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How to Host a Dinner Party On a Budget

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dinner part copy How to Host a Dinner Party On a Budget

Hosting a dinner party is always fun, but right now I need my get-togethers to be budget-friendly as well. Remember when I made crab cakes? That was for a group of 5 or 6 friends. The crab cakes were delicious and everyone loved them, but, crabs are expensive! Two pounds of crabs cost $20 out the door. Add in the other food and ingredients and I’m looking at $40 that night. I love to entertain and I want to do it often, but I can’t spend $20 on one dish more than once in a while.

That’s where a budget dinner party comes in. When I decided to host another dinner last night, I decided to look to a humble ingredient – the potato. I also had a few pescatarians and vegetarians in my party, so I decided to serve a scalloped potatoes (without bacon bits) as the main dish. It’s perfect for a chilly night: filling, tasty, and easy on the wallet.

Here’s how you can host dinner parties on a budget, and keep your stress level low:

1. Serve a main dish that uses low-cost ingredients (eggs, potatoes, flour, etc.). This strategy will help keep costs down. After all, if you are serving lobster tails with truffle butter, your costs will not be low no matter what you do (but oh, will your dinner be scrumptious!). Using inexpensive ingredients also mean that if you somehow mess up during the course of cooking and have to use more material, it’ll be okay. Even if you drop a whole carton of eggs, you’ll only be out $2 or $3. Unlike, say, if you drop a bowl of crab on the floor. That will be $10 down the drain.

2. Skip the decorations but fire up the ambiance with candles or mood lighting. A dinner party doesn’t need fancy decorations to be fun. After all, laughter is free! Most of the time, I don’t bother with theme or decor or all that jazz! Some candles (tea lights are $1.99 a package at IKEA) will do the trick nicely.

3. Ask your guests to bring wine / dessert / side dish. If your guests are as great as mine, they will ask you what they can bring. Don’t be shy to let them know that beverages or side dishes would be appreciated. I always say, “if you can bring something, wine or dessert would be great!” And my guests usually all bring a little something to share with the group. This cuts down on your costs, but most importantly it minimizes the time you spend preparing and cooking so you have more time to spend with your guests.

What are your best tips for hosting a dinner party on a budget?

Costco Recommendation: Delicious Salmon Dinner for Under $5 Per Person

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Not everyone can be Julia Child. With some dishes (i.e. fish), I’m not even going to try. So I was very happy when Mom introduced me to Morey’s Marinated Wild Alaskan Salmon fillets from Costco.

(if you see this product at Costco, pick it up. It’s worth it, I promise.)

Moreys Marinated Wild Alaskan Salmon 1024x768 Costco Recommendation: Delicious Salmon Dinner for Under $5 Per Person

Six fillets for ~$14. But really, the fillets are big enough that I can cut them into half and serve.

(1/2 salmon fillet pan-fried on brown rice, served with carrots, broccoli, and caramelized onions. Fancy square plates purchased from Marshalls. Silverware from IKEA.)

seasoned salmon with carrots and onions 1024x768 Costco Recommendation: Delicious Salmon Dinner for Under $5 Per Person

Basically, this has become my go-to dish when I make dinner for CB or friends. The advantages are many:

1. It looks pretty plated – I love all the contrasting colors.
2. It’s relatively healthy. Every 1/2 filet serving of salmon has 125 calories (65 calories from fat).
3. Most people can eat the food. I have friends who won’t eat chicken, pork, or beef, but will eat fish. So unless I’m making dinner for vegetarians, this meal is perfect.
4. It takes a short time to prepare. The salmon comes seasoned. All I have to do is make the veggies and rice, and pan-fry the salmon.
5. Most importantly of all, this dish is really, really delicious. Everyone who has tasted this salmon raved about it. I told them it came seasoned from the freezer, but hey, I can take a little credit, can’t I?
6. It’s a good deal. Each 1/2 fillet is around $1.25. Add on the other ingredients, and the total can’t be over $3. Seriously. Even if you go crazy with expensive veggies or use the whole fillet, the meal will still be below $5. Where can you get guaranteed-to-be-delicious dinner deal like that?

Entertaining At Home > Restaurants (Sometimes)

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Lately, I’ve been trying to cook more. As a rite of passage into “adulthood”, I’ve began inviting friends over and hosting dinner parties.

In the past 3 months, I’ve had a housewarming party, a brunch gathering (featuring eggs benedict with homemade hollandaise sauce and cinnamon swirl french toast), two dinners with a girlfriend, and a dinner party, all held at my much-beloved apartment, which includes a common area with a patio set surrounded by 3 tiny fish ponds, small planted trees, tomatos ripening on a vine, and a miniscule fresh herb “garden”.

Of course, it’s much cheaper to have friends over at home than to go out to a restaurant. But I’ve realized that the joy of entertaining at home isn’t really about the savings, per se. The best part about having dinner parties instead of heading out to restaraunts is this: there’s no waiting for a table, no feeling pressure to finish dinner quickly, and no need to figure out how to split the bill. 

Of course, there are special dining occasions, but many of the restaurants I’ve been to had uninspired choices. I went to those restaurants more for meeting with friends, not for the food. But hey, I can make mediocre food at home! My last dinner party lasted almost 4 hours – even when the food was all gone most people stuck around and talked. This would’ve never happened at a restaurant. Dining at home is a much more relaxed experience.

I make it even more relaxed by:
(1) having some premade treats on hand (Trade Joe’s sweet potato fries are a huge hit) and
(2) using paper plates, plastic forks, and disposable cups for larger gatherings (my set of dishes only has 4 place settings).
(3) inviting friends to bring wine or desserts if they’d like.

So my dinner parties are not exactly impeccable masterpieces a la Julia Child, but the food is all eaten up, the wine is free-flowing and the laughter’s contagious. And at the end of the night, isn’t that what makes dinner with friends an awesome experience?

The bad part about entertaining at home (sans dishwasher), though, is all the dirty pots, pans, and plates!