Financial Power

One of the best parts I love about summer is the summer entertaining that goes along with the warm time of year. Longer days combined with warm weather make it perfect for these festive gatherings. I love getting together with our friends and family to relax and enjoy ourselves. Summer and entertaining just seem to go hand in hand.
The downside to these fun parties can be trying to entertain without destroying your budget. I personally love to host summer parties and I know most of us want to be good hosts, but honestly most of us can’t afford to stock a limitless kitchen for our guests. Before you let your budget rein in your summer entertainment, check out these ideas to keep your entertaining budget under control.

Go potluck. The easiest way to keep entertaining costs down is to share them. If you and your friends get together every weekend to share a meal, you don’t need to feel obligated to provide everything for your guests. Instead, why not split the responsibility? Ask a family member to bring beverages. Ask another to bring a side dish. No one will mind being asked to pitch in, and you’ll all get to share in the prep work.

Take turns hosting the parties. We have a group of friends that we spend many of our summer evenings with. Their kids play with our kids. The adults are all friendly. Rather than forcing one family to host all of us again and again, we rotate locations for our get-togethers. We let our plans determine which house will provide the best setting. Our friends who have a pool are the perfect choice for hot, summer days. Our friends with a large television are the usual choice for watching movies. The friends with a cool pool table are excellent host for a rainy summer weekend.

Focus on fun rather than food. Food and drink doesn’t have to be the center of your get-together. Instead of having a formal dinner, why not invite friends over for a game night or a pool party? Then, you can just provide a few snacks. The odds are that your friends would rather enjoy a good time with you than a formal meal, anyway. Desert night with ice cream is a well enjoyed option for get together.

Related posts:

1. Inexpensive Summer Fun With Kids
2. Cheap Fun Summer Activities For Kids

Tags: Cheap Summer Activities

This entry was posted by FP on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 10:39 PM and is filed under Summer and Kids. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.