You might feel a little intimidated by the title Hostess, but as we chatted yesterday, you can see there's no reason to be intimidated. You can take hostessing to any level you wish and still make it very inviting and fun for those you're entertaining. We'll talk about a few aspects of hostessing over the next few days starting today with the issue of food. How can you keep it budget friendly, yet still extra special? Let's see!
- Determine your budget. - If you're like me, you have a weekly grocery budget. Are you going to keep this meal as part of that weekly budget or use your entertainment budget? {If you don't have a budget, check this out. It's a great place to get started.}
- Decide how many guests you want to invite. This will impact your budget, so decide this before you decide the food.
- Now that you know how much you can spend and how many guests to invite, let's figure out what kinds of foods fit into that budget. We're going to explore a few low-cost meals we could have.
Buffet-style meals are fun and easy. They don't require having a large dining room to seat everyone and it's very informal. Here's a list of meal ideas that work well with buffet-style:
- Chili - Make a big pot of chili {feeds several people with one batch}. Put the chili at the beginning of the table with the bowls and then stagger all the toppings after that including cheese, corn chips, sour cream, hot sauce, onions, avacado, etc. and then put the spoons/napkins at the end of the table. Have a separate table or countertop for drinks and dessert. Remember, most friends will offer to bring something to help with the meal. Have them bring their favorite topping or a dessert. A batch of chili can easily be made for $7-8. Double that and it's still pretty feasible for feeding 15-20 people for $1 or less per serving. {My recipe is 1lb ground beef, large can of Bush's chili beans, 1 can red kidney beans, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 packet McCormick chili seasoning.}
- Taco Bar - You provide the meat and hard/soft shells, toppings can be brought by guests or you provide - cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, onions, salsa, taco sauce, beans (black or refried), avacado, etc.
- Nacho Bar - Chips, Meat, Nacho Cheese (try melting Velveeta and adding a can of Rotel), lettuce, black olives, onions, salsa, beans, guacamole, sour cream, etc.
- Hamburger Sliders - Provide the meat and buns. Toppings - tomatoes, onions, blue cheese, sliced cheese, bbq sauce, ketchup, mustard, mayo, crispy onions, guacamole, etc. You can be very creative with this! Sides: chips, dip, fries, salad, or whatever you like best.
Once you've figured out the food. Decide how to make it extra special with those little inexpensive touches. You could do a variety of fun things. I've found a few free printables you can use below. Or be creative and come up with your own!
Use these cute chevron printables for a casual get together. This is a huge list I found by searching on Pinterest.
These banners and buffet cards are perfect for a Halloween get together! Print these here.
These would be so cute for a Thanksgiving kind of meal - lots of printables here to make it an extra special meal.
These would be great for a holiday get together! Have some people over for coffee and dessert and have a grand time with these adorable FREE printables!
These are all very inexpensive ideas for free printables - just the cost of ink and paper. But they will go a long way in making your meal {informal or formal} memorable for years to come! Go the extra step and add those little details. It makes a big difference!
How do you make your get togethers extra special? Do you have a favorite printable? What is your favorite food to serve guests? I'd love some new ideas!
This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics series. You can find my whole series at the tab above {Home Economics}.
Thank you for stopping by! I'm sharing this with a few of these friends. Hope you'll come back soon!
I have a sister and a few friends that I believe really know what it means to be a hostess. I think this may well be a lost art. When I was young, it seemed like our family regularly got invited to homes or invited other families to our home for dinner or dessert or after church on a Sunday night just to fellowship together. As a child and up into my teen years, I thought it was normal. I always enjoyed it and it seemed like everyone else did, as well. The older I have gotten, the more I realize that is no longer the norm. People have an isolation mentality - never invite anyone over and never get invited over. I can't quite put my finger on why, but I have a couple of speculations. 1)We're too busy and just value the little bit of time we do get with our family. 2)We aren't that interested in building relationships with people either for reasons I just mentioned or we just don't care. 3)We aren't comfortable with the size/look of our house enough to want to open our home to would-be friends. Or maybe it's another reason entirely. I know I want to be a better hostess and it's something I want my girls to learn early in life so that they, too, will be good hostesses when they grow up.
Here are a few tips to becoming the hostess you want to be!
- I heard my mother recently say, "Never let the size of your house be the reason you don't have people over." - Truer words have never been spoken. I think that may be one reason I've not had people over as much as I should have. My house doesn't have a whole lot of space, but I realized earlier this summer that it's able to hold more people than I thought when we had about 25-30 college kids/leaders over. The size doesn't really matter to anyone else. It's just a big deal to us because we want everyone to be comfortable and have plenty of space, etc. But, think about it - you're not asking them to move in. You're just having people over to enjoy some food and fellowship together for a few hours. The important thing is that you're opening your home to friends and making memories with them. I have so many fond memories of going to lots of people's homes for dinner as a child. I want my kids to have those same memories. And if you're not being invited, start inviting people to your house! Be THAT friend.
- It doesn't have to cost a fortune. You can keep it cheap while feeding a crowd. There are lots of things you can do and still stay in your budget. I don't think it's tacky to invite a group of people over and ask them to contribute a small part of the meal. If you're having hamburgers/hot dogs, provide the main parts of the meal and ask your friends to bring sides and dessert. Most friends will offer to bring something anyway. Or plan ahead and come up with a low-cost meal {read about that here} and you'll be able to afford the whole meal. {Think chili, nacho bar, taco bar, etc.}
- People appreciate and notice the small details. My sister is amazing at this. Her special meals/events are full of small details that don't break the bank. Whether it's just little accents here and there for a little girls party or Easter dinner, she's always making it extra special with little details. Little details say, "I care about you. I'm so happy to have you here." They are very welcoming and help people feel at home. I have another friend who's very good at this, too, but she doesn't have a blog. I know that I always notice and appreciate that little bit of time and effort they put into it. I want to be more like them. I want friends to feel very welcome and feel like the special guest that they are when they come into my house.
- Just invite people over. Plan it. Get it on the calendar. Make it your goal to invite at least one family or couple over for dinner or dessert within the next month. Then, make it happen. You'll have fun doing it. Get into the habit of hospitality and who knows? Maybe you'll start a new trend.
Do you have people over often? Have you been invited over lately? Who are you going to invite to your house soon? If you've been reading my 31 Days series, you know I have a lot of things I'm trying to work on because I want to be a better manager of my home. Being hospitable may be at the top of my list. It's another gift I want to pass down to my girls.
This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics series. You can find the whole series at the tab above {Home Economics}.
Thank you for coming by to visit with me. I'm sharing this with a few of these friends. Y'all come back now, ya hear?
