good news is that you can make things simpler for your guests (and easier for yourself) by telling them exactly what to bring. 

Guests will actually prefer this because they don’t have to put thought into what would make a suitable party favor. The best way to do this is by telling the guests what they would prefer to bring as a food item and then based on your menu, share the load by delegating a certain dish or course to them. 

However, be sure to not overburden guests with complicated dishes or requests, though. Keep it simple and restrict it to things that need little to no preparation such as chips and salad so that your guests are inconvenienced.

Spreading out the menu can take quite some pressure off from you as a host, both socially as well as financially since you have one last thing to worry about for the night.

Be wise with the decorations

It’s very important to not go overboard with decorations at a Christmas party. You don’t have to make your place look like the elves decorated it themselves. This means that your hallway does not necessarily have to be filled with Christmas statues, and neither does everyone at your party need to be Christmas-themed. You need to decorate smartly so you can minimize your expenses while making sure that the party still has that Christmas feeling.

How can you do that? Here are a few effective tips that will help out: 

• Pick out a few places that your guests are most likely to congregate at such as the dining area or hallway. Focus on decorating these places the most instead of decorating your entire house.
• Over the years, you must have accumulated a lot of Christmas decorations that either went unused or were leftover after all the decorations. Instead of buying new decorations this time around, reuse what you can.
• Make your own decorations for the party so you can save up on the expense of having to buy overpriced Christmas-themed decoration items. Read this great guide from CountryLiving on how to create beautiful Christmas ornaments for decoration on your own.
• A good touch that you can add to your party is to get Christmas-themed menus printed and place them in different areas to pique the interest of guests. As with Christmas invitations, you can design some amazing menus by choosing and customizing Christmas menu templates available at PosterMyWall.

There are plenty of things that you can do with the decoration if you are crafty, but what is important to remember here is to not stress out if things don’t match or are not perfect, especially when creating your own decorations. 

It’s all about having a memorable event

Party planning and preparations can stress out the best of us and there’s nothing to worry about. But keep in mind what Christmas is all about – togetherness and hospitality. So, even if you have a restricted budget for the party, what matters most is the true hospitality that makes the party all the more special. Instead of focusing on overspending to keep up with all the trends, focus on the experience and entertaining so your guests can have a memorable Christmas party.