Holiday Entertaining on a Budget

Between hosting holiday get-togethers and sharing traditional holiday meals with friends and family, it's easy to wreak havoc on your monthly budget. This doesn't have to be the case. By planning ahead for your holiday entertaining and establishing guidelines with family and friends regarding meal planning and gift giving, you can still celebrate the holidays while sticking to your budget.

Establish a Plan

Before jumping right into holiday festivity preparations, make sure you sit down and map out a strategy. Establish what your budget is, and how much you can afford to spend on:

• Decorations - try to account for any special paper products, utensils, centerpieces
• Food and beverages
• Any gifts you will be giving this year

It's important to know what you are working with if you have any chance of keeping costs under control. This process should be an eye-opener and is a good time to assess whether it's time to pare down either your, menu, guest list or gift list. Monitor your budget as you go through your holiday planning and be prepared to tweak it as necessary -  if you overspend in one area, do your best to cut costs in another if you want to stay on track.

Decorating

When decorating for the holidays, try to stick with items you already have on hand from prior years. If you feel you must add some new decorations:

• Borrow or trade - check with friends to see if they have decorations they aren't using this year, or see if they would care to swap some of their decorations with yours to freshen things up.
• Make it Yourself - many holiday decorations such as wreaths, bows, and garlands don't take a lot of skill to create and can be made inexpensively with supplies purchased from a craft store, instead of spending a lot of money on ones that are already assembled.

For some do-it-yourself holiday decorating ideas check out sites like www.hgtv.com, or www.bhg.com.

Meal Planning

Many families have holiday meal traditions, and a holiday dinner wouldn't be the same without certain family dishes. You don't have to forgo tradition, but if you're hosting a holiday gathering, don't be shy about getting some help with meal preparation this year. It will not only relieve some of your stress, but will also help relieve some of the financial burden. Contact everyone on your holiday guest list and see who can bring a dish to share. Uncle Frank may not be able to bring a Crock-pot of mashed potatoes if he's flying in from Sarasota, but he might be able to pick up a bottle of wine on the way from the airport. Make sure you coordinate who's bringing what, so you don't end up with three bowls of sweet potatoes and no stuffing.

If you are serving alcohol at your get together, consider sticking to beer and wine, rather than providing an open bar, since purchasing a variety of liquors and mixers can get expensive. Another way around this is to provide a bowl of holiday punch for guests to enjoy. For some ideas for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic punch recipes check out sites like www.cooks.com.

Shopping

Usually around the holidays, grocery stores will have great sales on holiday staples such as turkeys and hams, hoping to lure you into their stores where you will purchase lots of other products that are not on sale. Use this to your advantage, and scout out what's on sale where. This is no time to let your guard down - you should be able to keep your food budget manageable by:

• Scanning the grocery store circulars
• Clipping your manufacturer's coupons
• Shopping with - and sticking to - a list

The earlier you have your holiday menu set, the earlier you can start scoping out sales for non-perishable items and ones that can be frozen until the holiday arrives.

Set Expectations for Gift Giving

The holidays are traditionally a time for friends and family to exchange gifts. To avoid any embarrassment or hurt feelings, set expectations ahead of time about what the gift exchange policy will be. Some suggestions to keep costs down are:

• Organize a holiday gift swap, sometime called a Secret Santa, where each person draws a name ahead of time and only has to buy one gift.
• Limit store bought gifts to under a certain dollar amount.
• Limit gifts to only handmade ones like crafts or food.
• Consider a family gift such as a board game, or restaurant gift certificate, rather than individual gifts for each family member.

Make this the year that you take to heart the old adage - it's the thought that counts!

Relax - Everyone's in the same Financial Boat

Don't be embarrassed to discuss these money saving strategies with friends and family. With the way the economy is these days, most people are probably experiencing some of the same financial challenges as you, and will appreciate your efforts to make the holidays easier and more enjoyable for everyone.

If you liked this you may also like:

• How to keep the holiday spirit without being burdened by debt

  Spending mountains of money during the holiday season is a tradition that for many people ends up with accumulating unmanageable debt. Learn to enjoy the holidays without overwhelming financial strain.

• CareOne Offers Holiday Spending Strategy to Keep Your Bank Account Merry and Bright

  Start making your list and checking it twice, the holiday shopping season is just around the corner. With a little forethought and careful planning, consumers can have an enjoyable, stress free holiday to focus on family without a last minute spending frenzy!

• Holiday Gift Giving on a Budget

  Trying to find the perfect gift for everyone on your holiday list can be time-consuming, frustrating, and expensive. Many people find that this experience causes them to overspend their holiday budget - assuming they were prudent enough to set a budget limit in the first place. Unfortunately for some, the only budget limit they set is the limit on their credit cards and the holiday shopping only ends when this limit is reached.

• Staying Warm Within Your Budget

  As the temperature plummets, it's tempting to crank the thermostat and settle in for a season of toasty toes. But don't let the weather bully you into high energy bills. You can stay cozy without blowing your budget by finding some creative ways to keep warm.

• 10 Ways to Save on Holiday Gifts

  For many people, the holidays are the most wonderful time of the year-a special season for family, friends, and festive parties. But there's another side to the merriment: According to a Consumer Reports survey, in 2008 roughly 12 million Americans were still paying off credit card debt for holiday purchases they'd made the year before.

Begin our online process to see your personalized savings.

Start Now

Back Print