After Dinner Snacks Save On Sit Down Meals
By kathy77
@kathy77 (7485)
Australia
April 29, 2007 1:10am CST
Instead of spending large amounts of money on full-size meals for party guests, you can save a huge amount by holding a 'cocktail-style' celebration instead. Hold it a bit later in the evening, so people will have dinner before they come, then you only need to serve nibbles people won't eat as much because they've already had dinner. These don't need to be expensive; Home Brand nuts, sausage rolls and so on all taste great. You can make all matter of snacks yourself too, which usually work out much cheaper than bought ones, ranging from dips to 101 ways with puff pastry. Spend a bit of time making some great decorations for your party so everything looks wonderful and concentrate on enjoying your night for what it is a fantastic occasion to celebrate with friends, not five courses of food!
3 people like this
6 responses
@abbey19 (3106)
• Gold Coast, Australia
29 Apr 07
What another brilliant idea Kathy! Doing it this way makes it a lot easier on the host, and gives them more time to spend with their guests. Not to mention it's a lot less expensive than full-blown meals which sometimes leaves the host with lots of left-overs to get rid of! And also, I think people tend to mingle more when it's this type of setting - better for everyone I'd say.
1 person likes this
@kathy77 (7485)
• Australia
1 May 07
Hi Abbey, yes I believe it is a wonderful idea and of course we would not be wasting food by having this instead of cooking and preparing other dishes for our guests and it does leave the host with more time to mingle with her guests, and not have food left overs
@ossie16d (11821)
• Australia
15 May 07
I have been doing this for a number of years now Kathy and find it works out very well. Some people will have a meal before they come and others will not, instead prefer to nibble on a variety of the snacks on offer. It certainly does make it much less stressful doing it this way though. In addition many of the things can be prepared a day or so beforehand.
If this is a "planned" event, then you can also buy a lot of the items over a couple of weeks. That makes it so much easier on the budget being able to space the expenses out. When we have this type of evening, we leave the cards and board games out plus put on some music. That allows people to choose what they want to do, and many good conversations have begun through this sort of thing. These nights are great as well for the host and hostess as they can mingle more freely with their friends, rather than be concerned about serving up a meal.
A great discussion here Kathy as well as letting people how they can spend time with friends, without the burden of a huge expense.
@cutepenguin (6430)
• Canada
29 Apr 07
I like to have a dessert style get together - have everyone over for cake, serve cake, ice cream, coffee, tea, and a few snacks. It's fun and inexpensive.
1 person likes this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
29 Apr 07
This is one suggestion but let me share my thoughts when I was at the receiving end. I don't feel too good! Because I have to make my way to the party place anyway, chances are I have to take my dinner early. I would be inconvenienced to eat my dinner outside, before my usual dinner time, just so that I would be there to enjoy your cocktail. Not to mention that I would likely be too full when I get there, I don't quite fancy the inconvenience too - why can't we just have dinner at the party place? Makes things so much easier and neater. :P
