Entertaining on a Budget

I LOVE to entertain. I love having people in my home, filling up the place with loud conversation and laughter. But, as we all know, entertaining can get EXPENSIVE fast!!! By the time you buy groceries, drinks, and (after forgetting at least twice) run back to the store for fresh flowers and more ice, you’ve spent enough to feed your family for month!

I have found some great ways to entertain on a budget. So don’t stop socializing just because you can’t afford to break the bank to do it!

First, an-old fashioned pot luck can be so much fun! A dinner party is so much more interesting if your guests bring something to share. Guests are invested in the experience and the pressure is off the hostess! My favorite way to host a pot luck is to choose a theme for the guests. Have an Italian night or a Mediteranean theme – there’s no end to the options! Ask each guest to sign up to bring something on evite or another on line forum so it’s easy for everyone to see what’s still needed (no one wants to end up with 4 plates of humus and no main dishes). Ask those that don’t like to cook to be in charge of drinks, napkins, board games for later etc.

Another great option is hosting your own iron chef competition. Jill had a mac n cheese contest at her house awhile back. Every family brought a mac n cheese entry and Jill had awards for winners in the “kids’ choice” and “grown ups favorites” categories.
Something I’m planning to try this winter (this one is really just for grown ups) is a beer tasting. I’m planning to make a big pot of chili and have each guest bring a different unique beer selection (not anything commercial). Making chili and a little corn bread is cheap and very easy, and each guest only has to spend a few dollars on beer. The taste test can be done blind by covering the labels on the beer. This kind of thing is much more fun if you create little score cards for each participant to write their notes down. Make the cards similar to those you would use for a wine tasting – because it’s sooooo funny to hear a big beer guzzling guy describe the nose on a hefeweizen or the notes in a pilsner!!

Have fun with entertaining but most importantly remember, you don’t have to have the house in perfect condition to entertain. Let go of your perfectionism – these are your FRIENDS after all! They know you’re not perfect and believe me they have pets that shed, and messy kids too.

Please share your ideas for entertaining on a budget! We would really love to hear from you!

The Grocery Challenge

A couple of weeks ago, Jan 11th to be exact, I read a great article in the Dallas Morning News about a family who is entering their second year of a serious consumer re-think. They purchase nothing new except for: food, toiletries and home repair items (like air conditioner filters, light bulbs, etc.). Everything else they buy second hand or learn a way to do without. To kick off the start of the new year, they decided to spend only $100 on groceries for the month of January. They felt they could do this because they had quite a bit of stuff stocked up over the holidays. They were going to use what they had on hand and spend their $100 on perishable items they needed along the way.

The Marlowe family decided to take the grocery challenge, too! Since we didn't read about this until the 11th, we started then but still need the challenge to end on Feb 1st because we're having some friends over for a Super Bowl/Birthday Party for Aaron and we'll need some stuff for that. [DISCLAIMER: We spend $40 on organic milk at Costco before we started, so we didn't include that cost in the hundred bucks. We drink a LOT of milk!]

It's been fun trying to think of creative meals to use the things we have on hand. One example is that we had 1 frozen chicken breast and about 12 or so frozen shrimp. Neither would be enough for us to have for a meal (since there are 4 of us who eat solid food now), but I used both of them and put them in a pasta sauce (a version of the Shady Lady recipe from a previous post) and !PRESTO!, we had a meal! Otherwise the single chicken breast and the small amount of shrimp may have shivered in our freezer, unused, until we threw them away.

The challenge is....challenging....but fun and definitely do-able, especially with the money we're saving using coupons, etc. See my receipts to see how we're doing so far.

Cheap and Easy???

I got this new cookbook for Christmas and I LOVE it! I also happen to love the name "Cheap & Easy: A Cookbook for Girls on the Go". We've tried 4 entree recipes out of this book and they're all great. Our fav, however, is called "Shady Lady Pasta Puttanesca". Here is the recipe for your cheap & easy as well as quick and delicious dinner (the following serves 2 so I doubled):

8 ounces penne pasta
3 T olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 c pitted black olives, chopped
1/2 cup red or white wine (I used white)
2 T capers, drained
Generous handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 t crushed red pepper flakes (I used less because of the kiddos)
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes, with juice
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook pasta.
2. Heat oil in 2 quart saucepan over high heat. Add garlic and reduce heat to med. Saute lightly, adding the olives, wine, capers, parsley and red pepper flakes.
3. Simmer, uncovered, for 2-3 min and then add tomatoes, letting whole mixture cook down over med-high heat to the consistency of a chunky sauce.
4. Adjust seasoning to taste before serving. Pour over pasta.

Love it!!

Happy January (and Happy New Year!) to you all!

It's Jennie here, and I must say that I'm feeling refreshed! The Long holiday break was somehow relaxing and exhausting all at the same time, but it was definitely refreshing! The feeling of starting a new year with great ideas and fabulous plans brings a new bit of excitement to the air! LaBump has big plans for 2009 and we're excited that you are a part of our network!

We hope that you will remember to buy locally (as it reduces waste) and consider resale when it comes to your kiddos ever-changing needs. Recirculating gently used items is the best kind of recycling! (And it's budget-friendly too!)

Jill tried out "green" shopping this Christmas, buying as many items as she could from previous owners or organically friendly merchants. I say 'previous owners' as opposed to 'used' because the majority of the items she purchased still had the tags on! My kiddos loved their new clothes and the books were great too! What a fabulous idea, Jill - Kudos to you! :)

Beth continues her venture in helping pair those in need of an item, with someone who has it available for sale on the site! Anyone in Houston need a new booster seat? Brand new, still in the box, $10! LOL! Good work Beth - I wish I had your charisma!

I will keep closer track of my couponing in 2009 and let you know how it goes. Combining the efforts of a $40/week consumables budget (diapers, food, toiletries, household items,etc) with recycling, children's re-sale, and keeping it simple has changed my life. Somehow I feel like a better mommy, wife, and person for doing it.

Thanks for being a part of the LaBump family! Be strong, live simple, and enjoy what you do!